Has Covid-19 made you a hoarder?

What does Covid-19 or Coronavirus have to do with clutter in your home and becoming a hoarder?

Truthfully, it has nothing to do with the clutter. However, the lock-down does play a part in the development of your household clutter and a tendency to hoard.

The psychological effect of the lockdown and the uncertainty of our times have made us more likely to buy more than we need, ‘just in case’.

Victims of poverty often develop a habit of hoarding anything from food, to money, to material items once they are no longer poverty-stricken.

War survivors show this same propensity to hoard. There is often no rhyme or reason for keeping an item, but they are unable to let it go.

Hoarding disorder is a persistent difficulty discarding or parting with possessions because of a perceived need to save them. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hoarding-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20356056

Hoarding is a psychological issue. I am not even talking about the extreme hoarders you see on TV, where it impacts on daily living. I am talking about ordinary people, who keep things and say, ‘ you never know when I will need it.’

Could you be a mild hoarder?

Ladies who don’t get rid of old clothes because one day you might fit into it, you are a hoarder. Those shoes you love so much but just no longer wear, that’s a type of hoarding. It is mild and won’t interfere with your everyday life.

Don’t let it get to the point where it does affect your life. Remember to clear out your closet at least every 6 months. http://kasheringyourlife.co.za/my-cupboard-adventure/

Gentlemen and their tools is another form of hoarding. It can stem from a need to be the one who provides a safe and secure environment. They, therefore, buy tools to be able to repair something when it breaks. More often than not, this never gets done.

This was actually a topic discussed in one of Mari Kondo’s episodes on Netflix.

Items like electronic cables are another, common hoarding issue. How many of us have a box of these somewhere?

My husband is a cable collector, and I will have to reluctantly admit to having found a useful wire or cord in his collection on more than one occasion!

Shopping for just in case

With the lockdown came the restriction on clothes, electronics and other items deemed non-essential. That will have lead to the possibility, especially of parents buying clothes for the children, ‘in case’, hard lockdown comes back into effect.

The opposite may have also happened. People who are recently unemployed due to the lockdown may have come to realise how little they need in life.

Budgeting

Possibly creating a budget may help you avoid buying what you don’t need and for those who have discovered that they don’t need much, a budget may give a mood boost.

When you have a budget, money is allocated to specific items. This can stop you buying unnecessarily and for others it might give a pleasant surprise to realise how much better their budget is fairing without the extra shopping. http://kasheringyourlife.co.za/6-key-tactics-for-successful-budgeting/

Productivity

At the beginning of the hard lockdown, there were many articles and blog posts about productivity, creativity and all the things you could do while being at home.

If you weren’t productive or didn’t become an overnight entrepreneur, a pang of subtle guilt crept into our minds. Feelings of inadequacy start to build. For me, it was the fact that I didn’t write all the blog posts I had planned. I have written less while working part-time than I did when working full-time.

These feelings can lead to a mild form of situational depression caused by not working, not being able to socialise if you are a social being, not being able to spend time with loved ones.

Even mild depression, needing no treatment can have implications in our lives.

There is a saying, ‘the less you do, the less you want to do’, I know this is true for me.

Here comes the clutter

Clutter slowly starts to build up, but you don’t feel like sorting, ‘you will do it later’, later comes and the idea to sort leaves.

How often have you said to yourself recently, ‘I really should do XYZ?’

As we move into our new ‘normal’, it is time to create your ‘normal’.http://kasheringyourlife.co.za/beyond-lockdown-level-4-can-we-survive/

Are you ready to get rid of your clutter?