A WOMAN who was once a hoarder has revealed how she turned it into a money-maker.
Lisa Curtis, 53, grew up with a fondness of ‘collecting’ things – which she later realised would be classed as ‘hoarding‘.
When her dad, Keith Robinson, 65, died in 2013 – she discovered his house was bursting full because he was also a hoarder and ever since Lisa spends her days transforming hoarders’ messy and clutter-filled homes.
She spent months sifting through his belongings choosing what to keep, donate, sell and discard – clearing the property on weekends over around six months.
Lisa then turned her attention to her own three-bed home – stacked full of random collections – and managed to get rid of thousands of items.
After, she began getting requests to help others declutter and in 2017 the side hustle became her full-time job which sees her make £50,000 a year.
And while Lisa makes a lot of cash, the job itself is not for the fainthearted.
Lisa often comes face to face with filthy situations like dealing with rats and faeces.
Now the mum-of-three spends every day walking into hoarders’ homes to help them tackle their habits.
Some of Lisa’s most difficult projects have seen her tackle huge collections of sex toys, rat-infested chairs and even a client who stored his poo in boxes.
But Lisa, @motherclutteruk on TikTok, said she finds the job rewarding as she can “make a difference” to lives.
Lisa, from Jesmond, Newcastle, said: “My dad would never let us into his house and when he died I found time had just stood still in the house – he hadn’t thrown anything away.
“I emptied his and then I started on my own home – soon people started asking me to help them too.
“Now I’ve been doing this job for years – I’ve worked on everything from stacks of books and letters to sex toys and porn collections.
“I can help people because I understand how they feel – it’s not just laziness, there’s a story behind every hoarder.”
Lisa’s decluttering journey began after her dad went into a nursing home shortly before he passed away in 2013.
A hoarder is a person who has a persistent difficulty discarding or parting with possessions, regardless of their actual value.
This behaviour often leads to the accumulation of a large number of items, which can clutter living spaces and interfere with their intended use.
Hoarding can significantly impact an individual’s quality of life and can pose health and safety risks.
It is often considered a mental health condition and may be associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or other anxiety disorders.
Treatment typically involves therapy, such as cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), and sometimes medication to help manage the underlying issues.
His mum, Lily Robinson, 80, had died back in 2001 and Keith started hoarding her old possessions to deal with the grief, and had also failed to keep on top of his housework.
Heartbroken Lisa cleared out his cluttered, dirty home bit-by-bit in the months after Keith passed away.
Lisa realised throughout this process she shared some of the same ‘collecting’ tendencies.
Lisa said: “I was a massive collector and had loads of the same collections as him – old ticket stubs, birthday cards and random coins.
“I work with quite a lot of older blokes, whose houses are piled full and they have a tiny little corner with chair where they spend all day.
“Some even pay thousands to rent storage because they can’t fit all their stuff.
“I find with women – some have addictions to places like B&M and compulsively buy things like homeware and craft stuff.
“I had one lady who had thousands of knitting magazines, all completely unopened.
“I dealt with men who have stored their wee and one guy who stored his pee in pots. I asked ‘why?’ and he couldn’t give an answer – he just couldn’t get rid of anything.”
Lisa also has to confront her own hoarding habits at times when she lets clutter pile up for too long, although she keeps everything clean.
She said being a collector doesn’t necessarily mean a house is unsanitary – but due to the lack of space, it can often lead to that for some people.
She explained it “happens slowly” over time and often results in her getting elbow-deep in mould, grease, dust and even “mummified animals” such as bird, mice and rats.
She said: “I had a client who had a nest of rats living under his divan and he just accepted it, even when he heard them running around.”
She recalled a mouldy freezer she cleaned out recently where she pulled out a 16-year-old bag of oven chips.
But Lisa said because she has struggled with hoarding tendencies herself, she can empathise – and people are more comfortable letting her into their homes as a result.
She explained her clients have even included ‘top job’ bank managers and architects – but you’d never know from the outside.
This, she said, is because hoarders often feel great shame around their habits.
She said: “Some people won’t have told their families, like my dad didn’t, or maybe their habits cause arguments with relatives.”
Lisa now wants to educate others on hoarding and raise awareness, so hoarders don’t feel such shame.
She said: “Mean comments are what keep people from asking for help, because they’re so ashamed.
“Everyone has a story and if you knew theirs, you’d be less inclined to say horrible things.”
