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Conservation vs. Hoarding: Are You Walking a Fine Line?

Preserving valuable and meaningful things is a normal and healthy practice: oftentimes, however, conservation leads to hoarding. Are you a conservationist or a hoarder?

Conservation can simply be defined as saving with a purpose – not just hard and tangible items, like jewelry, souvenirs, and other memorabilia, but also photographs, cassettes, certificates, diplomas, and reel-to-reels. Saving these things, which have a special meaning or brings back valuable memories, is conservation. A healthy outlet, conservation can prove to be a stress-reducing and comforting hobby or practice.

Hoarding, on the other hand, is a disorder: a person with hoarding disorder feels the need to conserve each and every item, and experiences distress at the thought of losing or getting rid of these things. While conservation can be a healthy and fun hobby, hoarding is by no means a healthy practice, and should be given its proper attention.

If you think that you are more of a hoarder than a conservationist, there are steps to take to help you overcome this disorder: contact a mental health professional. The earlier you can deal with hoarding, the better.

If, on the other hand, you are a conservationist, at Envision, we are conservation experts. For more information about how we can help digitize and preserve your most cherished memories: whether they be photos, videos, or music, contact us online, give us a call (201-340-9234), or just bring them in.  Be the curator of your cherishes collections!

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