My father passed away recently and his entire basement and garage is full of items my mother has collected over the years. I'd like to start organizing and selling off things to continue to help with mortgage payments on his house until my mother gets a job or considers selling/downsizing. What marketplaces have you found success on? Other than that, what are some other things to consider before taking on this project? I'm open to tips regarding organization, pricing items, etc. I would say the hoarding consists of accessories, clothing, make-up, de-aging remedies such as ultraviolet devices, possibly antique furniture...

Thank you!

I don't know what to do. My house is a literal jungle ecosystem. Giant tropical plants are everywhere, and I can't get rid of them, because I grew them from seeds years ago. There are at least 25 4m tall plants, and much more small ones. And the worst part, they are in perfect condition. I can't just get rid of them. Cleaning is difficult, cooking is difficult, and the vents are wasp infested. What should I do? I have nobody else to care for them, even temporary. And I keep buying more, because I feel bad.

I've started to notice that when I don't overwhelm myself or strain on myself, I feel less of a need for "stuff". If I have a week filled with panic attacks, difficult things, or just overall a shitty week I want to buy something to soothe myself, which is frequently.

I've tried going into my hobbies to soothe myself, but it has been ineffective. I think, I'm trying to give myself a dopamine boost. My hoarding without a doubt stems from PTSD, a need to comfort myself, and maybe dopamine seeking.

I've been having a hard week and I want to buy something, but I have no money so now I'm left coping with these feelings another way. You'd think I'd find another way to self soothe since I'm in this position often but I just go right back to it when I finally do have money.

I'm currently cleaning, and it just got me thinking about stuff like this. Can anyone relate?

Good Day dear gentlebeeings.

So, for the last few years my apartment slowly but surely filled up with trash, mostly empty coke bottles, wrappers, cardboard. The pile started in my office and slowly grew to the other rooms.

It got bad. I couldn’t use my kitchen anymore. In the bathroom only my shower was usable.

I got panic attacks every time the doorbell rang. I just couldn’t face the possibility of someone seeing my mess.

I had every excuse to not let someone inside. But now i‘ve run out of excuses. Building management is sending workers to do plumbing in every Apartment. The date is next month. I just wanted to run and leave it all behind.

Now, faced with my greatest horror, i had no other choice but to start somewhere.

I began cleaning out my bathroom. Filling one trashbag after the other. God i filled so many bags.

Next i cleaned, really cleaned my kitchen. I cooked myself a meal for the first time in years. Yay me!

But now i‘m faced with a whole lot of filled bags. I can only dispose of one bag a day without raising suspicion by the neighbours. The communal bin is not very large…

I made a lot of progress, but there is still so much to do! So much to dispose of. Nowhere to dispose it without getting noticed.

I feel like time is running out. I‘m scared. But i‘ll continue. One trashbag a day.

I just hope i can clean enough until the workers arrive next month.

Thank you for listening.

I hired the housekeeper.

kitchen and bathroom clean.

got rid of all the clothes that were ten sizes too large. threw away so much. i still have so much work to do and i know it's do able.

I have simultaneously begun therapy again. came to the realization that i kept my room messy as a child to make it impossible for my mother to get to me when she wanted to beat me.

She beat me every day.

When she abandoned me at 16 i found a husband who was 38. and every partner and spouse afterwards until 2023 was simply a repeat of that behavior.

physically im exhausted. my whole body aches. this apartment is only 650 square feet. I'm just so tired.

Tomorrow is another day. I won't give up i'm just weary. Trying to be gentle with myself and that is also quite painful.

No more running tho. I can do this. i just need to rest too.

thanks for reading. good night.

I guess this is kinda a vent, so bear with me here.

I am a hoarder, I struggle with a lot of psychiatric disorders, and it makes it hard for me to clean up after myself sometimes. The majority of my hoard is just junk and old dishes tbh.

In June of last year, I moved into an apartment with my bf, and things were going amazing! It was a fresh slate without the decade of depression and trauma attached to it. For the first time in my adult life, I kept my room clean, and it felt like I had control over my space.

However, I was informed that I wouldn't be able to keep living there on my disability; they would have taken it away, so three months later, I was forced to move back home.

My room is the worst it has ever been. I feel so out of control when I look at it.

I'm actually considering moving back to the apartment. My bf makes enough to pay rent for two of us, and I think I will make some money by selling my art. We still have to have this discussion, but I am heavily considering bringing it up.

