r/hoarding • u/sethra007 Senior Moderator • Jan 13 '16

Resource Hoarding Resource List 4.0

IF YOU'RE NEW TO THIS SUB AND LOOKING FOR HELP, PLEASE SEE THIS POST: "I Have A Hoarder In My Life--Help Me!" Your Hoarding Quick-Start Kit

I present Version 4.0 of the Hoarding Resource List!

Changes include:

  1. The list of Support organizations keeps growing--which is a good thing!--so I've broken them up under this header, and re-organized it to include national support groups and online support groups. If you know of any that aren't listed, please message the mods.
  2. Fixed a handful of links. If I missed one, please message the mods.
  3. All of the TV shows, memoirs, etc. are now under the heading of MEDIA.
  4. New section--Hoarding and Kids

The purpose of the Hoarding Resource List is to categorize resources/advice found on this sub and elsewhere, and provide contact info for organizations able to aid compulsive hoarders and their loved ones for free or at low-cost. We can't guarantee that you won't ever have to pay anything to get help (and some, such as buying the books listed or attending the conferences, will obviously cost you something), but the intention is to stay away from those organizations that will cost you a lot of money, such as professional clean-up companies or private therapist.

As always, if you have any suggestions for the Resource list, please message the mods.

In an effort to make this list a bit more readable, major sections have been broken up into the comments section below. Sort the comments by OLD to see everything in order.

If anyone else knows of any resources--ESPECIALLY for people outside of the USA--please share them in this thread!

/r/hoarding also has a Wiki now, so feel free to add the appropriate information to it. And if someone there knows how to input all of this info into a Wiki ('cause I sure don't!), please feel free to do so!

The previous edition of the Hoarding Resource List can be found here.

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u/sethra007 Jan 13 '16 edited Jun 26 '17

DEALING WITH HOARDERS

Mandated Reporting of a Hoarder - In 18 US states and Puerto Rico, ANYONE who suspects abuse or neglect is required by law to report it, regardless of their profession. If you live in Canada, you're also required by law to report child abuse or neglect. If you’re not professionally mandated by law, you can usually file a report anonymously. Check out www.childwelfare.gov for more information. And see also:

In the meantime....

  1. r/hoarding - In an effort to understand the hoarding mindset, a member asked Why arn't hoarders ever organized?. See also Need insight: why does the hoarder need for the hoard to be a MESS? Please help because there will be consequences.

  2. How to Get Hoarders Into Treatment

  3. r/hoarding: But What Actually Works With Hoarders?

  4. Staging an Intervention

  5. Interventions, and Advice From a Family Law Attorney

  6. ChicagoNow.com – Living with a Hoarder: How to Handle It

  7. Psych Up with Dr. Suzanne Phillips - Living With Someone’s Clutter or Hoarding: How Do You Cope?

  8. OffbeatHome.com - 5 ways to cope with hoarding

  9. jezebel.com – How To Survive A Christmas Visit With Your Hoarding Mother

  10. Hoarding and the Holidays

  11. My Mom is A Hoarder and I Think I Just Spent My Last Night at Her Home - "After visiting my mother in Arizona for Thanksgiving, I realized not being responsible for the space you create can negatively impact those around you." - an article from xojane.com about staying over at a hoarding parent's home during the holidays.

  12. Gaiam.com - What to Do if You Live with a Hoarder

  13. MassHousing: How to Talk to Someone with Hoarding - Dos and .Don'ts (PDF).

  14. Safety Day - Another Way to Talk to a Hoarder About Cleaning Up

  15. London (U.K.) Fire Brigade - Fire Safety Tips for Hoarders

  16. Derbyshire (U.K.) Fire & Rescue Service - Fire Safety Tips: Hoarder

  17. Address Our Mess: The Official List of Do’s and Don’ts for Helping Hoarders

  18. r/hoarding: Why Children of Hoarders Sometimes Come Across As Assholes

  19. r/hoarding: Don't JADE

  20. The Julie6100 - a Redditor applies advice from r/hoarding to coax her hoarding boyfriend into cleaning a small space in their home. Brilliant example of patience, listening, and respecting the hoarder's emotional needs.

