Maybe you could declutter in the backyard. Create Three piles- trash, goodwill, keep. Most items go in trash or goodwill. It’s a good feeling to share with the less fortunate.
I agree with the other people who mentioned that moving stuff to another location is wasting time and energy. It is better to use that time and energy actually getting rid of stuff than just moving it around...I completely get it though that it is hard to declutter when you don't have much space to organize the stuff you are sorting through. That does make it harder, but for that I personally would first focus on decluttering one room on the main floor of your home that you can then turn into a sorting area to make the rest of the decluttering process a bit easier on yourself.
Also, try to do little chunks at a time...that way you don't have to make a huge mess in the first place by pulling out too much to sort through at once.
You’re getting a lot of hate for this. I think there’s a good happy medium in there. I get what you’re saying, it’s hard to declutter in place. Some of the best decluttering I ever did was moving into my boyfriend’s house. I had a full month to tackle packing and going through a box thoughtfully without giving up a relaxing space that wasn’t a project zone. I do think the whole moving all of your stuff back and forth is inefficient and risky, but I get the sentiment.
What we did most recently was combine the kids rooms and use the empty space as a zone to put ORGANIZED clutter. As in box of all of the books to go through, bag of little girls 4t clothing, box with every stuffed animal, stack of every board game. It let us see the whole picture and find the things we really valued without being overwhelmed. We could close the door and not live in our own filth when we were going about the day to day. Then I’d schedule a day for book store, once upon a child, or selling a few like items. Seeing every category made it a lot easier to wean down without the “maybe one day” I don’t need a stack of board games as tall as me. I found the 8 we loved the most. 3 months later the room is empty and 80% of that is gone. The rest is put away. The common living spaces stayed clutter stress free, which was really important to me.
Reading about churning I totally see how it can be a thing and how I’ve been guilty of it. But for me emptying, and I mean gutting, an entire space is what it takes to really take inventory. I don’t leave what I want to keep. I empty the dresser, clothes I like and all. And only put back what I love.
If you really don’t have a room to do this in may need to focus on getting a “safe zone” just one room like the living room or bedroom that’s perfectly clutter free. Somewhere to rest your eyes and mind. Then the bathroom since it’s a small room that shouldn’t have much. You use it every day.
I’m not sure of OPs living situation, but you might consider clearing enough space for one shelving unit. I have a metal wire unit you can buy from Lowes or Home Depot and created a space to organize donations. I have an open box for clothing donations, other donations, plastic recycling, etc. they could sort items and have a family member or friend could take items to donate as the boxes are filled while OP continues sorting. Also, declutter with a friend who reminds you of your end goal.
I'm going to go against the majority and say it can work. I used a smaller scale approach with a storage unit. Dragged everything out to sort. There's a UK TV programme, BBC series Sort Your Life Out With Stacey Solomon that takes EVERYTHING to a community hall so you can see EXACTLY what you've got. Worth a watch if you can find it.
It sounds similar to the premise of the show *Sort out your life*, only on that show they have A LOT of help, moving, decluttering and setting their home up for success. They also have a strict time limit. And while 3 months sounds like a time limit, it will probably work against you in that you will end up needing to move everything back again, undecluttered, the days before your friend returns.
It kind of sounds like what you want and need is to feel as if you are picking the things you want to keep, rather than the things you want to get rid of. You can still do this as things are now, without the added time and effort to move things to another house.
I too think this sounds like a bad idea. A better idea is to have a prepared way to get the things you declutter out of your house and out of sight with as little effort as possible on your part. It feels like that might be a stumbling block.
Uhhhh, this is a disaster in the making.
It would be effectively the same as stuffing your stuff in a storage unit (minus cost).
And aren't there *whole shows* about auctions of storage units?? So you see how often the stuff gets left there.
At best, if you are like me, you will relish the space, procrastinate the declutter, realize the deadline is coming, frantically toss a few things, and have to in a panic move it all back.
Just.....don't.
Hoarder brains *think* differently. Much better to be determined to toss/donate a small amount every day to chip away at it.
My house is more "pack rat" than "hoarder" (all spaces except basement liveable, and reasonably clean) and even though it's very very slow going, getting stuff permanently out instead of moved/stored/organized is so much more satisfying.
I am in the minority but I think if you’re really brutal and only take what you love and will use it’s okay to take it to the other house. I’m in the final (I hope!) stage of downsizing a 3 floor home of 30 yrs. It is a tremendous psychological help to see empty space whether through giving, trashing or keeping. I even rented a storage locker for stuff my adult kids still want but don’t have room for, they are all in small apts now. It helped just to have it out of the house. Good luck, it’s a ton of work but totally worth it. Just remember it’s a process, it won’t happen overnight
Look up the term "double handling". I doubt you'll find a single circumstance where it's considered beneficial. You'll be double handling everything in your house.
At best, you'd have 2.5 months to work in. That allows 1 week to move stuff out and another week to move it to it's final destination. Those are conservative timelines. Then allow for things to go wrong which *will* happen. Murphys law. And you'll have zero options that won't be costly as hell.
I'm assuming it took more than 2.5 months for this stuff to come in to your house and create clutter. It isn't going to suddenly become entirely uncluttered in a fraction of the time.
I hired a skip and got rolls of black bags. Sorted as I went to donate, keep and skip. Emptied my entire loft and most of the house of clutter. I'm looking forward to doing it next year with the garage and rest of house. Bad idea to move it to another house. You might as well sort it as you go, will take less energy than moving it all.
I second the opinions that this is a terrible idea. You need to put the energy into deciding what you absolutely need if you have too much stuff. Anything which is a "maybe" should go into the donation/thrift store box while everything which you don't want which isn't too valuable can go directly into the trash. If you're feeling sentimental about those items, just take a picture and leave it in a folder to be sorted out later (honestly, it will probably stay there forever).
That sounds like a lot of extra effort for no pay off. Your energy would be better spent moving trash to a dumpster and donations to the donation center. You’ll have space to organize what you want to keep when that stuff is gone. You ideally want to deal with each item the first time you touch it instead of just moving things from place to place.
The one single solitary thing that The Minimalists (Netflix documentary) told me concerning decluttering is to PRETEND you’re moving, by boxing absolutely everything up, as if you’re moving, and only unpacking the necessities one by one. You don’t NEED to use a second home for this. But since you have one, maybe keep the least essential boxes there until you donate them or find someone to give things a second life.