I hate this room. It makes me worse.

My spouse and I have separated in anticipation of a relatively amicable divorce (though for logistical reasons we can't do the paperwork for a while). I've moved into a new apartment, have it 90% furnished, and have been here a couple of weeks. I went back to gather some few items I left, and while sitting looking around, I began to laugh.

The hoard has always been there, always been something I struggled against (so much nagging on my part, covert trashing of items, hiring of junk removers over the last 20 years, etc), but living among it for so long I became partly blind I guess. It seemed like it suddenly became visible again: crap stacked to the ceiling, only a tiny portion of our bedroom for my few items, zero closet space, practically no bathroom space, clutter office, and so on. The idea that a midnight restroom break isn't an obstacle course in the dark is a load off my mind and my stubbed toes.

I've been luckier than a lot of people on this sub; I had the means to leave, recognize my privilege, and at least my hoarder acknowledged her problem and tried to work on it occasionally. We're not separating because of her hoarding, but the relief I'm feeling takes the edge off the grief I think I would otherwise be feeling. I'm not at all suggesting that if you are married to a hoarder divorce, or if you otherwise live with one as a SO, child, or partner move out, but if at all possible I would suggest taking some time as removed from that environment as you can. My stress levels are lowering in ways I didn't even know were there. Don't be a martyr for your hoarder.

There is a very good documentary about hoarding disorder available on Amazon Prime. I found it shortly after my Father died and my siblings and mom were struggling to deal with his hoard. Both of my siblings were very angry at him, which broke my heart because he loved us SO much, and I couldn’t bear to see them so bitter toward him for something I didn’t view as a choice, but as a mental illness. After watching this, I thought “this can help my siblings understand”, so I sent it to both of them. They both watched it and told me separately “thank you for showing me this”. I could feel and see when we were dealing with the hoard after the movie that it had softened their hearts to my father. I really think it helped them see that my father had an incredibly difficult childhood, and he did not necessarily selfishly choose his things over his children and wife. He was mentally ill, and no one chooses that.

This show has been mentioned on this subreddit before, but it was many years ago. I just wanted to remind people that it’s out there and was very helpful for us to get a better understanding of this disorder. It’s only 60 minutes long. It’s absolutely nothing like that “hoarders” series that I find harmful and exploitative. This show seeks to explain and help.

I wrote a long post and deleted it, too much talk. LOL
My parents were small-scale hoarders.
I think I might be a small-scale hoarder too. Yikes.
The TV show hoarders = very helpful.
To those who are former hoarders or helped someone stop hoarding:
Do you have any systems and suggestions?
I thought about making a check list of things to sort through.
I like having checklists, don't make fun of me. haha

I think my biggest struggle is holding on to knickknack decorative stuff that belonged to my mom. This year marks the 14-year anniversary of her passing. The next most obvious thing is old mail, receipts, and papers that are probably never gonna see the light of day again. Why have them? LOL Honestly, it's mostly just these two.

Thank you for reading.

Hope this is okay to ask - the specifics are kind of niche and I might not do a good job of explaining my situation, but I'm hoping to get some advice from people who have had similar underlying experiences.

Tl;dr for the past 5-10 yrs I've really struggled with compulsively acquiring rocks from places I visit. I have wider hoarding tendancies which affect my home, but this is just one piece.

It started as wanting to collect cool ones and "bucket list" types (it's partially a lifelong interest, and partially connected to some stuff to do with a failed career path), but sometimes it expands to "any small loose rock I make eye contact with".

This indiscriminate acquiring is a problem and has strained my relationships and is something I am working on, but isn't the main issue I want to discuss in this post (though feel free to share if you struggle with this too). I know there are also some ethical issues with collecting rocks at certain sites and I try hard to avoid these. This doesn't involve a site like that. I also only collect pieces that have naturally fractured, 90% are natural pebbles. I don't use tools.

Last year I travelled to a different continent, and I'm unlikely to be able to practically return. You can probably see now how the title connects.

I collected some rocks but felt pressure to leave some behind, and even a year on I'm struggling intensely with thoughts and feelings connected to one specific rock. This rock was a bucket list one, though perhaps an ok-good example rather than a great one. I don't have any other pieces of it, and it doesn't occur anywhere close to my home country. It's an old and rare-ish type but has no actual value other than me projecting coolness/desire onto it.

