Siblings plead for help with ‘heartbroken’ mum’s hoarding habit in open letter

A worried group of adult siblings have banded together to plead for advice after revealing their mother’s hoarding and debt problems have become out of control.

Writing to The Guardian’s Ask Annalisa Barbieri column, the siblings revealed their mum has had a problem with hoarding and debt for some time – sparked after an abusive marriage.

“We are a group of adult siblings, worried about our mum,” the adult kids admitted. “During our childhood, and since, our mum has had a problem with hoarding and debt. This got worse after our abusive father left and after they divorced.”

They revealed their mum is now retired and has a comfortable income. However, in the last 25 years she has received two generous lump sums which have “melted away with nothing to show for them”.

Read more: ‘My husband’s chaotic hoarding is making me want to leave home’

They went on to say things had previously reached a point where something urgent had to be done, adding: “Various agencies were involved and Mum was eventually rehoused by the council.

“We all helped her to sort things out for the move and settle her debts, and it really felt like a ‘fresh start’ (her words).”

However, the siblings revealed they’re concerned their mother is hoarding again, adding she recently asked one of them for money to pay a credit card debt.

“We have all tried different ways of dealing with the situation, but nothing seems to work. As siblings we get on fairly well and want to find a long-term solution,” they concluded.

Read more: Adult kids debate: To intervene or not in an elderly parent’s hoarding

Annalisa has since replied back saying, while she understands how painful this must be for them to watch, unless their mum wants to address the problem there isn’t much they can do.

“Hoarding is a complex psychological problem – it’s not just a case of someone having too much stuff,” she wrote. “And it isn’t easy to fix, as you have found. Unless you work on the causes, simply clearing out someone’s home doesn’t work, as they will just start hoarding again.”

Meanwhile, it comes after a recent report revealed that an overwhelming majority of Australians could make thousands of dollars each, just by selling some of their stuff.

Gumtree’s Second Hand Economy report revealed that a whopping 89 per cent of Aussies could rake in upwards of $4,200 each, if they parted ways with some of their unwanted belongings.

Read more: Average Aussie has around $4k worth of unwanted items lying around: Report

The research, carried out by the online marketplace, showed that the average person in Australia has approximately 25 items that they no longer need or have never used just lying around the house. While one quarter of Aussies actually reported having more than 40 useless items stored at home.

Are you a hoarder, or do you have relatives who are?