  21. r/hoarding - A new trick I developed for dealing with hoarders who attach memories to everything.. A Redditor shares a gentle exercise she designed to help her hoarder see that the memories are in his head, not in his objects.

  22. AARP.org Chat - How to Downsize Your Parents Who Might Be Hoarding

  23. Jewish Families and Children's Service (Phoenix, AZ) - Motivating Change in a Hoarding Environment - PDF

  24. British Psychological Society - A Psychological Perspective on Hoarding. This report provides information, guidance and recommendations for people working with those with hoarding difficulties. It is intended to be read by clinical or counseling psychologists, and used as a resource by those working both within NHS, social care and/or independently, providing information on what hoarding is, and the evidence for psychological intervention.

  25. r/hoarding - We Just Don't Have Time To Do This The Right Way. A poster's BIL is slowly recovering from a serious medical crisis, but has to move back to his hoarding parents' home while he's still fragile. Advice is offered in this thread.

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u/sethra007 Jan 13 '16

DEALING WITH HOARDERS - HARM REDUCTION STRATEGY

  1. r/hoarders - Harm Reduction - What It Means, How To Do It

  2. Safety Day - Another Way to Talk to a Hoarder About Cleaning Up - yes, this is repeated from another section, but it really is a great implementation of the Harm Reduction Strategy.

  3. SocialWorkToday.com - Treating People Who Hoard — What Works for Clients and Families: "Recently, researchers and psychologists have suggested using harm-reduction methods in family therapy to address hoarding behavior. Harm-reduction therapy focuses on helping family members develop a management plan for improving the safety and comfort of a hoarder’s home."

  4. Hoarding Connection of Cuyahoga County - Enforced Harm Reduction: "This model relies on a team of housing enforcement and social, health and mental health services personnel to work with the person who hoards. The goal is long-term management of the situation; not elimination."

  5. Safety Guidelines from California Code Enforcement - A California code enforcement officer who participates in a hoarding support group shared the following safety guidelines with that group a few years ago. Note that different states, counties, cities, etc. can have different requirements, but her list is a good place to start.

  6. London (U.K.) Fire Brigade - Safety Tips For Hoarders

  7. Derbyshire (U.K.) Fire & Rescue - Fire Safety Tips: Hoarders

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u/sethra007 Jan 13 '16 edited Aug 01 '17

FOR RECOVERING HOARDERS - GETTING OUT OF THE HOARDING MINDSET

  1. childrenofhoarders.com - 5 Stages of Change for Hoarders

  2. LifeHacker – How Much Money Is Your Clutter Costing You?

  3. r/hoarding: How do you change your thoughts

  4. Video: The Downward Arrow: a video demonstration of rethinking your items, with Dr. Randy Frost.

  5. r/hoarding: Use A Dysfunctional Thought Record (DTR) To Change Your Thinking

  6. r/hoarding: Shame, and Overcoming Shame-Based Thinking

  7. A Little Table on How to Get Rid of All That Negative Self-Talk

  8. The Non-Acquiring Card from 'Buried In Treasures'

  9. r/hoarding - Clutter Blindness: What It Is and How to Fight It

  10. This r/BestOf comment from u/stopaclock has great advice and exercises for the recovering hoarder.

  11. Living Life to the Full - a Free, Guided Introduction to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy - a free website that takes you through how to identify unhelpful thoughts and feelings, and develop new ways of thinking using CBT methods. Recommended for use by the National Health Service in the UK.

  12. I'm Having A Hard Time Letting Go Of Things - What Can I Do? Someone trying to de-hoard gave away a saddle, and posted while she was in the grip of her anxiety from having done so. The r/hoarding community helps her work through things, and provides advice.

  13. Tell the story of your possessions: u/Call4Compassion attended the 2017 IOCDF Conference, and gave a live demonstration of how she processes her feelings about an object as she decides what to do with it. She explains that in detail in the video, and in this post.

