I will not deny it – I am a hoarder on the long road to recovery. For many years, I hoarded possessions in order to have “happiness”, to keep myself safe, to keep others away. My proverbial line in the sand. As the years past, what should have made me happy served as a testament to serious psychological issues. My hoarding was a cry for help. It was also making me sicker.
In November 2011, I began to declutter. I had hoped to be done by May 2012 but decluttering has proved to be a very stressful and emotional process. A year later, I am still unearthing myself from the possessions I obtained. My hoarding is nowhere near as severe as what is shown on those television shows. I have never hoarded trash and there have always been some rooms that were clean-ish. It was the rooms with doors that had the biggest issues. They hid my “sins” from prying eyes should I have succumb to letting someone into the house.
By November 2012, I had given away a lot of items. I had also thrown away ungodly amount of trash as I found a lot of broken items in the mix. The room that had the most stuff piled into it is almost clear except for a few boxes and random bits I still need to sort through. There is still a lot of work to be done in 2013. There was a lot of stop and go with the work in 2012.
Anxiety over the loss of items was very crippling but lead to me learning about my own needs. I learned that I loathe empty places (kenophobia). Nothing causes more anxiety than an empty room. It was this discovery that lead to me dreaming about owning a tiny house some day soon. There are many obstacles in my path – obstacles that are the subject fodder for Simplicity Reveries – but I am looking for ways to overcome them.

Decluttering ~ Downsizing ~ Living Tiny ~ All Posts for Simplicity Reveries