While the psychological condition known as hoarding has been around for some time, there's no doubt shows like A&E's "Hoarders" and TLC's "Hoarding: Buried Alive" have shed a new light on this problematic issue. Those who have seen the show know the people featured often treat their homes like self storage units, simply piling all of their items into rooms like the kitchen, living room or bedroom.
The stories shown on these programs border on heartbreaking – often, hoarding is triggered by something like losing a loved one. It's not uncommon for hoarders to hold onto everything even remotely related to their deceased loved one in order to hang on to their memory.
Other stories are quite quirky. An upcoming episode in the new season of the TLC series, for example, will reportedly center around an Elvis impersonator who has covered every inch of his home in Presley memorabilia.
The good thing about these shows is that the people are given professional help in cleaning up their home. A team will come in and assist the person with beginning to clean out their items. This can be difficult, as the psychological condition makes the person not want to throw anything away. In these situations, a self storage facility could be an effective compromise. The hoarder may be more willing to move things out of their home if they know they aren't going to the garbage.
Jiffy Self Storage, a leader in Toronto storage solutions, is currently running a contest on their website for a free iPad 3. Visitors to the site simply need to match a few Canadian landmarks and they'll be entered to win the iPad or one of several other prizes.