  14. New York Times - Parenting Your Own Children After Living with Hoarding Parents: A Hoarder’s Daughter Yields to a (Little) Mess

  15. r/hoarding – Things I Realized As I Fight My Hoarding Tendencies

  16. r/hoarding - Parting With Sentimental Clutter (taken from Unclutterer.com)

  17. r/hoarding - Phone apps you can use to remind you to do chores regularly.

  18. Self-Help Tools for Hoarders

  19. How To Recover From Hoarding – Preparing To Get Organized

  20. r/hoarding - for those who are still undoing their hoarding. Great advice from a recovering hoarder.

  21. r/hoarding - Perfectionism, and Experimenting with Reduction of Clutter

  22. r/hoarding - Does anyone have any experience with professional hoarding clean outs? I'm about to do it.. A recovering hoarder anxious about hiring a clean-up company learns what to expect from those who've hired one.

  23. r/hoarding - as you clean up, u/CovertGypsy suggests making a 'Done List' as you work on tasks. It's motivating to see how much you've accomplished.

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u/sethra007 Jan 13 '16 edited Sep 14 '18

I HAVE HOARDING TENDENCIES AND WANT TO LEARN TO CLEAN UP – HOW DO I START?

First, get your home safe! London (U.K.) Fire Brigade - Safety Tips For Hoarders

If you have a fearful reaction when you try to get remove items from your house, focus on Starting Small so you can get your reaction under control. Then start with these sites:

  1. Lifehacker: How to De-Crapify Your Home - A Start-to-Finish Guide

  2. Unf*ck Your Habitat

  3. FlyLady.net

  4. The Clutter Wizard

  5. OrganizedHome.com

  6. r/hoarding - My Top Hoarding Tip: the Fire Technique

  7. How to Declutter Your Entire Home Going Room by Room

  8. Oprah.com - Clean Your Messy Home in Six Months

  9. r/hoarding – Clothing: How Much SHOULD You Own?

  10. DeltaDiscovery.com: What to Do When You Just Don’t Have Time to Get Rid of Stuff You've Hoarded?

  11. r/hoarding discussion: How to Clean When You're Disabled?. See also 11 Cleaning Tips That Will Spare Your Joints from the Arthritis Foundation.

  12. r/hoarding discussion about cleaning when you have ADHD: Non-hoarder hoarding.

  13. Two Housekeeping Schedules to Help You Stay On Top of Cleaning: Simple and More Detailed.

  14. My Anxiety Plan for Hoarding from the Anxiety Ass'n of British Columbia.

Once your clutter is under control, move on to this:

  1. Household-Management-101's How To Clean Things

  2. r/hoarding: Spring Cleaning Resources – Good for any deep, thorough cleaning of your home.

  3. r/hoarding - Phone apps you can use to remind you to do chores regularly.

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u/sethra007 Jan 13 '16 edited Mar 31 '19

CLEANING UP AFTER A HOARDER

  1. How Much Does It Cost To Clean Up After A Hoarder? - the articles addresses "dry hoarders", "wet hoarders", and animal hoarders.

  2. r/hoarders - I've Cleaned Up After Two Hoarders. Here's How I Did It.

  3. Children of Hoarders web site: Crisis Cleaning Advice & Tips-From Those Who Have Done It (PDF)

  4. Bagster.Com - Potential Resource When Dumpsters Are Too Expensive

  5. r/hoarding - Cleaning Out? Ask Your Garbage Service About The Maximum Number of Bags You Can Set Out.

  6. USA Food and Drug Administration: How to Dispose of Unused Medicines

  7. Newsweek: What Happens When A Hoarder Dies?

  8. BankRate.com: How Long You Should Keep Personal Finance Records on File

  9. r/hoarding - Pet-Hoarding Clean-Up: Need Advice

If you have items that are legitimately worth selling, see this post: Where to Sell Common Items

If you have items that are still in good shape, consider donating them:

  1. See this link for places to donate.

  2. Donations are usually tax deductible in the USA. See this link for info on how to determine the value of the things you donated, and how you can track your donations as you make them during the year.