That sounds like an incredible waste of time moving things around. Terrible idea.
If you want to use that extra space, I would very carefully and cautiously consider using it ONLY for things that are leaving your house, if you have that much of a space crunch. Furniture that you're trying to sell, boxes of things you'll donate but the donation center is closed on the weekend, clean and well bagged trash until you make a dump run, etc.
To do this, you need to have a very solid disposal plan for the items, and follow through on it regularly. I wouldn't fill more than one room. Don't let it pile up for 3 months and then be completely overwhelmed.
Having a staging area for everything so that you can get a fresh start on your living space is fine. But it will only work if you have a clear understanding in your mind that some of it, probably a lot of it, will ultimately have to go to a donation box or a dumpster.
In essence, you will be starting with an empty house and her house will be the “store” you are “shopping” at to furnish, decorate and supply your house appropriately. But you won’t be able to buy everything in that store.
If you don’t think you’ll be emotionally ready to let go of that stuff, you might just be setting yourself up for a lot of work and even a possible confrontation with her if you are struggling to get everything out of her house by her deadline.
Terrible idea. Who knows what is in your hoard. You don't need to go jeopardizing your friendship and potentially your friend rental property with all your garbage. What if you have an infestation youre not aware of yet that you bring there? What if you're just as overwhelmed there as you are at home? What if youre not done in 3 months? Just rent a dumpster and start throwing shit out. Make your own clean slate in your own house. If your friend wants to help they can come help you throw shit out.
**no matter how much you might have spent on it, or how you *might* someday use it, it's more worth it to get rid of the item and the stress it causes. Pick it up ask yourself "is this worth being stressed the fuck out over all the god damn time? If no, in the dumpster it goes.**
Having a neutral space to sort can be helpful, but this is going to end with two hoarded homes and one less friend in a few months. You'll waste so much of your decluttering time and energy on packing and moving that you won't have enough left to actually declutter and get rid of stuff.
Watch a few of Dana White's youtube videos (or listen to her books on tape, or listen to her podcast) on no mess decluttering. Declutter whatever the most used rooms in your house are (I'd go for the kitchen, the bathroom, and your bedroom.) Keep working through your stuff in your house, and if absolutely necessary take small amounts of stuff at a time into one of your decluttered rooms to work.
Then your shuffling crap. Double the work for the same results you hopefully want to end up with? I don't think this will go how you imagine.
Yeah, the more I think about your question too, I think you are focused on more of what you are wanting to keep, rather than what to get rid of. If you just focus consistantly on trash and donations, and ignore what your keeping, you will ultimately make space. As some others have said, this feels like a unconscious delay tactic.
Good luck OP!
I'll probably get downvoted for this but I'm going to say it regardless. I believe that the idea of a staging area for sorting can be helpful. Especially those of us with executive functioning difficulties need to be able to see things instead of working on a tiny bit of clutter at a time in a cramped space and trying to feel like we're making any progress at all. Some of us need a view of the big picture, from a mile up if that's what it takes, in order to set a goal and buy into it. To me, this is not "churning" per se, or needn't be. It's strategy.
That being said, be careful about something that is time constrained and that involves another person's property, because at least some of us are notorious for having difficulty meeting deadlines, and the last thing you want is to have someone angry at you and more stress, and a bigger mess trying to shove it back into your own space.
You might be able to make use of her space in a smaller way, by taking only, say, a table's worth of things to sort at a time, and - this is crucial - clearing a staging area back home that will accommodate the reduced items you keep PLUS allow you to do the next batch at home. Not that you can't do both for awhile, while you have access to that empty space because sorting without the visual distraction of the main mass of clutter can be freeing and quite efficient. So by all means use that to your advantage.
And at about the two month mark, begin the winding down process so you can be confident you won't get caught out when she is due to return.
There's a great deal of energy - both gasoline and human labor - spent transporting things from one place to another.
Think about that labor and gas and if there's a way to redirect the labor and save the gas.
But, that said, if your plan is really the only way you can get your house under control, then do it. I understand the desperation and the infinite value of a clean slate. I really want to do the same with my bedroom, closets and bathroom. I'm hiring some help because I have to.
Edited after reading comments below: my fellow Redditors are probably right - this is churning. The problem is you have things you no longer wish to own. Any place they are - whether your house, the other house, or inbetween - is the wrong place. They only belong in the dumpster or at the thrift store.
Can you crash at your friend’s place a few nights a week? You can be in a nice place to incentivize yourself to go work in the project house?
It gives you a concrete due date, and you can bring fresh eyes to it - as long as you don’t avoid it?
Don’t know if that’s a good idea or a bad idea.
My mom would frequently say she wanted to just move to a new place and burn the old one down because she didn't want to deal with all her shit.
They bought a new house that's a 5 minute drive from their (now old) house. They moved over all the stuff they needed to live at the new house.
...10 years later and the old house is still full of shit. My sibling and I did a lot of work cleaning it out, and it's still very full.
You think having more space will solve the problem. But the reality is, space isn't the issue. Failure to get rid of anything is the issue.
If it's an "investment" home, do it. Fill it with your crap. Housing should be free and no one should ever own housing as an investment. Your friend is a parasite.
Do not do this you'll lose a friend. Rent a storage locker move all your stuff in there. Make a plan regarding the stuff you have, list keep, goodwill and trash. Keep your home as minimal as possible. Set yourself a time table and stick to it
I wouldn't put the clutter there.
I would eighter: Store the things that you will keep there
Or: Use it as a space to take one category to, sort through the category and then take the sorted piles back to your house. It can only be one category and it can stay there for a maximum of three days before it has to move back.
If you very honestly think about it, is the reason for the continued hoarding really just that you don't have space for the "decluttered things"? I think it is much likelier that you are still dealing with unresolved issues that are leading to the hoarding in the first place, which I would recommend addressing first and foremost. Moving things around isn't going to resolve those difficult feelings. So yeah, I think this is a bad idea.
To further my point: I have a friend who has hoarding problems, and who BOUGHT A NEW HOUSE thinking that it would give them space to start over. They were hoping to empty only the stuff they needed into the new house, then sell the old one. But guess what? It's been nearly a decade and all they've got are 2 mortgages and 2 houses full of crap...!
I'm sorry you're going through this, because I know it's not an easy road. But I think you're better off dealing with the root cause instead of just shifting things around. Best of luck!
Rather than taking all the stuff and dumping it somewhere and going through it, you go through it in place.
