According to the original research, over 25% of respondents consider themselves to be hoarders to some level.
London based box storage company, Access Box Storage, conducted an original survey to find out more about the UK public’s clutter and hoarding habits. As well as the above, this survey also revealed the following:
Clothing is the most commonly hoarded item in the UK.
Almost 85% of respondents say clutter causes conflict amongst household members.
Over 70% of respondents say they would like more space in their homes.
Plus more.
Simon Daggett, Head of Marketing at Access Box Storage, said: “We’re all guilty of having a bit of clutter in the home, and although this isn’t usually a huge issue, it can quite quickly become one. It’s important to declutter often – you can organise items into ‘keep, donate/sell, and throw’ boxes. If you struggle to part with items, a good starting point could be to store them away in secure box storage.”
The survey also revealed that the majority of respondents tend to declutter their homes every few months.
Lisa Pantling, Membership Director of the Association of Professional Declutterers and Organisers (APDO), commented: “A good sort out once every 6 months will be just what we need to keep everything ‘current’ and uncluttered. But for others, it is more of a process than an event, and it will be a case of working through the clutter at a slow, steady and manageable pace.”
Penny Moyses, Founder and Event Director of the Clean & Tidy Home Show, added: “Use your time effectively, even going through your letters or kitchen worktop while the kettle is boiling will help you to save precious time.”
Decluttering has become somewhat of an art form in more recent years due to Marie Kondo, Japanese organizing consultant, author, and TV show host, becoming extremely popular and even having a show on Netflix which is all about decluttering and organising.
Katrina Hassan, Founder of Spark Joy London, said: “I used the KonMari Method (made famous by Japanese professional organiser Marie Kondo) to declutter and organise my home when I was preparing for a home birth with my son. What I didn’t expect from going through all of the categories, was the powerful impact it would have on my decision making for all other aspects of my life.”
Despite respondents admitting that they hoard several items such as clothes, containers and packaging, 74.1% of them do not consider themselves to be hoarders.
Megan Karnes, chair of UK Charity HoardingUK, said: “The way hoarding is usually defined is in regard to the impact on the space and the person’s safety and living habitability. We judge this using the clutter image rating – if a person is at a level five we would consider that person having the house impacted significantly enough for that to be considered hoarding.”
There is a difference between clutter and hoarding, but both should be taken seriously. Clutter is a less severe form of hoarding and refers to unorganised mounds of objects that can build over time in drawers, on tables, and around the home. Hoarding is much more serious and happens when somebody has a hoarding disorder – the NHS states this is when “someone acquires an excessive number of items and stores them in a chaotic manner, usually resulting in unmanageable amounts of clutter.”
