I was here is the echo from every climber who reaches the mountaintop. They post their photos to inspire others still on the climb.
At HoardingWorld we too are inspired when members remove storage from their homes, closets, from under their beds, closets, hallways, common living spaces, cars, and storage units. They post their pictures in our private FB group so all can cheer. There is #helpforhoarders and there is hoarding help for you too.
Unintentional collectors of free stuff hoarders fight with cluttered homes and family members about the messy house.
Their artistic dreams are dashed by disorganized chaos that sparks discouragement and depression.
https://youtu.be/wnU22Hvsr3M
What are “I Was Here” Pictures?
Have you ever seen one of those pictures where there was a person standing at the top of a mountain and they’re holding their hands way up in the air. Like I’m victorious. I’ve arrived.
My first question is who’s taking the picture? Who’s up there on the top of the mountain with them taking the picture from a distance so that we see that solitary person standing at the top of the mountain, who is that person?
The next thing is, why did they take the picture? The answer to that is they took the picture because they wanted to let people know I was here. When you achieve something of personal magnitude, it’s a goal, it’s a dream. And then you achieve it. You want to prove that you did in fact achieve it and that you were there.
The Purpose of the “I Was Here Picture”
The next purpose of the picture is in the event that you ever have a down day and we all have down days, it’s part of our biorhythms. It’s part of feeling I don’t know, depressed one day, or you feel just lethargic. You don’t feel like accomplishing anything.
You can look at that picture and be like, wait a second. There was a moment. There was a moment when I achieved something. I achieved my wildest dreams. I climbed to the top of a hill no one thought I could climb. It was treacherous. It was dangerous. I was afraid. And look at me now, I’ve achieved this. I accomplished this.
These Pictures Spark Hope on Down Days
And so, on those moments where you’re having a down day, you can go back to that moment and say, “Wait a second. If I could do it once. Oh boy, could I do it again?”
The next thing is when someone else sees the picture. They may not be a mountain climber and they may not have the same mountain that you did, but they have their own mountains.
And when they see that picture, it sparks a moment of hope in them and they say, “If he can do it, so can I”. Then they go climb their own mountain and they are inspired by that.
Everyone Has a Mountain to Climb in Their Home
The reason I’m sharing this with you today is that we have a new group called Hoarding World. And it doesn’t mean you are a hoarder, what it means is you probably have a scary room inside your house.
And I have to stop for just a second and I have to explain the scary room and you’re going “No, Angela, please don’t explain it. We have one in our house. We know what it is.”
What is a Scary Room in Your House?
For those of you that don’t know what it is. A scary room is a room where you open the door and you just shove everything in.
Now as a house cleaner of 30 years, I’ve gone to a lot of homes. And then as we do the walks. Here’s what happens? You get to a certain room and the homeowner says, “oh, don’t worry about that room. That’s a scary room.”
Or, “don’t worry about that room. Oh, we’re renovating some stuff. We have some safe keepings there.” Or they’ll say, “Oh, we’ve just put our Christmas tree and Christmas decorations in there.”
People Don’t Want to Deal With Their Scary Room
And all the things that people don’t want to deal with go inside that scary room. It is so prevalent that now at Savvy Cleaner Training, which is the company that I own, we train house cleaners as a special upsell package to go inside people’s scary rooms and to help them clean and declutter a lot of the stuff that’s in there.
The stuff that’s in there is in there because nobody wants to deal with it. They either may want to keep it, or maybe they don’t, but they don’t know how to go through it. And they don’t know how to get rid of it. All right.
What Does this Have to Do With the Mountain Pictures?
So, what does that have to do with the guy on the mountain? I have to stop for a second and I have to say there are mountains we’re all climbing that are a little bit different. And some of the mountains, some of us are climbing isn’t okay.
Some of us are climbing a mountain of stuff. And it is important that we stop for just a second and realize this is not something to be dealt with by ourselves.
In the past, there’s been this erroneous thinking that, oh, no, I’m a hoarder. And how ashamed that I shouldn’t let anyone inside my house. I’m so afraid that people are going to see my stuff, whatever.
A Majority of People Have a Scary Room
The truth is the majority of people have a scary room or they have scary closets. They might have a perfectly organized house and you open any closet and stuff tumbles out at you. And when company comes over, they just stuff it in the closet and closed the door and oh yeah.
Our house looks nice and clean. We all have these weird habits about stuff. So, you don’t have to be a full-blown hoarder in order to appreciate what comes next. What comes next is up the mountain that we’re all climbing together.