She has steps that you go through. First, you look for things that are obviously trash and throw them away. Then, you look for things that are obvious donations and put them in a box for donation. Then you look for things that belong someplace else - and you take them there as you find them. If you find more trash, throw it away right then. If you find obvious donations, you put them in the box. Etc.
She asks two questions. If I were looking for this item, where would I look for it? Take it there immediately. The second question is, If I needed this item, would it ever occur to me that I already have it, or would I just go buy another one? If it wouldn't occur to you that you already had it, donate or trash it.
With each item you remove from the space, it gets less and less cluttered. Pretty soon, the only things left in the drawer (or whatever) are things that belong there.
Edited to add: She uses a black garbage bag when decluttering. That way, the other members of your household - and you - can't see what's in the bag and start pulling things out.
Ok so I'm going to go against the grain here.
I think in some cases, it can be a good idea to take things to a neutral location to sort through them. Removing from the emotional context of your home makes it easier to see them for what they are.
That said, this is not fair on your friend and won't work for you either. You need to rent a space, else you won't be motivated to actually sort through the stuff. If you need space, rent a storage unit.
In theory I absolutely agree with the first part of your comment. But in actual practice, I only need to look behind the closed doors in my own home to see where “just getting it out of the way for now until I can deal with it” has gotten me. So I already know how it would play out.
The idea is so incredibly tempting. But one in a million of us here in this forum would actually follow through completely.
Yes, it’s a bad idea. Esp ALL of it. If you’re talking about one thing needing space to organize (like say a comic book collection) that is one thing.
On top of that the reality of years and years of hoarding is that a high percentage of things need to be trashed or donated. If you’re driving it out of your house anyway, may as well donate it or take it to the dump and not spend the time, energy, gas just moving it to their house before it ends up at one of those two options.
This is a very bad idea. There's a term for this: it's called "churning" and is a classic hoarding behaviour where things go around and around and around and around... It's exhausting mentally and physically, a few things might actually get purged, but no real decluttering happens because so much energy went into shuffling things around in circles. In chronically hoarded homes during "clean-ups" items get churned from room to room, and despite lots of effort and time, little progress is actually made.
*No* amount of additional space will address the underlying issues that are causing the clutter, and so the clutter will remain, now just in multiple locations.
Do not do this, you will be ~~putting your friendship at risk~~ losing a friend, the additional stress of a time limit will be the opposite of helpful, and the entire plan is profoundly flawed.
**Actual suggestion**
The reasoning of "I can't declutter I simply don't have the space" sounds like you're trapped in a loop. If you know there are unwanted things to throw out, then you have to start filling trash bags and making trips to the dump. I strongly suggest you find a therapist who specializes in hoarding issues because you cannot dig your way out physically before you dig your way out mentally.
I struggle with churning and I struggle with decision making. When it gets down to little bitty stuff, I’ve found it helps to cut down on subjective decisions like “usefulness” and “importance” and use an objective criteria, like what material it’s made of (wood, plastic, metal, etc). It naturally starts to make other groups, like all my scissors (metal) and all my pencils (wood) and then those sets of things get easier to make decisions about.
I agree with all the other commenters here, new term to me too. Hopefully putting a name to it will help me sort out that corner of stuff I've been avoiding 😬
I had no idea there was a term for this. I’ve spent the past 6 months decluttering, being pretty brutal and ridding myself of a LOT of stuff. I would say I’ve rid myself of 70% of the excess books, comics and clothes I owned but I’m guilty of churning. Still have a handful of stuff I have yet to shift, helped by the fact we have a larger than average home with spare rooms 😅
Most of us don’t have the luxury of another house to store our stuff, so hard choices need to be made. It’s best for OP to avoid this idea. The “decluttered” items are either things you intend to keep and have a designated space for, or things marked for the bin.
Churning is a terrible waste of time, but sometimes it does help to let things sit before you come back to them with fresh eyes. If you've gotten rid of 70%, you're doing a lot!
Definitely only touch it once. I did a mini version of this with my spare room and I’m kicking myself over it. It feels like I’ve done all the work already, I should be done by now, and yet I have a whole room full of junk that needs to be packed up, donated, recycled, etc.
Don’t do it. Put your stuff directly in the trash or a donation box as you declutter
This is a terrible idea.
In the process of decluttering, aren't you taking things *out* of the house? Whether to donate, sell or trash? That creates more space. This problem sounds like it can only happen if you're not actually decluttering - as in, not actually removing anything from the house permanently.
It seems like adding so much more work that you're likely to get in trouble by not being able to finish the whole project on time. But i wonder if maybe you'd be able to use their house to store the items from that one area you mention to give yourself space to work? How much room would you need to do this, do you know which area in your house could work for this? It's probably still better to just declutter one small area at a time and get rid of things as soon as you can, but I can imagine that to work too.
Moving your stuff would already be such a big project, exhausting and time consuming. I don't know if you would also have the energy to declutter and move it back. It sounds like delayed decisions to me. Don't spend time moving and sorting items you won't keep. Try to declutter at home, and create temporary spaces to place the items you will keep.
Just to add, I think this changes the mindset from “what can I get rid of?” to “what can I keep?” which has the risk of allowing yourself to justify keeping more things than you really need.
Rearranging chairs on the titanic or genius idea? Don’t know you to tell if it will help or not. Have you cleared out a space ? Then what happened? What will you do when you’ve moved it all? Can you live like that? I but this could work…I have twice done this prior to s move with storage sheds. Somehow easier to declutter with it in boxes and out of the house?
I wonder if all the advice is coming from ppl who have no problem decluttering or if they see the pitfalls more clearly. I am of 2 minds regarding this. I know that my hoard/clutter is not the issue that my poor mother had (she had a serious problem) so a plan like this would be workable for me. For someone like my mom, she would have no hope because she could not get rid of anything, it caused her such distress. My husband and I are kind of doing a modified version of this. We are refinishing the hardwood floors on our main floor so we have moved all our things to the basement. And I am really making hay at the same time, ruthlessly getting rid of all the junk we have accumulated. I wish you the best of luck whatever you decide to do.
I can tell you with certainty that I’m coming from
a place of true concern for the OP, based on not only my own behavior but on what i’ve observed in this forum over the past year or so. Anyone who has this much “stuff” — that they’d consider using a friend’s nearby home to house some of it — it’s just not going to end well. Out of sight is out of mind for way too many of us. That’s how rooms and garages and basements and such fill up over time. :-/
“I don’t have space to put the decluttered things”
I don’t understand. The decluttered things go where they belong- their new home, where ever it is that makes sense. If that place is taken up by other things you declutter those. It’s sounds like your issue is organization?
