Children of hoarders: Do you ever wonder if you've gone "too far" the other way? hoarding

^{Backstory: I grew up in a hoarding home, and my dad's entire family, 5 brothers and sisters + his mother, hoard at similar levels. To briefly describe their hoarding "type:" there is no limit to the sort of things they keep, although they do tend to center around collections of books, newspapers, magazines, plastic bags, rubber bands, exercise equipment, stuffed animals, clothes, and figurines; they build piles so dense one must go through "tunnels" to get around the house, and piles can be as deep as ten feet back --so one cannot get to anything that isn't right in the front--; they will allow important things like washer, dryer, refrigerator, toilet, stove, and tub to remain broken for decades rather than clean up enough to get to the problem and fix it; finally, the men will go into frightening rages if their hoard is threatened, and the women will dissolve into tears and wailing and threats of self-harm if their hoards are threatened.}

^{Surely none of this is new to you if you're reading this, but I wanted to be clear about where I came from before going into my question.}

Children of Hoarders: Do you have any of the following "anti-hoarding" behaviors, and do you think it is going too far or worrisome if one does?

1. Being ruthless in throwing away your own things. For example, I do not allow myself to have more than four of any "type" of thing. (4 t-shirts, eye-shadows, shoes, forks, cups, etc.). If I want a new t-shirt, I need to give away one first. I have gotten rid of things like treasured childhood toys, the shirt my dad wore when I was born, and wedding gifts, and I often feel bad about going "too" minimalist in this way.
2. Feeling everything must be cleaned "perfectly" all the time. I constantly clean, tidy, and organize my home. For example, I clorox or dust all surfaces and sweep all floors daily. I deep clean kitchen & bathroom and mop all floors at least once a week. Not only that, but I feel a compulsion to clean things upwards of five times if the first time wasn't "perfect." For example, I will wipe down the toilet again and again with clorox, then paper towel, then clorox, then paper towel until there is not a single pet hair or fuzzy left on it. Same with mirrors or surfaces.

Are these behaviors common with children of hoarders? Do you ever feel like you go "too" far in the opposite direction now?

TLDR: Is it normal to be too quick to throw things away and "over clean" if you grew up in a hoarding home? Do you ever feel weird about it?

Submitted July 03, 2017 at 03:38AM by ColorYouClingTo http://ift.tt/2tg0yGq hoarding