Come Join Us in Our Hoarding Journey
So, you can participate with us. What we’re doing is called Saturday donations. Every single Saturday, we’re going to donate some stuff. Doesn’t matter what it is, but we’re going to go inside this scary room. We’re going to get some stuff out. We’re going to donate it. We’re going to go down to the trailer.
They belong to Goodwill or the donation centers, and there’s a person there that will accept your goods and they will give you a receipt in exchange.
Your Donation Receipt is the “I Was Here” Moment
The receipt means I was here. So, what I want you to do is this on Saturday for this Saturday’s donations, because it’s like the guy that climbs the mountain. If he never takes a photo. We don’t know if he was there.
But if you take a picture of your goods, these are my two garbage bags of stuff. And I put them right here next to the trailer and I took my receipt and I put my receipt there on the ground right by it. I took a picture of it. It’s right next to the trailer.
You Can Share Your “I Was Here” Moment
You can see it. It’s in a picture. You post that in our Facebook group and we know. You climb your mountain, right? So, what happens is this, there are five reasons we want to post this inside the Facebook group.
It’s not to brag that you have stuff. But what I want you to realize is most of us are trying to make a difference in the lives of other people. And there are a lot of people that can’t actually afford full-price things, and you might have something that someone else can use.
Donate Things You Aren’t Using Anymore
So, I’m going to ask that you donate those things. Donate things that you no longer are using clothes that are too small, perfectly good clothes that might be too small.
It might be toys that your kids have grown out of. It might be dishes that you no longer need. Somebody is moving into a new house right now, and they’re strapped for cash because they put the down payment down on the house. They don’t have dishes, but they could go to the thrift store and buy your dishes. You just blessed the life of that person.
Remove the Stigma That Hoarding is Bad
We’re going to remove the stigma that hoarding is bad. We’re going to say it’s a blessing and we’re going to use our stuff to bless the lives of other people. So, what we’re going to do is we’re going to take our good stuff. We’re going to send it to Goodwill. We’re going to take a picture and you go, oh wait a second.
There’s going to be somebody there. And they’re going to think I’m weird. If I’m taking a picture of myself. That’s okay. They want to be in on this. They want you to succeed. So, what you do is you go in and you say, “Hey, listen, I’m doing this weird thing for my Facebook group. I got to take a picture of my stuff and I need a receipt.” And they’ll go, “Great. Here’s your receipt.”
Come Back to Donate Every Week
Then you’ll say “I got to come back every week so you’re going to be seeing a lot of me.” Now the secret is that person works on Saturday because they’re there now. So, when you go back every single week, you’re going to go, “Hey, how are you doing?” And they’ll know you by name and they’ll give you the receipt.
They’ll have it ready for you. And they know you’re going to take a picture next to the trailer, right? Every week it’s different stuff. It could be paintings. It could be weight equipment. It could be dishes. As I said, it could be anything in your house.
Posting Your “I Was Here” Moment is an Honor
What you’re doing is this. When you post that picture on our Facebook wall, it is an honor. It is you climbing to the top of your mountain saying I was here. I was here at this spot. I donated my seat. And it is going to bless the lives of other people. And you also get blessed at the same time because it’s going to clear some space in your house and all of a sudden, you’re going to start being more creative.
Look at the Facbook Group When You Have a Bad Day
And the more space you have, the more incentive you yourself will have. And if you ever have a discouraging day, you’ll be able to go inside the Facebook group and look at the pictures and say, that’s my mountain. I climbed that mountain. And you’ll be able to look at the mountains of other people and looking at other people’s stuff is going to trigger something in your mind.
And you’re going to say, wait a second. I have some old dog gates, and I don’t have the dog anymore, let’s get rid of those right now. And it’s going to trigger things that you forgot about.
There are a Lot of Things That We Hang On to
You’re going to say, wait a minute, I have a weed whacker. That’s still perfectly good. And we moved to a new house and we don’t have a yard. I don’t need that anymore. Let me donate that. There are a lot of things that you’re hanging on to, for whatever reason, but the good news is when you move to another house that has a beautiful yard, you’re going to want a new weed wacker to get rid of the old one, right?
This is a chance for you to climb your mountains and for you to take a picture at the top so that everyone standing by can go, wow, check it out. And people can clap and cheer for you as if they’re the person on the side of the mountain, taking that picture of you, enjoying your success. And they’re saying, wait for a second, this inspires me to go hike my own mountain. The message is “I was here.”