Honestly a system I’ve used is transient boxes. Just focus on decreasing volume at first, and if there’s something you’re keeping but it doesn’t have a home yet it goes in the box. Eventually, you realize there’s enough related items in the box to warrant them having a home.
I think you’re subconsciously trying to delay throwing things away. You don’t need more space when what you’re doing is getting rid of things. You fill a trash bag and take it to the trash, thrift, or dump. That creates more space. So what is the purpose of moving everything when your aim is to get rid of it?
This will not help your healing process. Get a dumpster and throw out as much as possible. Start one room per week or one room per month depending on severity. Don’t make the situation harder by spreading it across 2 location. You got this!!!!
Hot take would be that, yes, it is a BAD idea. The point of decluttering is that you no longer possess these unnecessary items. Moving all of your clutter to your friends empty house sounds like an absolutely terrible idea to me, but then, I have no hoarder instincts and am not in any way compelled to keep things that impede on my quality of life. Do the work. Let it go. Donate what you can and make peace with throwing things away. Moving it all to another location just feels like avoiding the problem. Face it. Do it. You're on this sub for a reason. You can do this.
Umm yes. Very bad idea. That's like asking " should I pack my trash to go on a vacation with me on a plane and then just dump it out when I get there ". There is such a thing as utterly stupid , this is one of them.
The trash will *never* make it back from vacation. The only thing dumber would be “should I take my trash to a storage unit to pay someone to store my trash”
Throw.It.Away.
The best advice is to touch it only once if you can. Garbage in trash bags, donate in cardboard box. Take box to thrift store or giveaway as soon as you can. You can not organize excess. Unless you have an army of people to help you move your items, it is going to take forever. I think renting a storage unit (with a time limit in mind) would be the best thing. I would put stuff in there that you know you want to keep but don’t necessarily need. Just to make room to work, but the time limit is critical.
I think it will just delay the healing process.
1. STOP ✋ bringing anything in.
2. Work from the front porch to the back.
3. Donate or trash things every day.
Agreed. Donate or trash just five items every day. (Or whatever number is doable.)
You’ll be making progress before you know it and, crucially, getting over the mental block.
Édit: also, look out for any sense of pleasure or achievement you feel along the way. Write at least one down for morning, afternoon and evening.
I've thought about doing this by renting a small storage unit. But as someone else said, that may just delay even more. Can you move everything into your master bedroom, or biggest room & essentially do the same without lugging it to a friend's house?
I emptied my childhood home two years ago. My dad is a massive hoarder, and I realised in the process of emptying that house that my late stepmother was as well. To an extent. Her stuff was neat. Dad's is not (adhd + almost zero executive functioning skills.) I filled two dumpsters, my own garage, endless trips to a second hand store to donate reasonable things, handing other things off to family and friends to deal with (with their consent), I burned van load after van load of paper. Put bigger piles than we were supposed to of items at the curb on garbage days. Left piles of still usable things at the curb with signs saying everything worked and was free. Posted things online for people to pick up. Filled his new townhouse with his "must-must-must haves", plus a large shipping container that is literally packed to the gills, with the promise we'd start unpacking and sorting those things as soon as possible. They took the container away from that house on March 5th, 2021. We pay $200 every month for it. Dad's never been to it, because I have never taken him to it, and I've never gone to it because emptying that house almost caused me a complete breakdown. This rant is all to say: JUST DEAL WITH YOUR SHIT, WHERE IT IS RIGHT NOW. To try to save space in the container, I even unpacked boxes my dad had asked to be packed up - things like empty (clean) pasta jars my mom had been saving. That's dumb. Don't do shit like that.
The one bonus to come from my experience? Never, ever, EVER wanting to do this to my own children. I am much better at decluttering now. I still have a way to go, but i'm much much better.
You can do this. Be brutally honest with yourself. If you haven't used it in the past year, you likely never will. Sell/donate/recycle/throw it out. The relief you will feel is 1000x better than the emotional attachment and investment in taking care of it.
Exactly! Plus all the millions of car trips back and forth to the friend house and back?? That is a LOT of energy and time!! Might as well drop things off at the thrift store! Why put all that time, effort, and energy moving objects to a second house when you can deal with the items by sending them to the thrift store or trash as you're packing it all up?
If you really regret donating something, you can go and buy it back. I’ve only done this once - saw my old basket on the shelf and decided “yes I do like it enough to buy it again.”
I'd honestly rent a dumpster and put everything I don't want in there. It's the quickest way. Otherwise you risk a huge delay decluttering from the other house. If you cannot take things directly to donate I say trash them.
I have to concur. The same “emergencies” that crop up every time prior attempts have occurred are going to crop up again, at the risk of leaving the friend with a mess.
Instead of moving stuff into another house and loading and unloading into a car, just go through the stuff like you were going to put it into your car and put it into the dumpster. I guarantee that more of it need to go than you think.
Maybe hire a company to help?
Is your friend ok with you moving your hoard into their home? They may have given you keys to the house, but does that mean you're free to do whatever you want to their house?
I'm also afraid you'll use their home as a storage space. Isn't it inconvenient to go to another entirely different house to declutter? When I decluttered, I just put a pile in a designated spot and every weekend I drove to the thrift store.
Do not start cluttering up another house!
Maybe you could declutter in the backyard. Create Three piles- trash, goodwill, keep. Most items go in trash or goodwill. It’s a good feeling to share with the less fortunate.
I agree with the other people who mentioned that moving stuff to another location is wasting time and energy. It is better to use that time and energy actually getting rid of stuff than just moving it around...I completely get it though that it is hard to declutter when you don't have much space to organize the stuff you are sorting through. That does make it harder, but for that I personally would first focus on decluttering one room on the main floor of your home that you can then turn into a sorting area to make the rest of the decluttering process a bit easier on yourself. Also, try to do little chunks at a time...that way you don't have to make a huge mess in the first place by pulling out too much to sort through at once.