  3. Give Back Box - If you're searching for ways to donate your used items, and you also have a bunch of boxes from your online orders, you can print free pre-paid shipping labels to have your items delivered to a charity.

Hiring Companies To Clean Up

We typically stay away from recommending hoarding clean-up companies, unless a member here has actually hired a company and can vouch for them. So far we have two recommendations from Redditors:

  • Steri-Clean has been used by at least one user on this sub, u/krhsg (who shares about the experience here), and comes highly recommended. Steri-Clean is run by Cory Chalmers, who's appeared on the t.v. show Hoarders over the years, so they know what they're about. Check them out at www.Hoarders.com or 1 800 HOARDERS.

  • u/sarty recommends a company called Bio One, a national business that cleans up after crime scenes and hoarding. You can read about sarty's experience with Bio One here and here and here

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u/sethra007 Jan 13 '16 edited Oct 20 '16

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT TASK FORCES, SUPPORT GROUPS, AND SERVICE AGENCIES:

  1. Different task forces and agencies provide different services. If you need assistance, bear in mind that you may have to deal with multiple gov't agencies.

  2. Whatever you do, don't go in assuming that one of these organizations will help you with a clean-up, like on the TV shows. Most of these agencies don’t have the funding to do clean-ups.

  3. That said, if a hoarder has homeowner insurance AND has been formally diagnosed with hoarding disorder, check with the homeowner insurance company. We've been hearing anecdotally that some--repeat, some!--homeowner's insurance will pay for a one-time clean-up if there's a formal diagnosis in place. It can't hurt to ask.

Because this list has gotten a little unwieldy as more places offer support for hoarders, we've tried to break it up a little.

ONLINE SUPPORT GROUPS

  1. Children of Hoarders web site and forum

  2. Friends of Hoarders

  3. Clutterers Anonymous

  4. Messies Anonymous

  5. Messiness and ADD

  6. Overcoming Hoarding Together (for recovering hoarders)

  7. Compulsive Hoarding Community (for recovering hoarders)

  8. Stepping Out of Squalor Community (for recovering hoarders)

  9. SerenityBayHoarders - This is an exclusive group for women hoarders ONLY who are trying to understand their illness.

  10. CafeMom.com: Help! I'm A Hoarder! Forums

  11. Steri-Clean's Online Support Groups: Meets Sunday night at 5:00pm PT/8:00pm PT, and Tuesday nights at 6:00pm PT/9:00pm ET.

SUPPORT - USA

If you're concerned about paying for therapy: As funded and regulated by the federal government, every region in the USA has a community mental health center that provides therapy and psychiatric services to anyone, regardless of ability to pay. They offer a sliding fee scale (as low as $3 per visit) to help the uninsured. Use this link to find your local provider.

The following organizations have “find a therapist” functions on their websites that list therapists specifically trained to treat hoarding:

And see also:

  1. r/hoarding: LIST OF HOARDING TASK FORCES - USA - warning: this list is dated!

  2. MeetUp.com - Hoarding Support Groups

  3. If the hoarder is a senior citizen, contact your state's Department on Aging.

  4. Messies Anonymous: Local Support Groups

  5. Clutterers Anonymous - A twelve-step program for clutterers and hoarders, similar to Alcoholics Anonymous. Information about local meetings and phone-in meetings.

  6. Psychologist Terry Shulman formed Hoarders Anonymous. For more information, contact Hoarders Anonymous at 248-358-8508 or go to www.theshulmancenter.com.

  7. Institute for Challenging Disorganization

  8. National Association of Professional Organizers. There are also Australian and Canadian National Professional Organizing groups.

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u/sethra007 Jan 13 '16 edited Jan 14 '16

HOMEOWNER ISSUES

INSURANCE

Special Note About Homeowner's Insurance: If a hoarder has homeowner insurance AND has been formally diagnosed with hoarding disorder, check with the homeowner insurance company. We've been hearing anecdotally that some--repeat, some!--homeowner's insurance will pay for a one-time clean-up if there's a formal diagnosis in place. It can't hurt to ask.

