Help for Hoarding: How to Challenge Your Thinking from a Faith-Based Perspective

One of the biggest challenges for those who hoard is getting over the emotional attachment they have to inanimate objects. For the hoarder, something like a ticket stub or even a napkin from a favorite restaurant can hold sentimental value. If you’re someone with hoarding tendencies, consider these ideas to challenge your thinking regarding your emotional attachment to physical objects.

Don’t Store Up Treasures on Earth

What does the Bible say about us holding onto our material items? We all know the Scripture about being a good steward. Typically, that Scripture (1 Peter 4:10) is used to describe how we use our personal talents. It encourages us to use them to serve others and glorify God. However, one could argue that we should be good stewards of all of our assets, including money and possessions. What does it look like to be a good steward of our things?

Being a good steward of our money means that we don’t spend it on excessive items. If you’re spending your money on items that are cluttering your home, you are not being a good steward of your money. If you’ve overspent on things that are not being properly stored in your home, that is also not being a good steward.

The Bible also instructs us not to store up items where “moths and vermin destroy and where thieves break in and steal.” (Matthew 6:19-21) Instead, we are to mount up treasures in heaven. Are you focused more on your material objects that only serve an earthly purpose or are you focusing your time and resources on the eternal?

Joy, Sadness, or Something In-between?

While you may have an emotional attachment to a lot of items, maybe it’s time to analyze whether those emotions are positive or negative, or simply just an attachment. For example, let’s imagine a sweater bought while you were in college. Memories from countless study sessions or late nights talks wrapped in its wooly fabric are associated with the sweater. You even remember wearing it on the night of a break-up that sent you to tears.

Twenty years later you cannot part with that sweater because it was an important part of your college experience. However, are the memories that the sweater brings good or are they just memories? Not every experience in our lives needs its objects carried into the next season. Of course, we are all the sum of our collected experiences.

We grow, even in the negative valleys, but are we meant to dwell in the past? Are we meant to carry token reminders, souvenirs if you will, of your former selves? A few photos and a small box of mementos are nice to hold onto, but it isn’t necessary to save a souvenir from every moment.

How Much are You Willing to Sacrifice?

Holding onto an excessive amount of personal items is a sacrifice. You may think that you are sacrificing when you have to part with something you hold dear, but by keeping it you are also making a sacrifice. By holding onto your items, you are sacrificing your space and, in some cases, safety.

Studies have shown that a cluttered and disorganized home is not only a sign of mental distress but can be the cause of it. Living in a cluttered environment can cause you to misplace important items such as documents or even your car keys. Even simple tasks such getting ready for work or school in the morning or cooking dinner can be delayed if the environment is crowded.

The next time you are confronted with getting rid of some of your possessions, don’t consider it a sacrifice to part with that object, but think about the sacrifice you will be making if you keep it.

Professional Help

You may be feeling overwhelmed with the thought of downsizing your possessions but consider the freedom you would feel on the other side of that task. If you think your hoarding tendencies are a sign of something deeper or they cause disruption in your life, contact a licensed therapist.

A professional mental health specialist can help you see your connection with material goods in a new way. They can challenge you, hold you accountable, and most importantly offer you personalized support as you work through the mental and emotional issues that contribute to the hoarding mentality.