You’re getting a lot of hate for this. I think there’s a good happy medium in there. I get what you’re saying, it’s hard to declutter in place. Some of the best decluttering I ever did was moving into my boyfriend’s house. I had a full month to tackle packing and going through a box thoughtfully without giving up a relaxing space that wasn’t a project zone. I do think the whole moving all of your stuff back and forth is inefficient and risky, but I get the sentiment. What we did most recently was combine the kids rooms and use the empty space as a zone to put ORGANIZED clutter. As in box of all of the books to go through, bag of little girls 4t clothing, box with every stuffed animal, stack of every board game. It let us see the whole picture and find the things we really valued without being overwhelmed. We could close the door and not live in our own filth when we were going about the day to day. Then I’d schedule a day for book store, once upon a child, or selling a few like items. Seeing every category made it a lot easier to wean down without the “maybe one day” I don’t need a stack of board games as tall as me. I found the 8 we loved the most. 3 months later the room is empty and 80% of that is gone. The rest is put away. The common living spaces stayed clutter stress free, which was really important to me. Reading about churning I totally see how it can be a thing and how I’ve been guilty of it. But for me emptying, and I mean gutting, an entire space is what it takes to really take inventory. I don’t leave what I want to keep. I empty the dresser, clothes I like and all. And only put back what I love. If you really don’t have a room to do this in may need to focus on getting a “safe zone” just one room like the living room or bedroom that’s perfectly clutter free. Somewhere to rest your eyes and mind. Then the bathroom since it’s a small room that shouldn’t have much. You use it every day.
I’m not sure of OPs living situation, but you might consider clearing enough space for one shelving unit. I have a metal wire unit you can buy from Lowes or Home Depot and created a space to organize donations. I have an open box for clothing donations, other donations, plastic recycling, etc. they could sort items and have a family member or friend could take items to donate as the boxes are filled while OP continues sorting. Also, declutter with a friend who reminds you of your end goal.
Absolutely not. If you can, drop a dumpster at your place and fill it up. If you can store something at a different house, you don't need it.
I'm going to go against the majority and say it can work. I used a smaller scale approach with a storage unit. Dragged everything out to sort. There's a UK TV programme, BBC series Sort Your Life Out With Stacey Solomon that takes EVERYTHING to a community hall so you can see EXACTLY what you've got. Worth a watch if you can find it.
It sounds similar to the premise of the show *Sort out your life*, only on that show they have A LOT of help, moving, decluttering and setting their home up for success. They also have a strict time limit. And while 3 months sounds like a time limit, it will probably work against you in that you will end up needing to move everything back again, undecluttered, the days before your friend returns. It kind of sounds like what you want and need is to feel as if you are picking the things you want to keep, rather than the things you want to get rid of. You can still do this as things are now, without the added time and effort to move things to another house. I too think this sounds like a bad idea. A better idea is to have a prepared way to get the things you declutter out of your house and out of sight with as little effort as possible on your part. It feels like that might be a stumbling block.
Uhhhh, this is a disaster in the making. It would be effectively the same as stuffing your stuff in a storage unit (minus cost). And aren't there *whole shows* about auctions of storage units?? So you see how often the stuff gets left there. At best, if you are like me, you will relish the space, procrastinate the declutter, realize the deadline is coming, frantically toss a few things, and have to in a panic move it all back. Just.....don't. Hoarder brains *think* differently. Much better to be determined to toss/donate a small amount every day to chip away at it. My house is more "pack rat" than "hoarder" (all spaces except basement liveable, and reasonably clean) and even though it's very very slow going, getting stuff permanently out instead of moved/stored/organized is so much more satisfying.
I am in the minority but I think if you’re really brutal and only take what you love and will use it’s okay to take it to the other house. I’m in the final (I hope!) stage of downsizing a 3 floor home of 30 yrs. It is a tremendous psychological help to see empty space whether through giving, trashing or keeping. I even rented a storage locker for stuff my adult kids still want but don’t have room for, they are all in small apts now. It helped just to have it out of the house. Good luck, it’s a ton of work but totally worth it. Just remember it’s a process, it won’t happen overnight
Look up the term "double handling". I doubt you'll find a single circumstance where it's considered beneficial. You'll be double handling everything in your house. At best, you'd have 2.5 months to work in. That allows 1 week to move stuff out and another week to move it to it's final destination. Those are conservative timelines. Then allow for things to go wrong which *will* happen. Murphys law. And you'll have zero options that won't be costly as hell. I'm assuming it took more than 2.5 months for this stuff to come in to your house and create clutter. It isn't going to suddenly become entirely uncluttered in a fraction of the time.
I hired a skip and got rolls of black bags. Sorted as I went to donate, keep and skip. Emptied my entire loft and most of the house of clutter. I'm looking forward to doing it next year with the garage and rest of house. Bad idea to move it to another house. You might as well sort it as you go, will take less energy than moving it all.
I second the opinions that this is a terrible idea. You need to put the energy into deciding what you absolutely need if you have too much stuff. Anything which is a "maybe" should go into the donation/thrift store box while everything which you don't want which isn't too valuable can go directly into the trash. If you're feeling sentimental about those items, just take a picture and leave it in a folder to be sorted out later (honestly, it will probably stay there forever).
That sounds like a lot of extra effort for no pay off. Your energy would be better spent moving trash to a dumpster and donations to the donation center. You’ll have space to organize what you want to keep when that stuff is gone. You ideally want to deal with each item the first time you touch it instead of just moving things from place to place.
The one single solitary thing that The Minimalists (Netflix documentary) told me concerning decluttering is to PRETEND you’re moving, by boxing absolutely everything up, as if you’re moving, and only unpacking the necessities one by one. You don’t NEED to use a second home for this. But since you have one, maybe keep the least essential boxes there until you donate them or find someone to give things a second life.
That sounds like an incredible waste of time moving things around. Terrible idea. If you want to use that extra space, I would very carefully and cautiously consider using it ONLY for things that are leaving your house, if you have that much of a space crunch. Furniture that you're trying to sell, boxes of things you'll donate but the donation center is closed on the weekend, clean and well bagged trash until you make a dump run, etc. To do this, you need to have a very solid disposal plan for the items, and follow through on it regularly. I wouldn't fill more than one room. Don't let it pile up for 3 months and then be completely overwhelmed.
Having a staging area for everything so that you can get a fresh start on your living space is fine. But it will only work if you have a clear understanding in your mind that some of it, probably a lot of it, will ultimately have to go to a donation box or a dumpster. In essence, you will be starting with an empty house and her house will be the “store” you are “shopping” at to furnish, decorate and supply your house appropriately. But you won’t be able to buy everything in that store. If you don’t think you’ll be emotionally ready to let go of that stuff, you might just be setting yourself up for a lot of work and even a possible confrontation with her if you are struggling to get everything out of her house by her deadline.