  1. Hoarding can hurt homeowner’s insurance coverage

  2. Hoarding: An Investigative and Insurance Policy Challenge

  3. Hoarders, beware: Homeowner's insurance could be pulled

  4. Claims-management.theclm.org: How to Handle a Hoarder - Claims Involving a Hoarder Involve a Landfill of Coverage and Damage Issues (article written for home insurance professionals).

LEGAL

  1. OCFoundation.org: Hoarding and the Legal System, by Cristina Sorrentino Schmalisch, PhD, LICSW. Overview of challenges faced when the legal system becomes involved in hoarding situations.

  2. OCFoundation.org: Navigating the Goat Path - Compulsive Hoarding, or Collyer Brother Syndrome, and the Legal Reality of Clutter, by Keith P. Ronan (Managing Notes Editor, Rutgers Law Review) (PDF). "This Note offers recommendations and solutions to municipalities and agencies that struggle with compulsive hoarders that will reduce recidivism, streamline problem-solving, and coincide with the purpose of the Fair Housing Amendments Act."

  3. NorthPennLegal.org : Hoarding Handbook - Know Your Rights (PDF) "This pamphlet provides general information for tenants and homeowners with hoarding issues. This pamphlet does not provide legal advice, which you can only get from an attorney." Specific to Lehigh or Northampton counties in Pennsylvania only, but a good example of what you might expect legally in the US if dealing with a hoarder.

  4. The Virginia Fair Housing Office offers free seminars on legal rights/responsibilities under the Fair Housing Law. Recommended for landlords, property managers, the general public, or anyone who sells, leases, owns, or manages residential property. They've done seminars about hoarding in the past and could assist you with those issues.

SELLING YOUR HOARDED HOME

  1. KeepingCurrentMatters.com: Hoarding Homeowners Present Challenges for Real Estate Agents

  2. Herald-Sun (Australia): Selling the Homes of Hoarders Isn't Easy

MOVING

  1. OklahomaImpressions.com: When A Hoarder Decides To Move

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u/sethra007 Jan 13 '16 edited Mar 31 '19

LANDLORDS, HOAs, & RENTERS

  1. r/hoarding: Can You Be Forcibly Evicted For Hoarding?

  2. HOALeader.com - What Should Your Homeownership Association (HOA) Do to Prevent Hoarding?

  3. MEEB.com - More Condominium Communities Are Struggling with Hoarders and the Problems they Create

  4. CondoAssociation.com Forums - How does a condo association handle a hoarder? Other HOA members offer advice to someone in Arizona dealing with a hoarder.

  5. PropertyManagementInsider.com: How to Deal with Hoarding at your Apartment Property

  6. Units Magazine, from the Nat'l Apartment Association: Hoarding - What's An Apartment Manager To Do?. Good article on specific steps apartment managers should take when dealing with a hoarding tenant.

  7. Infographic: How Hoarders Take Material Love Too Far

  8. NorthPennLegal.org: Reasonable Accommodation - Some Sample Letters. Sample letters to demonstrate requesting 'reasonable accommodation' under the USA's Fair Housing Act. Please note that these letters are specific to Pennsylvania's laws, and probably won't be useful if you live elsewhere. If you need to seek 'reasonable accommodation' under the USA's Fair Housing laws, you should consult with an attorney in your area first!

  9. If you're in the US, here's a reference of eviction processes by state.

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u/sethra007 Jan 13 '16 edited Dec 13 '18

BOOKS ABOUT THE DISORDER, AND TO HELP YOU DEAL WITH YOUR HOARDER

  1. Children of Hoarders: How to Minimize Conflict, Reduce the Clutter, and Improve Your Relationship by Dr. Fugen Neziroglu. The book explores strategies for communicating with hoarder parents, and outlines practical intervention skills. It also shows readers how to let go of the personal shame and guilt associated with being the child of a hoarder.

  2. Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring For Yourself, by Melody Beatty. From u/hubbyofahoarder: “[This book] will be a revelation to you; when you read it, you'll feel the cold slap of recognition of your own behaviors. Co-dependence is often thought of from a substance abuse perspective, but in my anecdotal experience, and that of others, many SO's of hoarders are co-dependents.”