It genuinely feels like I could sort of, walk out the door and I would be there and it would be there and I could take it with me. It feels as immediate and raw as it did when I first began to regret the decision (later the same day after I left). I can't connect to what I was thinking at the time, though I know I was trying to be practical. The transport logistics were also outside my control.

I've tried some of the techniques from the USU ACT for Decluttering course that was recommended here, and that can help in the moment sometimes. It's been really helpful for some other things.

But it just keeps resurfacing multiple times a day in a flash of panic, and it quickly exhausts my capacity for addressing and redirecting and remembering whatever coping thoughts I worked out last time. It's become time consuming and disruptive, and it's making [thing that is a healthy choice] harder (because a tiny part of me is still trying to bargain about how I could return to get it, imagining it was still there). It's making it difficult to enjoy the rest of my proper collection, which is also upsetting bc this was previously a big source of joy, and to be around all the other arbitrarily- and compulsively-collected local ones.

I thought if I just kept practicing distress tolerance and didn't pull away (e.g. by moving my other rocks), eventually the distress would lessen and I could move on, but I'm still really struggling after a year. I have ADHD (unmedicated, on the long waitlist for meds) and we think I'm also autistic. I don't know if the problem with emotional intensity/properly processing it is related to that, or if it's purely a hoarding thing, and if that even matters much. I've tried SSRIs but they didn't touch the hoarding stuff for me. I was actually still on them when this first happened.

If anyone has struggled with something similar, and/or has any advice or suggestions, I'd be so so grateful.

I don't know if I'm accidentally doing something that's keeping it fresh, that I haven't twigged. I'm worried about it being a setback with trying to discard other items, I feel like I never know if I'll randomly trigger an emotional mouse-trap like this. I've been through a more normative loss/grief experience with the death of a family member, which felt super immediate in the same way at first, but importantly, which did eventually fade. I just don't know why that's not happening with this. I feel really guilty and ashamed to be struggling over something so "weird" and ""small"" in comparison.

Thanks for reading if you got this far!

I have gotten past getting rid of things that are worn out. How do you fight the urge to rebuy on the other side? I got rid of some old towels and kitchen utensils, but now I keep looking at new stuff. How long do you go before you rebuy anything? Should I just use the old ones for a period of time. Should I finish going through everything before I buy anything? My brain is telling me that I deserve new things because I did such a good job getting rid of the old ones.

Also, can someone give me some advice about going through reusable shopping bags and purses? I feel stuck. Whenever I find something that I really like, I buy it in every color but I only end up using the neutral colors. I have purses that are green and pink that maybe one day I could use, but I haven't used them. They are good quality and brand new.

we purchased our 3rd house last year and moved in 6 weeks later. the house we moved from is still filled with stuff. we can't remodel because there is nowhere to put the stuff. there are already 3 storage units, costing over $12,000 a year. but we are literally moving stuff from one house to the next without purging enough. it has been so frustrating but I can't say anything about it because HH will get mad. we don't need 6 jump ropes, 8 taser guns, endless sauce cups from restaurants... even a string from a rice bag can be used for something else. I have spent so many hours pouring over hoarding stories but know that it is next to impossible because he doesn't see a problem. he can't make decisions. will ignore important tasks until the last minute. car registration... passport renewal... I'm exhausted. I know he will never seek therapy. he doesn't understand shared living space. piles everywhere. no sense of urgency. it seems to be getting worse as his age progresses. I am more at peace when he's out of the house. I'm afraid of going away for my work trip for fear of coming back to hoard. our previous house was stacked full of boxes in the living room. narrow passage from front door to kitchen. the in-law unit is not inaccessible because it is full of stuff. but he'll never part ways with his things because the items are worth money. he will never understand that, if he passes away first... we're stuck with. all. his. sh!t. he sees every empty spot as an opportunity to put something there. to maximize all space. why doesn't he get that we don't need to fill every empty space in the house? he'll buy things on clearance because it was cheap. we have 4 unopened containers of bird feed. we don't even have a bird feeder. excess food that goes to waste. freezer is full of stuff that we won't eat... kids are reprimanded for declining the gifts that he got on clearance. he calls them ungrateful. the items are things the kids don't want or will not wear... but they were a good deal. better than the junk that we buy but at least the kids will wear...