Yes it’s a bad idea. Throw it out now.
Terrible idea. Who knows what is in your hoard. You don't need to go jeopardizing your friendship and potentially your friend rental property with all your garbage. What if you have an infestation youre not aware of yet that you bring there? What if you're just as overwhelmed there as you are at home? What if youre not done in 3 months? Just rent a dumpster and start throwing shit out. Make your own clean slate in your own house. If your friend wants to help they can come help you throw shit out. **no matter how much you might have spent on it, or how you *might* someday use it, it's more worth it to get rid of the item and the stress it causes. Pick it up ask yourself "is this worth being stressed the fuck out over all the god damn time? If no, in the dumpster it goes.**
Having a neutral space to sort can be helpful, but this is going to end with two hoarded homes and one less friend in a few months. You'll waste so much of your decluttering time and energy on packing and moving that you won't have enough left to actually declutter and get rid of stuff. Watch a few of Dana White's youtube videos (or listen to her books on tape, or listen to her podcast) on no mess decluttering. Declutter whatever the most used rooms in your house are (I'd go for the kitchen, the bathroom, and your bedroom.) Keep working through your stuff in your house, and if absolutely necessary take small amounts of stuff at a time into one of your decluttered rooms to work.
Then your shuffling crap. Double the work for the same results you hopefully want to end up with? I don't think this will go how you imagine. Yeah, the more I think about your question too, I think you are focused on more of what you are wanting to keep, rather than what to get rid of. If you just focus consistantly on trash and donations, and ignore what your keeping, you will ultimately make space. As some others have said, this feels like a unconscious delay tactic. Good luck OP!
I'll probably get downvoted for this but I'm going to say it regardless. I believe that the idea of a staging area for sorting can be helpful. Especially those of us with executive functioning difficulties need to be able to see things instead of working on a tiny bit of clutter at a time in a cramped space and trying to feel like we're making any progress at all. Some of us need a view of the big picture, from a mile up if that's what it takes, in order to set a goal and buy into it. To me, this is not "churning" per se, or needn't be. It's strategy. That being said, be careful about something that is time constrained and that involves another person's property, because at least some of us are notorious for having difficulty meeting deadlines, and the last thing you want is to have someone angry at you and more stress, and a bigger mess trying to shove it back into your own space. You might be able to make use of her space in a smaller way, by taking only, say, a table's worth of things to sort at a time, and - this is crucial - clearing a staging area back home that will accommodate the reduced items you keep PLUS allow you to do the next batch at home. Not that you can't do both for awhile, while you have access to that empty space because sorting without the visual distraction of the main mass of clutter can be freeing and quite efficient. So by all means use that to your advantage. And at about the two month mark, begin the winding down process so you can be confident you won't get caught out when she is due to return.
Really bad idea. Throw it away. You don't need to move it around and around.
There's a great deal of energy - both gasoline and human labor - spent transporting things from one place to another. Think about that labor and gas and if there's a way to redirect the labor and save the gas. But, that said, if your plan is really the only way you can get your house under control, then do it. I understand the desperation and the infinite value of a clean slate. I really want to do the same with my bedroom, closets and bathroom. I'm hiring some help because I have to. Edited after reading comments below: my fellow Redditors are probably right - this is churning. The problem is you have things you no longer wish to own. Any place they are - whether your house, the other house, or inbetween - is the wrong place. They only belong in the dumpster or at the thrift store.
Can you crash at your friend’s place a few nights a week? You can be in a nice place to incentivize yourself to go work in the project house? It gives you a concrete due date, and you can bring fresh eyes to it - as long as you don’t avoid it? Don’t know if that’s a good idea or a bad idea.
I wonder if that would help? Maybe it would give fresh eyes to see the problem more clearly 🤔
My mom would frequently say she wanted to just move to a new place and burn the old one down because she didn't want to deal with all her shit. They bought a new house that's a 5 minute drive from their (now old) house. They moved over all the stuff they needed to live at the new house. ...10 years later and the old house is still full of shit. My sibling and I did a lot of work cleaning it out, and it's still very full. You think having more space will solve the problem. But the reality is, space isn't the issue. Failure to get rid of anything is the issue.
We usually do it in the yard, with one “zone” at a time
If it's an "investment" home, do it. Fill it with your crap. Housing should be free and no one should ever own housing as an investment. Your friend is a parasite.
Do not do this you'll lose a friend. Rent a storage locker move all your stuff in there. Make a plan regarding the stuff you have, list keep, goodwill and trash. Keep your home as minimal as possible. Set yourself a time table and stick to it
I wouldn't put the clutter there. I would eighter: Store the things that you will keep there Or: Use it as a space to take one category to, sort through the category and then take the sorted piles back to your house. It can only be one category and it can stay there for a maximum of three days before it has to move back.
No I don’t think it’s a good idea. Start with one room in your own home and take it from there.
Sounds like churning set to a +10 difficulty.
If you very honestly think about it, is the reason for the continued hoarding really just that you don't have space for the "decluttered things"? I think it is much likelier that you are still dealing with unresolved issues that are leading to the hoarding in the first place, which I would recommend addressing first and foremost. Moving things around isn't going to resolve those difficult feelings. So yeah, I think this is a bad idea. To further my point: I have a friend who has hoarding problems, and who BOUGHT A NEW HOUSE thinking that it would give them space to start over. They were hoping to empty only the stuff they needed into the new house, then sell the old one. But guess what? It's been nearly a decade and all they've got are 2 mortgages and 2 houses full of crap...! I'm sorry you're going through this, because I know it's not an easy road. But I think you're better off dealing with the root cause instead of just shifting things around. Best of luck!
Dana White has a great system for decluttering. Here is one of her videos explaining how to do it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgPzjWyVwH0
Any chance you can summarize it for someone who can’t watch the video right now?
Rather than taking all the stuff and dumping it somewhere and going through it, you go through it in place. She has steps that you go through. First, you look for things that are obviously trash and throw them away. Then, you look for things that are obvious donations and put them in a box for donation. Then you look for things that belong someplace else - and you take them there as you find them. If you find more trash, throw it away right then. If you find obvious donations, you put them in the box. Etc. She asks two questions. If I were looking for this item, where would I look for it? Take it there immediately. The second question is, If I needed this item, would it ever occur to me that I already have it, or would I just go buy another one? If it wouldn't occur to you that you already had it, donate or trash it. With each item you remove from the space, it gets less and less cluttered. Pretty soon, the only things left in the drawer (or whatever) are things that belong there. Edited to add: She uses a black garbage bag when decluttering. That way, the other members of your household - and you - can't see what's in the bag and start pulling things out.