  3. Digging Out: Helping Your Loved One Manage Clutter, Hoarding, and Compulsive Acquiring by Michael A. Tompkins. This is an excellent book, written specifically for the spouse, family, and/or loved ones on how to deal with the hoarder in your life who won't accept that he's a hoarder. It's not a book on "organizing tips" or anything for people who are merely disorganized. This book actually gives you a plan for communicating with your hoarder, identifying issues, working on your relationship with your hoarder, and in general coaxing your hoarder to a healthier way of doing things. It advocates a harm reduction approach, in order to get the hoarder to cooperate.

  4. Before the world heard of "hoarders", Sandra Felton was writing about "messies". A reformed hoarder herself, she wrote Messie No More: Understanding and Overcoming the Roadblocks to Being Organized, which (among other things) discusses how most organizational methods don't work for messies, and give practical advice on what can work for you, and how to implement it. Her entire series of books are gold for recovering hoarders.

  5. Scaling Down : Living Large in a Smaller Space by Judi Culbertson. This book gets inside the mind of the reader who wants to do something about all the stuff they have, but worry they will give away something they may need later, something that was a gift from someone, something that reminds them of something good long ago, or a variety of other mind games 'stuff' evokes. The author also tackles the prevention issue so that the reader doesn't get back into the mess they just got out of. Best of all, the author does all this without making the reader feel like a loser or stupid for becoming a pack rat, hoarder, or procrastinator. Has step-by-step guides and is written specifically for the older reader (but can be helpful to anyone of any age).

  6. You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid, or Crazy?! by Kate Kelly, et. al.. ADD can be a factor in compulsive hoarding! Written by adults with ADD for adults with ADD, the is arguably one of the best books about ADD ever written.

  7. If your hoarder is ready to admit he's a hoarder, Buried in Treasures: Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving, and Hoarding by Skeketee, Tolin, and Frost is the book for them. It includes strategies for changing unhelpful beliefs about one's possessions, and behavioral experiments to reduce one's anxiety and fear of discarding. You can see a video presentation of some of the research in the book at this link.

  8. Overcoming Compulsive Hoarding: Why You Save and How You Can Stop is another book written specifically for the self-admitted hoarder looking for where to start. The psychiatrist authors offer a series of skill-building exercises to help a hoarder identify why they hoard, so they can eventually clean.

  9. The Hoarder in You: How to Live a Happier, Healthier, Uncluttered Life by Dr. Robin Zasio. Zasio shares psychological and practical advice for de-cluttering and organizing, including how to tame the emotional pull of acquiring things, getting a handle on clutter, and creating an organizational system that reduces stress and anxiety.

  10. Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things, by Skeketee and Frost, is an invaluable book to help family and friends understand the mindsets of people who hoard.

  11. The Hoarding Handbook: A Guide for Human Service Professionals. If you're a social services professional who has reason to deal with hoarders, or a family member looking to understand the public agencies to get involved, this book is for you. Chapters discuss service delivery systems, assessment of severity and risks to self & others, housing, public health, protective services, the legal system, and professional organizers.

  12. The Clinician's Guide to Severe Hoarding, by Michael A. Tompkins, describes an alternative strategy to help those who adamantly refuse help and yet face significant health and safety risks due to the hoarding problem – harm reduction. The book is geared towards mental health practitioners, home health aides, social workers, and professional organizers.

  13. The Secret Lives of Hoarders: True Stories of Tackling Extreme Clutter, by Matt Paxton and Phaedra Hise. Paxton appears on the t.v. show Hoarders, and gives advice on guiding hoarders through the clean-up process.

  14. The Oxford Handbook of Hoarding and Acquiring is the first volume to detail the empirical research on hoarding. A resource for practitioners and researchers, the summaries of research and clinical interventions contained here clarify the emotional and behavioral features, diagnostic challenges, and nature of the treatment interventions for this new disorder.

There's a ton more books but the above books we can definitely recommend.