Hoarders in the Home

Have you ever watched the TV show “Hoarders”? If you have, how do you feel while watching it? Appalled? Disgusted? Saddened? Empathetic? Transfixed? I’m all of that and no doubt one of many passengers in the same boat. Being in the cleaning business with a pinch of OCD, I find myself more transfixed than anything else while watching the show. It’s hard to understand how a person can get there, considering it all started with saving one item one day some time ago. Without addressing the obvious mental health issues, let’s just talk about clutter and how it can take over our lives and gnaw away at our peace of mind.

Although this may be questionable, let’s agree that we are “normal.” Okay, then, now let’s identify “normal” for this time period in America and/or of mankind. We have indeed come a long way, baby, since discovering that the earth is round. Knowledgeable, educated, aware, technologically savvy, sophisticated, may be  among the adjectives you think of for today’s “normal.” What about “overwhelmed?” That’s the one I think of when the issue is clutter in America’s homes.

We are familiar with the invasive varieties of plants here in Lakeland, Florida such as certain types of jasmine and orchids; they are great at first but a little goes a long way—a really long way because they don’t know when to stop taking over! The fight is literally one of preventing the jungle from overrunning our residences. For the same reason, “clutter” should be classified as invasive. A little goes a long way and it takes over the entire home if we don’t take control.

Professional Home Cleaners can Help

You’ve Got MAIDS MidFlorida of Lakeland empathizes with the homeowner who calls and needs help with their clutter and cleaning. Many times, however, it is a grown son or daughter who calls out of concern for their elderly parents who truly have become overwhelmed and incapable of keeping abreast with their housekeeping. Our senior clients not only appreciate their child’s thoughtfulness and a clean, fresh home but enjoy our maids’ company as well! Everybody wins!!

Although our maid service offers one-time cleanings, we concentrate on recurring clients. Recurring service is the key to uninterrupted peace of mind regardless of our client’s age bracket. We stress that our recurring cleanings start with an initial deep clean. Once done, we then move forward with maintenance cleanings whether it is weekly, bi-weekly, or every four weeks.

Declutter Your Life

It’s simply plain common sense to know a good residential cleaning cannot happen when clutter is everywhere, so we help there also. This is where we, as a maid service, must exercise wisdom. Our maids never throw anything out; it’s not their home nor their belongings regardless of how useless the item may seem. They are trained to explicitly follow the homeowner’s instructions in all matters. However, the degree of clutter is a factor when agreeing to clean the home in the first place. If it is of little relevance, we encourage our client to “pick-up” before their cleaning service appointment. That would entail such items as picking up the kids’ (two or four-legged kind) toys, scattered clothing, etc.  We suggest this so the maids can clean more during their allotted time. The maids are more efficient with the cleaning, so the client gets more bang for their buck, so to speak. This scenario is an example of the usual clutter of everyday living.

What about the hoarder syndrome? When it gets that far, there is little we can do to help. However, the spectrum from messy to hoarding is very wide. Once called, we can professionally assess the situation and brainstorm a workable plan. Our caring maids are into shining places with smiling faces as well as bringing peace of mind to our clients!

Give us a call today at 863.950.2063! Tina would love speaking with you!