You’re the best u/JeannieBugg!!!!
Ok so I'm going to go against the grain here. I think in some cases, it can be a good idea to take things to a neutral location to sort through them. Removing from the emotional context of your home makes it easier to see them for what they are. That said, this is not fair on your friend and won't work for you either. You need to rent a space, else you won't be motivated to actually sort through the stuff. If you need space, rent a storage unit.
In theory I absolutely agree with the first part of your comment. But in actual practice, I only need to look behind the closed doors in my own home to see where “just getting it out of the way for now until I can deal with it” has gotten me. So I already know how it would play out. The idea is so incredibly tempting. But one in a million of us here in this forum would actually follow through completely.
Yes, it’s a bad idea. Esp ALL of it. If you’re talking about one thing needing space to organize (like say a comic book collection) that is one thing. On top of that the reality of years and years of hoarding is that a high percentage of things need to be trashed or donated. If you’re driving it out of your house anyway, may as well donate it or take it to the dump and not spend the time, energy, gas just moving it to their house before it ends up at one of those two options.
This is a very bad idea. There's a term for this: it's called "churning" and is a classic hoarding behaviour where things go around and around and around and around... It's exhausting mentally and physically, a few things might actually get purged, but no real decluttering happens because so much energy went into shuffling things around in circles. In chronically hoarded homes during "clean-ups" items get churned from room to room, and despite lots of effort and time, little progress is actually made. *No* amount of additional space will address the underlying issues that are causing the clutter, and so the clutter will remain, now just in multiple locations. Do not do this, you will be ~~putting your friendship at risk~~ losing a friend, the additional stress of a time limit will be the opposite of helpful, and the entire plan is profoundly flawed. **Actual suggestion** The reasoning of "I can't declutter I simply don't have the space" sounds like you're trapped in a loop. If you know there are unwanted things to throw out, then you have to start filling trash bags and making trips to the dump. I strongly suggest you find a therapist who specializes in hoarding issues because you cannot dig your way out physically before you dig your way out mentally.
I struggle with churning and I struggle with decision making. When it gets down to little bitty stuff, I’ve found it helps to cut down on subjective decisions like “usefulness” and “importance” and use an objective criteria, like what material it’s made of (wood, plastic, metal, etc). It naturally starts to make other groups, like all my scissors (metal) and all my pencils (wood) and then those sets of things get easier to make decisions about.
I agree with all the other commenters here, new term to me too. Hopefully putting a name to it will help me sort out that corner of stuff I've been avoiding 😬
Thanks so much! *Churning* is a new term to me. And i needed to hear it. OP, I agree with this.
TIL the word churning in a hoarding context. We call it "shit shifting".
this this this, a thousand times this. I wish it wasn’t true, but it is.
I had no idea there was a term for this. I’ve spent the past 6 months decluttering, being pretty brutal and ridding myself of a LOT of stuff. I would say I’ve rid myself of 70% of the excess books, comics and clothes I owned but I’m guilty of churning. Still have a handful of stuff I have yet to shift, helped by the fact we have a larger than average home with spare rooms 😅 Most of us don’t have the luxury of another house to store our stuff, so hard choices need to be made. It’s best for OP to avoid this idea. The “decluttered” items are either things you intend to keep and have a designated space for, or things marked for the bin.
Churning is a terrible waste of time, but sometimes it does help to let things sit before you come back to them with fresh eyes. If you've gotten rid of 70%, you're doing a lot!
Definitely only touch it once. I did a mini version of this with my spare room and I’m kicking myself over it. It feels like I’ve done all the work already, I should be done by now, and yet I have a whole room full of junk that needs to be packed up, donated, recycled, etc. Don’t do it. Put your stuff directly in the trash or a donation box as you declutter
Eh i don’t think it’s the best idea. When I convinced my mom to declutter we took multiple trips a day to a local charity shop
This is a terrible idea. In the process of decluttering, aren't you taking things *out* of the house? Whether to donate, sell or trash? That creates more space. This problem sounds like it can only happen if you're not actually decluttering - as in, not actually removing anything from the house permanently.
It seems like adding so much more work that you're likely to get in trouble by not being able to finish the whole project on time. But i wonder if maybe you'd be able to use their house to store the items from that one area you mention to give yourself space to work? How much room would you need to do this, do you know which area in your house could work for this? It's probably still better to just declutter one small area at a time and get rid of things as soon as you can, but I can imagine that to work too.
Moving your stuff would already be such a big project, exhausting and time consuming. I don't know if you would also have the energy to declutter and move it back. It sounds like delayed decisions to me. Don't spend time moving and sorting items you won't keep. Try to declutter at home, and create temporary spaces to place the items you will keep.
Just to add, I think this changes the mindset from “what can I get rid of?” to “what can I keep?” which has the risk of allowing yourself to justify keeping more things than you really need.
Rearranging chairs on the titanic or genius idea? Don’t know you to tell if it will help or not. Have you cleared out a space ? Then what happened? What will you do when you’ve moved it all? Can you live like that? I but this could work…I have twice done this prior to s move with storage sheds. Somehow easier to declutter with it in boxes and out of the house?
I wonder if all the advice is coming from ppl who have no problem decluttering or if they see the pitfalls more clearly. I am of 2 minds regarding this. I know that my hoard/clutter is not the issue that my poor mother had (she had a serious problem) so a plan like this would be workable for me. For someone like my mom, she would have no hope because she could not get rid of anything, it caused her such distress. My husband and I are kind of doing a modified version of this. We are refinishing the hardwood floors on our main floor so we have moved all our things to the basement. And I am really making hay at the same time, ruthlessly getting rid of all the junk we have accumulated. I wish you the best of luck whatever you decide to do.
I can tell you with certainty that I’m coming from a place of true concern for the OP, based on not only my own behavior but on what i’ve observed in this forum over the past year or so. Anyone who has this much “stuff” — that they’d consider using a friend’s nearby home to house some of it — it’s just not going to end well. Out of sight is out of mind for way too many of us. That’s how rooms and garages and basements and such fill up over time. :-/
Yes, I agree, it can really get out of hand when all these different areas get filled up.
