My friend lives alone in a small house. He has saved boxes and boxes of papers, books, magazines, other items. He needs help to get them sorted out and cleaned out. How can I as a friend help and encourage him to develop a daily plan to start to clean up the mess?
2007-12-21 10:35:35 · 9 answers · asked by devildoggie13 1 in Home & Garden ➔ Cleaning & Laundry
if you get the supplies such as rubbermaid boxes and what not and show him that it is ok to keep stuff as long as you can store it and show him how.
Tell him it will serve him in the long run because if he has more organized way of storage eventually he will be able to save more then what will be ruined by the effects of air.
Or explain to him how he should get a storage locker because if he really cherishes what he has what happens if there a fire try to encourage he storage at a storgage center as a safty procaution for his valuables.
My mom is a severe packrat!!!
2007-12-21 10:41:29 · answer #1 · answered by kind 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Until he figures out that he has a problem and gets some pretty hard-core counseling about it, you can't help him. He'll just fill up the space again, or try to hide stuff and put it back the instant he thinks you're not watching.
But once he's ready to start getting rid of stuff, you and a couple of other friends should be ready to dive in with garbage bags to throw stuff out: That's probably all that a lot of it's good for anyway. Anything that he doesn't want to just throw away can be donated to some local charity.
Start working one room at a time so it won't be so overwhelming, and have cleaning supplies with you: You'll probably be kicking up years worth of dirt and dust. In fact, you might even want to wear painter's masks to keep from sneezing your heads off.
Be prepared to empty the vacuum cleaner frequently, especially if it's a powerful machine that will pull from the deeper layers of carpet.
Have a place for everything when you're done, and put everything in its place. Let him see how much more comfortable his house is when he can actually move through it without scrunching himself together in a tight spot.
You might even want to call in pizza or some other form of take-out. And keep in mind that cleaning could easily take up to a week.
Good luck.
2007-12-21 18:50:28 · answer #2 · answered by Tigger 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Good for you dear friend. Congrats and hand claps for you.
First I would make a list if there is stuff he wants to recycle like the newspapers, boxes, bottles, cans and so forth.
How about clothes, shoes, and accessories he doesnt use? Give to S. Army or Goodwill.
Then start picking up trash and throwing it away. Be sure to have paper shredder on hand for important papers with personal info.
Just create a list day by day and sort. He has to be in the mood and motivated to, but just by being there and helping out which I'm sure he'll appreciate, will get him motivated.
Bring in some pizza and beer and get it started.
2007-12-21 18:49:33 · answer #3 · answered by Born Valentine's Day 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Not usually much to sort.
My brother helped an old hoarder rent a 24-foot stake bed truck, and filled it 4 feet deep about 10 times from the yard and house, and took it to the dump.
Take a couple boxes of stuff out every day. If paper, at least it can be recycled.
2007-12-21 19:12:28 · answer #4 · answered by Laurence W 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Be truthful ruthlessly so! Tell him he is being mentally unbalanced because there is no way he knows what all he has in there and there is not enough time in his life to sit and go through all this stuff he has placed greater importance on then people who could have shared this living space and contributed to his life and happiness!! Tell him that you will bet him $50.00 that if he throws out 5 boxes today that he will not miss or regret it once the stuff is gone! He is obsessing and afraid to let go for no rational reason this is equivalent to a phobia or neurosis, he panics at the thought of letting go of this clutter that he has no idea why he got it or why he keeps it, help him break the anxiety cycle!Make the bet today! And you take the 5 boxes with you to get them out of there!
2007-12-21 18:57:14 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
tell him to start little by little. maybe offer to help him make a chart in which you'll decide when he'll tackle a certain area. say, monday, or week 1, he organizes one box, the next day or week, he organizes the second, etc. maybe organizing them into groups depending on importance ("definitely don't need," "might need," "definitely keeping") could help and someone could go over what he has, as an unbiased opinion.
hope everything works out!
2007-12-21 18:45:39 · answer #6 · answered by waffle_soup 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Call Kim and Aggie from How Clean Is your House. lol
2007-12-21 18:55:05 · answer #7 · answered by Brandy A 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
just sit down and have a man to man talk with him tell him it is not doing him any good having all these papers around he needs to start weaning them out and you are willing to help if he wants you to tell him you will be there for him.
2007-12-21 18:48:22 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
ok hey how to peolpe talk online
2007-12-21 18:43:58 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