Dear Queenie,
Ever since our daughter graduated from college and moved out of our house my wife has been filling her room with all sorts of stuff – clothes, papers, stuff she buys at yard sales or online. Now the room is so full you can hardly move around in it and we have even rented a storage locker.
She will never sort through all that stuff. She promises to do it, but she always has something else to do and never gets around to it.
Queenie, I am thinking about throwing out some of the stuff the next time she goes to visit our daughter, but then what would my wife do?—Fed-up husband
Dear Husband,
Your wife’s hoarding may have been triggered by the stress of having your daughter “leave the nest” and she probably could benefit from professional treatment for her behaviour. Your family doctor can refer you to a counsellor.
Meanwhile, it would not be a good idea to just start “throwing out some of the stuff” she has accumulated.