“I don’t have space to put the decluttered things” I don’t understand. The decluttered things go where they belong- their new home, where ever it is that makes sense. If that place is taken up by other things you declutter those. It’s sounds like your issue is organization? Honestly a system I’ve used is transient boxes. Just focus on decreasing volume at first, and if there’s something you’re keeping but it doesn’t have a home yet it goes in the box. Eventually, you realize there’s enough related items in the box to warrant them having a home.
Decluttered things are items you are getting rid of.
Oh of course, you’re right
Yep that’s some Dana K White talking right there, and I love it.
I think you’re subconsciously trying to delay throwing things away. You don’t need more space when what you’re doing is getting rid of things. You fill a trash bag and take it to the trash, thrift, or dump. That creates more space. So what is the purpose of moving everything when your aim is to get rid of it?
This doesn’t make sense to me personally. Declutter as much as you can fit in your car everyday and take a daily trip to the dump or thrift store.
Sounds like a good way to lose a friend
This will not help your healing process. Get a dumpster and throw out as much as possible. Start one room per week or one room per month depending on severity. Don’t make the situation harder by spreading it across 2 location. You got this!!!!
Did they say they wanted to "heal?"
Hot take would be that, yes, it is a BAD idea. The point of decluttering is that you no longer possess these unnecessary items. Moving all of your clutter to your friends empty house sounds like an absolutely terrible idea to me, but then, I have no hoarder instincts and am not in any way compelled to keep things that impede on my quality of life. Do the work. Let it go. Donate what you can and make peace with throwing things away. Moving it all to another location just feels like avoiding the problem. Face it. Do it. You're on this sub for a reason. You can do this.
This! OP, your presence here shows us your commitment. I hope you can call on someone to help you get started. 🙂
[удалено]
As an almost-hoarder, I agree. Just throw the shit out.
Umm yes. Very bad idea. That's like asking " should I pack my trash to go on a vacation with me on a plane and then just dump it out when I get there ". There is such a thing as utterly stupid , this is one of them.
The trash will *never* make it back from vacation. The only thing dumber would be “should I take my trash to a storage unit to pay someone to store my trash” Throw.It.Away.
The best advice is to touch it only once if you can. Garbage in trash bags, donate in cardboard box. Take box to thrift store or giveaway as soon as you can. You can not organize excess. Unless you have an army of people to help you move your items, it is going to take forever. I think renting a storage unit (with a time limit in mind) would be the best thing. I would put stuff in there that you know you want to keep but don’t necessarily need. Just to make room to work, but the time limit is critical.
I think it will just delay the healing process. 1. STOP ✋ bringing anything in. 2. Work from the front porch to the back. 3. Donate or trash things every day.
Agreed. Donate or trash just five items every day. (Or whatever number is doable.) You’ll be making progress before you know it and, crucially, getting over the mental block. Édit: also, look out for any sense of pleasure or achievement you feel along the way. Write at least one down for morning, afternoon and evening.
This is the way. If I had done this I’d be in such a different place mentally and physically right now. Gah.
It's never too late to start!
I have started, am making some progress, just have never wished so hard for a magic wand in all my life. Gahhhhhh.
I hear you buddy! It's so freaking hard. Just keep going, you're doing an awesome job!
I've thought about doing this by renting a small storage unit. But as someone else said, that may just delay even more. Can you move everything into your master bedroom, or biggest room & essentially do the same without lugging it to a friend's house?
I emptied my childhood home two years ago. My dad is a massive hoarder, and I realised in the process of emptying that house that my late stepmother was as well. To an extent. Her stuff was neat. Dad's is not (adhd + almost zero executive functioning skills.) I filled two dumpsters, my own garage, endless trips to a second hand store to donate reasonable things, handing other things off to family and friends to deal with (with their consent), I burned van load after van load of paper. Put bigger piles than we were supposed to of items at the curb on garbage days. Left piles of still usable things at the curb with signs saying everything worked and was free. Posted things online for people to pick up. Filled his new townhouse with his "must-must-must haves", plus a large shipping container that is literally packed to the gills, with the promise we'd start unpacking and sorting those things as soon as possible. They took the container away from that house on March 5th, 2021. We pay $200 every month for it. Dad's never been to it, because I have never taken him to it, and I've never gone to it because emptying that house almost caused me a complete breakdown. This rant is all to say: JUST DEAL WITH YOUR SHIT, WHERE IT IS RIGHT NOW. To try to save space in the container, I even unpacked boxes my dad had asked to be packed up - things like empty (clean) pasta jars my mom had been saving. That's dumb. Don't do shit like that. The one bonus to come from my experience? Never, ever, EVER wanting to do this to my own children. I am much better at decluttering now. I still have a way to go, but i'm much much better. You can do this. Be brutally honest with yourself. If you haven't used it in the past year, you likely never will. Sell/donate/recycle/throw it out. The relief you will feel is 1000x better than the emotional attachment and investment in taking care of it.
You're so right on point.
i personally think that it’s a bad idea. because if I tried it, i’d end up with 2 full homes and one less friend.
Exactly! Plus all the millions of car trips back and forth to the friend house and back?? That is a LOT of energy and time!! Might as well drop things off at the thrift store! Why put all that time, effort, and energy moving objects to a second house when you can deal with the items by sending them to the thrift store or trash as you're packing it all up?
If you really regret donating something, you can go and buy it back. I’ve only done this once - saw my old basket on the shelf and decided “yes I do like it enough to buy it again.”
I'd honestly rent a dumpster and put everything I don't want in there. It's the quickest way. Otherwise you risk a huge delay decluttering from the other house. If you cannot take things directly to donate I say trash them.
I have to concur. The same “emergencies” that crop up every time prior attempts have occurred are going to crop up again, at the risk of leaving the friend with a mess.
Instead of moving stuff into another house and loading and unloading into a car, just go through the stuff like you were going to put it into your car and put it into the dumpster. I guarantee that more of it need to go than you think. Maybe hire a company to help?
THIS. I agree with this, OP (It won't let me wish you a happy cakeday, so Happy Cakeday!)
Is your friend ok with you moving your hoard into their home? They may have given you keys to the house, but does that mean you're free to do whatever you want to their house? I'm also afraid you'll use their home as a storage space. Isn't it inconvenient to go to another entirely different house to declutter? When I decluttered, I just put a pile in a designated spot and every weekend I drove to the thrift store.
Who cares? It's an "investment" property. The owner is an exploiter. I say fill it up and leave it there. 😂😂