Notes From the Downsizer's Nest:

Notes from the Nest:

Common Characteristics of "Pack-Rats"- 

(in no Particular Order.) 

Note: These descriptions can be telltale signs of Mental Illness: OCD,  Depression, etc, and other physiological degenerative disease. Alzheimers, Dementia in general.

• Denial and Resistance to change
• Obsession with Minutiae
• Complete blindness to overall ( mess) disarray but will fixate on things like arrangement of art on a wall or objects on a shelf
• Does not get rid of things that no longer serve them on any practical basis.
• Has clothing that does not fit, stashed away, in graduated sizes, for years.
• Holds onto mounds of their children’s clothing
• Holds onto mounds of papers, of all sorts: newspapers, old bills, cancelled checks, etc
• Can sleep in a bed, having mounds of mixed items and their pets sleeping with them, night after night: this is called the “Rats Nest”
• Mildew, Mold, Cobwebs and Dust is not an issue, although they might complain about it.
• Every room might look alike because each room has the same piles of boxes and stuff (extreme cases)
• Surfaces are unattended: countertops, shelves, tables, desk, bed, and on.
• Lots of small framed photos on many surfaces. Too many to focus on. Used as decoration.
• Obsession with “keepsakes” as if they are the event where they came from, itself.
• Full Suitcases with tiny scraps of things in them, clothes, medicine, forgotten for weeks, months or years.
• Duplicates of many items…lost track of posessions
• Old Rotting Food in Fridge and Cabinets
• General shoving of things to the back of cabinets, closets and piling on top of surfaces and shelves
• Resistance to moving things out that are no longer useful or are in bad condition
• Collecting of things, for the sake of collecting stashing them here and there. No specific interest in what is collected, just that things have “value” in their mind, for whatever emotional reason, and perhaps buy them because they know they have true market value but hold onto them, and never liquidate.

Memory Trash, Let it Go for 2014!

Accumulation is the cause of much suffering. Suffering is caused by the "holding" onto. Events happened. The accumulation of personal history. Our emotional, mental and physical being reflect all events, regardless of good or bad, happy or sad. We squish and squash our emotions, "stuff" hurt and quell happiness, for survival, to get through the days. There's a "pay-off" to this, regardless of how it affects our lives in the now. Some of us re-live events on a daily or momentary basis whether it occurred today or years ago, by over dramatizing, embellishing what actually happened, adding drama. The "What Happened" is no longer what is important.  Whether it's the morning traffic, abuse we suffered at the hands of some bad person, the pain of loss of a loved one, an in-completion of a love affair, it all builds up and has an effect. To be free of it, It takes mindfulness. How are we making ourselves miserable? Who is contributing to this? Re-directing our intention, being willing to "Let Go" is key to moving forward.  We are not history. We are also not our Stuff. 
Unless a person has done a mental, emotional and physical purging of personal belongings, i.e. their "Stuff", and has come to terms that he or she is absolutely not not IT..."Stuff", most of us are caught up in the history, or the emotional satisfaction, dysfunction or not, that "Stuff" can bring. 
Like the woman who frantically rifled through a trash bag of junk (my definition) that I had filled with her permission ( she had hired me to do this, ) while cleaning her office, exclaiming how "this plastic beer cup was from a rock concert in 1978", ( broken, faded, illegible, to me,) WAS the event...many items in her home had become the event in her life that made her "whole" again! 
Compulsive behavior is like filling emotional holes and "Stuff," for some, is a way of finding self worth, fulfillment, feelings of satisfaction, and for some is a compulsive habit. Memory can be a powerful addiction.
I work with all people, regardless of how much stuff they have, to help them move out of the realm of "Stuff" into the reality of their lives-to go forward. 
The clients who really need the help, again says I ( the packrats), if they call me on their own accord, are the ones who have seen a glimpse of the dysfunction. They are brave. Most clients are ready to move forward to their next home and stage in life and are looking forward to leaving the "stuff" behind.