lorac4disney
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2008
We are working with a counselor who is guiding me through setting and enforcing limits with him. DH totally agreed to stopping the hoarding when it comes to the concept of it. Where he has trouble is in the nitty gritty of knowing what he "needs" and what he doesn't need during that split second that it takes to decide whether or not to throw something away. I mean, no one in their right mind "needs" dozens of five gallon buckets filled with bent and rusted old nails, but for whatever reason, DH thought he "needed" them. Did he ever use a bent and rusted nail out of all of those buckets over the years? Nope. Not. One. Single. Time. He would spend hours looking for what he needed, only to give up out of frustration so that he went to the store and bought what he actually needed.
With DH, there is no turning off the anxiety. The only thing I am hoping to do is to focus it in a healthier direction. Instead of him obsessing over having the most of everything, I am trying to get him to obsess over keeping what he does have in an organized and pristine condition. So instead of having thousands of different sockets, just have one set of sockets that are clean, organized, rust free, and easily accessible. We aren't aiming at eliminating his hoarding as much as we are on just having a limit to it. He can collect whatever he wants so long as it fits inside the storage shed or the tool shed in a way that is neat, organized, safe, and in usable condition.
With DH, there is no turning off the anxiety. The only thing I am hoping to do is to focus it in a healthier direction. Instead of him obsessing over having the most of everything, I am trying to get him to obsess over keeping what he does have in an organized and pristine condition. So instead of having thousands of different sockets, just have one set of sockets that are clean, organized, rust free, and easily accessible. We aren't aiming at eliminating his hoarding as much as we are on just having a limit to it. He can collect whatever he wants so long as it fits inside the storage shed or the tool shed in a way that is neat, organized, safe, and in usable condition.