Hi, Leo. I understand about hating to run out of things. But I put a system into place that works for my coffee needs, which I call "one back." In other words, I have a can of coffee in use at this time, and I have ONE stored in the pantry as backup. When I finish the current can, I put coffee on my grocery list, so I can put one in the pantry as I open the one from the pantry. No need to stockpile tons of things, just "one back."

I am in process of doing the same with cat food and cat supplies as I tend to run out of them at most inconvenient times. So I have to work hard to implementing a "one back" system for cat things.

My now ex-husband had a period of time in his life when his family was extremely poor and had little to eat. He always felt better if he could see he had a pantry of food available (after we were married). In time, his concern with stockpiles disappeared as he felt assured he could afford to buy food. Stockpiling was no longer an issue.

Good luck and keep reading and posting, okay?

Hi Leo :)

Welcome!

I am just starting my sorting...been a hoarder of sorts all my life. I have a very hard time throwing things away and I HATE to run out of anything.

Welcome, Sandy. I'm sorry to hear you had another hoard to clean up. But you can do it. You are, I believe, correct in your current reasoning that unless you change your behavior and mindset, you haven't resolved the hoarding problem. If you read through everything you can here, participate in posting on the boards and hopefully attending the online support groups, that ought to help. Additionally, look at National Resources above and click for your state to see if there is anyone or anything listed that might help in your area. I'm thinking along the lines of a therapist, perhaps an organizer, etc?

I underwent a cleanout about a month ago and am here on the boards every day because I know I need to keep attending to behavior changes and cleaning, organizing, holding myself accountable.

Anyway, welcome!

I did a major cleanup 2 years ago, and my house today looks almost as bad as it did before the cleanup. Obviously cleaning up is not the only answer for me. What prompted the cleanup is that a repair person who had come to my house called Child Protective Services because the house was so messy. I managed to put them off for several weeks because I was going out of town, and then the social worker was going away on vacation. During these few weeks I spent close to $10,000 cleaning out my house and garage and getting new carpets and some new furniture. I probably didn't need to do so much work, but I decided that this was an opportunity to really make my house nice. The person from Child Protective Services was impressed, and they went away without ever having seen what it looked like before the cleanup. Now 2 years have passed, and the house is almost as bad as it was before. Obviously I changed my house temporarily, but I didn't change myself. I am back to cleaning out and fixing up the house again, and this time I will do most of it myself without spending so much money. But I need to find a way to change how I live.

Thanks Susan, really enjoyed reading your post. I have been working on this hoarding disorder with the help of this site. I have stopped bringing junk home, still having trouble getting rid of stuff, although did fill the garbage can again this week, and took another load to thrift store, just so much more. Thanks again for your inspiration.

Hi Susan :)

Thank you for sharing your story here with us.

It is very important that we get to hear wonderful success stories. :)

Newbie here, thanks for welcoming me on chat the other weekend. I had things organized in our house until my marriage fell apart then just stopped caring. Trying to take care of 3 kids and at one point 8 rabbits, now I know that was animal hoarding. The kids grew up and the rabbits went to rabbit heaven, with no new ones coming in.

As part of moving across country I had to choose which things to take, which was a cause for soul searching. Got rid of a lot of stuff, then moved again at the new site and pitched a whole bunch more. Read Don Aslett's Not for Packrats Only and tried to follow that advice. Follow flylady and her daily routines to get stuff organized.

Like a recovering alcoholic, I am on watch to see that I don't slip into bad habits about stuff. Shopping is fun. Sorting and putting away...not so much. Am doing better about giving stuff to charity regularly and keeping that trash bin full as kind of a game. New husband is helpful in living lean. Anyhoo thanks for this resource, I'm inspired by what you all are accomplishing!