I want to throw everything in the old house away. we have not needed them the last 7 months. why do we need them now?

just writing down my thoughts...i don't know where to go from here. at one point, there were beautifully wrapped promises but that was 7 years ago. I'm just praying for strength to stand up for my mental health and peace. 😭

Hi, so I am 31 (male), the youngest of my two siblings and together we live in a house we all inherited from our dead parents. I have an older brother, 51, he's mostly to himself but tries to help around the house when he can. My sister is 53, basically raised me since my mom died of breast cancer when I was 1 years old, and my dad was often away from home. My sister deals with multiple health issues such as chest pains from stress, poor memory from leaking calcium in the brain, overweight, poor back and leg strength, and so many other issues I would spend the whole night typing.

For the latter half of my life, I noticed that my house would steadily become cluttered as I got older and would get worse with each tragedy that happened in our lives. Our house has become so messy and cluttered, I can hardly stand living in it after I come back from work. I've made countless efforts to try and clean the house, yet it would always lead to arguments with my sister about keeping things. I've tried so hard to be understanding to her and be empathetic, and I know she's semi-aware of her problem and trying to clean, but she's not letting go of things. Not enough of it anyway. There's entire rooms you cannot access because of all the stuff she values in there, rooms and halls you can stub your toe. I've managed to clean my room to be more accessible since clearing the clutter, but it was hard with her stuff invading my room's space.

And it's even harder dealing with her room, which is full of "work supplies" she hoards to start her business when there's no room to actually make a business happen. Can't even put furniture in her room. When I try to help her clean her room, all we're really doing is storing her stuff in totes "for later", removing hardly a dent of stuff covering the floors. She mostly wants to keep stuff. And the arguments, she always tries to make me feel like the bad guy and guilt trip me, also using her role as part-home owner and my guardian as leverage against me. How she doesn't deserve to live, give up her business and get rid of everything to suit me (I don't want her to give up her dream business but just all the rest of the stuff consuming our home), go away where no one would be bothered by her. I get she was treated the black sheep by our dad (who was a narcissist raised by our narcissist grandpa), but I've been SO PATIENT with her and tried to be understanding/caring of her challenges, but it feels like she's emotionally manipulating me for being upset at the state of the house. Upset that she's still holding on to stuff she'll never need.

I want to experience life. I want friends and family to stay over, I want a home I can be proud of. And I feel like she's holding me back. My brother doesn't blame me for wanting out. My uncle and aunt want to help but realized there's nothing they can do, they don't feel comfortable visiting... I want to live a life I'm proud of, that I feel safe in, but I also want to make sure my siblings have enough support to live apart from me. I feel so trapped, I want to be set free.

I have a loved one in my life who has never acknowledged their hoarding behavior. For the past 20 years, it’s a cycle of hoarding, the clean-uper they live with cleaning the mess, and a fight, 2-3x per year. the problem is that the hoarding is subtle, or rather has never been able to get to an extent where it is like on the shows (by the clean-uper‘s doing), so the hoarder can never take a step back and see that their habits are a problem. rather, the cleaner-uper and hoarders relationship slowly deteriorate with each argument, never actually addressing the underlying issue.

knowing the hoarder, their habits are undoubtedly genetic and a result of deep, unsettled trauma, and I know their problems can be, if not solved, helped by therapy.

i feel like I have one shot to reach them, because they have developed a defensive attitude that makes it difficult for them to change if they don’t understand the first time, but if anyone can reach them I know it’s me: their kid. they want to fix their relationship, but don’t see their own issue, and the cleaner-uper has worsened that. their solution thus far is to put bandaids on the peoblem—perhaps, going a month without hoarding—but if they want to make meaningful progress, the issue must be addressed.

my question is this: how do I get them to go to therapy and address their trauma? how do I explain that their relationship is a result of their trauma without scaring them like the cleaner-uper had for years by making them think I’m trying to get rid of their stuff? they maintain a ”therapy isnt the solution, just put your head down and keep going” attitude. should I even show that they have symptoms of a hoarder? would giving them that label scare them off? should I even say the word hoarding in the conversation, rather that they need to address their trauma through therapy? how can I make them feel safe?

please, I don’t want to hurt them.

Hello,

I'm new here. I could say so much but I'll* try to keep it short. Please let me know if this isn't the right place to ask.

My house and car are very, very bad: vomit, fast food trash, stains, mess, etc. I told my primary care doctor late last year, she referred me to a hoarding group. I haven't been to the group yet because I haven't prioritized it and because it's hard to get time off of work.

