Are you already or are you on your way to becoming a Hoarder?

I want to start this article by saying that I could be,
 (would be) (ok am) a hoarder if it wasn't for my wife Pam!  Every now and then she gives me a few suttle hints that we (I) need to get rid of this or that.  She grew up in a minimalistic small household in the Catskills with a very loving, obsessive compulsive cleaner as a mother we will call her Shilvia!

I don't think Pam had ever purchased whole garlic until she met me!

I tend to collect "things" and "stuff" that sometimes pile up, sometimes get recycled or sold and sometimes ultimately end up in the trash after our garage sale we have every two years.  We constantly converse about downsizing after the kids are out of the house, but truly, I don't know where I would store my "stuff" if we did so.  After many years of self-analysis, I think my obsession with collecting "stuff" may be the cause of my upbringing where I did not get any "stuff" from my parents unless I worked in their restaurants and ended up having to buy things myself. This made me want to hold on to my "stuff" as it was so hard to obtain it. My parents, although they were great roll models and very hard workers, did not believe in allowances, so when I wanted to buy candy or a bottle of soda, I had to go out and collect deposit soda bottles and turn them into the local grocery store for 2-3 cents a piece. Later on in middle school, I would buy candy by the box wholesale and sell it at school, out of my back pack to make a profit.  I have always been a successful entrepreneur probably because of my upbringing and work ethic that was branded into me by my parents. 

But this article is about HOARDING!

You can not even imagine what I have seen in my years of being a home improvement contractor and real estate broker.  Have you seen the shows on TV about hoarders?  Well it is in full existence and I see it all the time.

Last month, I was doing a remodeling job in Warren for a very nice older widowed woman, and as I was conversing with her (after she forced me to eat some of her delicious home made apple tart and toll-house cookies) about her mother who had recently passed away (at 96) and her house that she was cleaning out and getting ready to sell in Whippany.  She started to tell me about her mother the hoarder and that she had tried to have a garage sale to get rid of some of the Chatzkees (yiddish for collectibles)(not sure if the spelling is correct!)  Well this struck my excitement nerve and I just had to go look and see if there was any "stuff" that I could salvage.  So she then told me she had already contracted with a estate sale company to go in and clean out the house.  When she said they were charging her $8,000 for the task of "cleaning it out",  I had to get the key from her right then and there and go up to Whippany on a Friday afternoon in the middle of rush hour traffic to see this with my own eyes.  She continued by saying there were 4 attics in the house and a basement that were packed to the brim with things.  OMG, I was so excited, because part of my business is to do just that, go and clean out houses either after someone dies, or if somebody wants to have junk removed, or if it is a vacant home that is being prepared for sale.

She gave me the key and permission to take whatever I wanted, and I then went to look at the property.  After arriving, for the first time in my life, I was overwhelmed!  This was a modest 4 bedroom 2 bath split level house with a partial unfinished basement and an attached 2 car garage that was filled to the brim with everything from non-constructed boxed model airplanes to every little chatzkee from Disney characters to souvenir store crap, auto parts, Bell System wiring, tools, nopened kitchen knives, books, so many books, Bausch and Lomb microscopes, scales, clothing, linens, dishes, junk and more junk.  OMG again!

At first,while speaking to my customer, I thought to myself, "how could anyone charge over $8,000 to clean out a house" especially since there might be a potential of reselling a lot of the items.  Well after seeing the house, I was so glad that I did not take this one on.  

This house was so full, it would take weeks to go through all of the junk and two 30 cubic yard dumpsters before going through all of the items in order to find that needle in the haystack.

I must say that after every garage sale or house clean out that I do, the relief and feeling of elation when the I go to the dump to get rid of the junk is amazing!

If you are a hoarder (or on the way to becoming a hoarder) or just don't want to admit to it,  and want to clean up your act, give me a call, I can make a few suggestions in order to organize and simplify your life...and get rid of that "stuff" .   Jeff's Handyman Service  (908) 403-8900