If you only have sympathy for the children of hoarders and not the hoarders themselves, you will not have a successful company. You do not sound like you understand.

I learned a lot from reading through these comments and can sympathize for children who were struggling with parents who hoard. If you are looking for a company that feels the same and can help you and your family clear the clutter if you are in the Long Island area: litrashremoval.com

I learned a lot from reading through these comments and can sympathize for children who were struggling with parents who hoard. If you are looking for a company that feels the same and can help you and your family clear the clutter if you are in the Long Island area: litrashremoval.com

To Anonymoniker

I'm so sorry to hear about your experience. I do think that people who hoard do need someone with some expertise in the field. I know that my late father would never left anyone remove his things. One time I was cleaning out his truck and found things like rotten sandwiches and pure garbage. He was mad at me for cleaning his stuff.

Now maybe for people who are just messy, they would be fine with someone just taking away their trash. I would hope so. But for real hoarders who cannot let go, they are going to need more specialized help. I know how I struggle with letting go of certain things. However, I'm not at a place where it feels GOOD to let things go. I feel lighter and free. People would help me clean at work and I remember I would blink and I'd have the area cluttered again. I think just cleaning out the stuff is basically pointless for some people.

I hope you can continue to move forward!

....my reason for posting about that experience was just as sort of a suggestion about how that approach might not be effective, for others that might want to help hoarders...

....my reason for posting about that experience was just as sort of a suggestion about how that approach might not be effective, for others that might want to help hoarders...

I hired the only 'professionally trained 'hoarder helper in my area & it was an awful mistake. She had been an Army sargent or something & turned the whole thing into the threat of the legal authorities coming down on me...even posting this makes me nervous she could read it & send out the government on me, not that i am doing anything illegal or wrong, but that was what she kept throwing in my face, what are the laws where i am? Since im in the country in another county, none of it applied, but that whole approach was not even slightly conducive to my progress...plus, she insisted i was irresponsible for not going on anti-depressants....i suppose this was the standard approach for the military mind, but did not help me at all!

I hired the only 'professionally trained 'hoarder helper in my area & it was an awful mistake. She had been an Army sargent or something & turned the whole thing into the threat of the legal authorities coming down on me...even posting this makes me nervous she could read it & send out the government on me, not that i am doing anything illegal or wrong, but that was what she kept throwing in my face, what are the laws where i am? Since im in the country in another county, none of it applied, but that whole approach was not even slightly conducive to my progress...plus, she insisted i was irresponsible for not going on anti-depressants....i suppose this was the standard approach for the military mind, but did not help me at all!

If you were near me, I'd hire you. I know just in my family, you would be busy for months. I think we're doing well and getting on the right path. However, I am having issues actually physically getting the clutter out of my house. For example, we don't have a truck or much muscle power. Also, my family doesn't want to just "throw away" a lot that might still have a value. Could you also hook up with a recycling or resell service. Just a quick example, I have thousands of books. I basically want to just drop them up at Good Will or put them in the garbage. My family is insisting on trying to sell them online. I actually lost $30 on shipping trying to do this. Could you maybe line up some services for these types of issues? I think hoarding is a specialized issue where some people don't want to just "junk" their hoards.

Also, I feel that when I clean up my mom's hoard, she immediately starts to clutter it up again. I am trying to work on organization skills with her, but she doesn't want to be bothered. Maybe a weekly service would help her?

Great business. Let us know how it turns out.

I want to start a small business in my town of Jackson Tenn. I have alot of experience in home staging and decorative skills. Id like to get my hoarding license as well. I want to offer several things such as staging homes to sell, help hoardres clean out their homes and others to decultter. Im hsving a harx time comming up with a overall name.there are no other services offered within 150 miles. Any ideals would be appreciated. E mail me @ gsilsmith1117@gmail.com

Hi Erika Eileen,

I think that sounds like a great idea and all you need is a push to get started.

You already know how to clean for a living. Just jump in and get the word out that your business is available to help people "clean up". You can teach them some things you have learned about how not to be a messy. If your friends in the mental health end of the business see some potential for them, they might want to network with you. If not, that's ok too. You don't have to be the perfect expert, just offer what you have. Start small and go from there. Don't let the whole "starting a business" thing scare you away from your idea.

Back in 1983, I started a business because my husband was starting to have serious complications from Type 1 Diabetes. I knew I had to do something soon to change the way things would go financially for us. So I quit my good job selling Cadillacs in Los Angeles, bought a bag of balloons, rented a helium tank and headed for the swap meet. It was a Wednesday so the spot only cost me $4.00 and I sold $9.00. I still had most of the balloons and helium left. I was thrilled. I worked my way into prime permanent weekend spots and expanded my line into stuffed animals too. I ended up having 3 very popular stores out in the area where we lived. Shopping centers started calling me to get me to open stores in their centers. Imagine that!

The lesson in this is... just jump in and do it. Everything doesn't have to be perfect.

Three Important Things...

1. Spend a minimum amount of money in the beginning.

2. Give customers good value for their money.

3. Advertise. You can start with fliers on cars, an ad in the PennySaver, something on the Internet, or even a bulletin board posting locally.

I hope this gives you a little push.

Beverly

I've been a Messy for most of my life. When I faced the issues contributing to the piles, things got better. I clean for a living and there are no services to help Messies and Hoarders in my area (Western New York). I want to help!! I don't have a mental health degree or much money. What I DO have: Friends! I do know some established area practitioners (not through treatment!). I know one practitioner from out-of-state, a recent transplant, who hasn't yet set up shop, with whom I can form an alliance. I know lots of sensitive, happy and helpful cleaners! And I have experience from my years of cleaning helping Messies, Hoarders, as well as people dealing with strokes, surgeries, TBI, and other physical and mental disabilities.
Where do I start?

Erika Eileen