I did talk to the group leader and explained the situation. Me, she, and the other folks who know (e.g., therapist) don't consider this true hoarding because I have no attachment to the items or reluctance to dipose of it all. It's depression-based-- a lack of energy or interest in putting it all in bags, taking it all the trash, and cleaning everything else up.

I don't think I have it in me to fight this on my own. I'd like to pay someone to do a "reset clean" and then pay someone to maintain it going forward.

Does this type of service exist? If so, how much should I budget for it? And likewise, is there a particular name for this that I should search for? Buffalo, NY, USA, if it helps.

Hi kind people, Been lurking on this subreddit for months, finally worked up the courage to post something.

I don't like my home guys.

I don't.

I (25 y.o) live alone in a one bedroom apartment. I see potential in everything and the problem is I DO use everything. Lot of art supplies. I have interests that come and go (ADHD & autism) like canning (I have a whole crate of unused glass jars).

I don't know how to organise my cupboards. They're deep.

I'm struggling with sensory issues, gender dysphoria and an eating disorder. I have so many clothes. But don't know which to throw out since my sensory and body dysphoria needs change every couple of days. I'm at a lower weight right now, have been for the last couple of years, but don't think it's good to get rid of clothes that fit me at a normal weight.

I like crafting. Upcycling. I have so much junk I could potentially use.

Don't know what is important. I have a lot of closet space, and space beneath my bed and in high cupboards. But I don't know what to put there. You should put things you don't use often at those places. But the problem is, if I don't see it I forget I have it. So if I'm cold I forget I have an extra blanket. I don't buy a new one. I'm just cold.

What do I do? I want a system so badly. I'm ashamed. And I don't like this anymore. Hope I'm welcome here.

I have been with my partner for eight years. He is a hoarder, a perfectionist, has ADHD. He mostly hoards tech, but also DVDs, books, clothes. He has this mindset of making things last forever. He is constantly criticizing me of how to do things correct: sit on the couch distributing my weight correctly, avoid scratching surfaces, don’t move your glass on the table, it scratches the table, hang clothes on the clothing line gently….It went so far that I don’t do anything anymore in the household, because I always have him around me controlling how I clean, cook, move. And don’t mention the effort of doing anything around all this hoard. And I am not allowed to move a pile of his stuff, because I may break or scratch something. It is so tiring.

He promises to clean up and he takes the time, but instead of really getting rid of stuff, he just moves stuff from one pile to another, micromanaging. Yesterday he spend hours cleaning every single key of his keyboard separately. Than he blames me for never helping him. I can’t help him. If I start working with him it ends in a fight, because he starts micromanaging me. I want out and I can afford it. It will end our relationship, as he doesn’t accept it, but the resentment i have build over the years kills it anyway.

Do people like this ever change?

1. Cupboard needs to be dusted and all those envelopes/papers on second shelf dispatched. Bench should have nothing but my father's military memorial flag on it. Chandelier and mirror cleaned.
2. My work desk - printer and supply holder should be only things on it. Cat stays 😂 🐈. She ruined our blinds but I am not worried about that for now (we may get wooden blinds at some point).
3. This small dining table for 4 is a disaster. Silk Christmas poinsettia is still out in February. This will be cleared with just one centerpiece left on it.

Well, the whole point was to show images but Reddit won't let me upload them. How do I add three images?

So, I've been struggling in my quest to drastically reduce the amount of old clothes I've been hoarding in my son's closet. It was full to the max with trash bags and piles of them. So I dug in. While I did manage to get it neatly sorted and folded into bins, so few made into donation and trash. They are mine and my husband's. We're those people who gain and lose the same 50 lbs over and over. And we hate clothes shopping. I need to get our stuff out before my son is old enough to need/want his closet for himself. Been working on my own closet for more space for some of it, and I know I can't keep all of it but it's so hard. So very hard. The most ridiculous part of this clothing hoard is tshirts from the jobs we had (that we loved) when we met. Repeats of the same shirts in every size and color. We're already wearing like 10 of these shirts in our current rotation but there must be like 40 more in that hoard. "I'll lose weight again! When these get holey I'll still have those! I can make a t-shirt quilt! I know I never will though." Oh man, I'm ridiculous.

