Hoarding tendencies - help me learn more

[Lottapianos]

DP and I are clearing out the in laws house. We lost both of them in the past 2 years. They lived in the same house for 48 years and chucked pretty much nothing away

We're finding pay slips from decades ago, every single greeting card they received for every occasion, newspaper cuttings, enough cleaning products for the whole town, a dozen umbrellas half of which were broken, broken kettles and toasters that went kaput over the years but were put in the loft instead of being chucked out. The house is liveable - the rooms aren't packed floor to ceiling or anything - but dear god there is SO MUCH STUFF, and lots of it is broken or has never been used

What sort of emotional state leads someone to hoard to this extent? I would imagine it's to do with living in the past and having difficulty letting go and moving on, but I'm keen to learn more from people who know about this subject. Please do share your thoughts and experiences. Ta

My hoarding is an extension of my anxiety and depression.

My husband would keep any broken appliance, usually saying I'll have a look at it later I might be able to fix it, or there's some widget in it that I might use for something so I'll keep it for the time being. Drives me nuts. We call the garage his Tardis as everything has to fit in there. To be fair he does sometimes fix things and occasionally actually find a use for a spare part out of something, but not often enough to make it worth keeping all the junk.

Mine too and in the process of getting it cleared and definitely feel better for it. It’s hard.

'My hoarding is an extension of my anxiety and depression'

This makes sense in relation to my in laws. I'm sorry you're having a difficult time too x