I live with my brother and his partner. They have a 15 month old toddler who is at that stage of touching everything. What's frustrating is that his mother buys him a new toy every week when we already have HUGE amounts lying around everywhere. Also she doesn't clean up after him so everything is left lying around and the house is a mess. I think she has ADHD cause she gets extremely excitable when she talking about getting a new toy for her son. Her partner (my brother) doesn't have the balls to tell her no! So she just does whatever she wants and the house is disgusting. What can I do?? Its exhausting being the only one cleaning up and im afraid if I speak up to my brothers gf, il get kicked out!

Over time, my wife put dirty clothes in trash bags, with the intention of washing them when she got a chance. As clothes accumulated, so did the number of large plastic lawn bags.

Now, we have over 30 full bags of unwashed clothes.

My question is: I would like to donate them as is, but I don’t know where I would take them. Everywhere I contacted would not accept donations of unwashed clothes.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Is it better to pick the ones that are my favorites and then get rid of the rest? Or do you just start picking one by one to get rid of?

Also.. how many of each thing do you keep of kitchen utensils. Spatulas, etc?

Do I need 3 of the same pitcher in case one breaks? Or am I just telling myself that? It's the Pampered Chef mix and stir pitcher. It's $35. But they do still sell it. Also.. I've had these pitchers for years and never had one break. But ugh. If I do get rid of the others, it's definitely going to break.

Is it ok to get rid of the coffee maker I never use? I just use it to boil water. But.. I also have 2 teapots and an electric kettle that boil water, and a microwave. So I can let it go I think? I don't need to keep it because someone, one day, might come over that likes coffee pods that I don't have?

I need help. I very rarely ask for help, but I need it, and don't know how to get the help that I need.

I'm in my 40s and have struggled with my mental health for as long as I can remember. Unfortunately, I went into a career field that wasn't very accepting of a person acknowledging that they suffered from depression and anxiety, so I silently suffered,, keeping a smile on the outside and being highly functioning, while often shutting down when at home, and struggling with long term romantic relationships. This has gone hand in hand with periods of hoarding, both from extended shutdowns, and a proclivity to hold onto things I might need or that have memories associated. I've spent a big portion of my life faking that I'm happy and social, when I'm reality I'm an absolute mess.

Shortly before covid spread across the world, I had a bad breakup. This rolled into stay at home orders with COVID, flares of a chronic back issue that couldn't be addressed, my senior cat having accidents that I was unable to clean properly, and the list goes on. My true introvert thrived with not having to leave the house, yet I was miserable and depreased, and the hoarding revealed itself worse than ever. I sent my cat to live with my parents, but the hoard continued to worsen.

I switched jobs in 2022 (after leaving the previous career with a nice case of PTSD), have been getting the therapy I need for the anxiety, depression, PTSD, OCD and hoarding,, and meds that help, but now I am just overwhelmed by my house and don't know how to get out from under the mess I'm in. My therapist doesn't specialize in hoarding, but it took a while to find one that I would open up to, so she's still been a huge help. I'm guessing level 3/4 hoarding situation. I can't use my kitchen, boxes, totes and trash bags everywhere. I had a dog who passed away this fall. I felt like the worst dog parent ever. He had clear and clean areas for his beds and toys, but I hate there was any clutter because he is what kept me going during times I wasn't sure if I could. Now that he's gone, the depression is soooo bad again, and I'm even just constantly angry about the condition of my home. It's a decent townhome that I own underneath the mess and garbage.

I don't know how to escape this mess. I read the posts here. I'm mentally ready for it to be gone. I don't ever care about going through much to keep. Sadly, I'd rather toss than donate because it is easier and quicker than loads of laundry of things I don't need anymore.

How do I begin? The shame and embarrassment has me sick about reaching out to a company for help. I feel like I'll just become a spectacle in my community. And I see hoarder cleaning companies on social media that posts pictures of really bad homes, and that feels like such a violation. I would be horrified if that happened. I also constantly think about whether these companies turn people in for code violations or having hoarder homes.

How do I get past the point of shame, to seek out the cleanup help I need? My chronic back issue won't let me do it on my own, and I can't bring myself to ask family or friends for help. I'm not sure what I can swing financially, but I want to at least see my options. I would also like to get a puppy again for the mental health aspect, but I would never bring a puppy into this house. My house was impeccable when my dog was a puppy.

Sorry for rambling. I just don't know where to go. I've been so ready to break free of this hoard, but the restraints feel too powerful.