TV show helps man overcome hoarding
By Capi Lynn, Statesman Journal, February 18, 2011, StatesmanJournal.com
Everybody has a little hoarder in them, you know, the urge to keep that pile of clothes you haven’t worn in years or that stack of magazines you haven’t looked at for months.
But most of us don’t accumulate and store items, and refuse to discard them, to an unhealthy extreme. Most of us aren’t compulsive hoarders.
“People have emotional attachments to certain things,” said Cindy Culpovich, a professional organizer in Salem. “But some people become unreasonable or unrealistic about those attachments.
“Even if we collect a lot of a certain thing, we would probably be able to see, ‘Oh, this is overtaking my garage, or my office space.’ But they are blinded to it.”
Compulsive hoarding often goes unnoticed because it festers behind closed doors, in the privacy of one’s home. It is simultaneously repellent and fascinating — which probably explains the popularity of two cable TV shows — and apparently isn’t uncommon. Experts estimate between 700,000 and 1.4 million Americans are afflicted.
“I’ve been surprised how many people right here in Salem have told me their aunt, their best friend, their cousin, their neighbor is a hoarder,” Culpovich said. “It seems everyone knows someone. These shows are bringing to light a big problem that people really didn’t know about.”
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Get organized before spring cleaning starts
By Ellen Kimbro, Jackson Sun, February 18, 2011, Features@jacksonsun.com
Most people consider organizing a home to be a chore and even a bore. Not Kym Mayes.
“I like to clean; I find it very relaxing. And I like to organize, to purge our house, the kids’ clothes, the cabinets, the closets,” said Mayes. …Living this way enables Mayes to have more free time, she said, because she’s not spending time looking for things
…For storing toys, Mayes uses organizing shelves with big squares built in. She fills them with canvas totes, and totes hold only specific things. …Cindy Culpovich, a professional designer from Salem, Ore., encourages her clients to use canvas baskets. “You can get them in different sizes, and you can measure your space and figure out what size works with your space. Plus, they look nice, and you can use them out in the open or on a bookshelf, where they can be pulled out, Culpovich said.
…Culpovich offers tips for keeping living spaces — and everything in them — under control on her website, OrganizingYourSpace.com. …”When we are more organized, we can function better, and we are better able to be creative,” she said. She encourages those who struggle with organization to take it “one small step at a time.
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Salem woman turns home-organizing into business
She honed her skill in household of six, and from research
By Victoria Hadden, Special to the Statesman Journal, October 31, 2007, vhadd@comcast.net
A gigantic mess. Boxes piled with stuff. Clutter. To most people, this doesn’t spell F-U-N. But to professional organizer Cindy Culpovich, it spells an opportunity to jumpstart the organizing process. Culpovich is a master at de-cluttering, straightening, sorting and ordering any space (and she loves doing it).“I have to be able to do this because it’s so much fun,” she said of her work. In 2004, West Salem’s Culpovich decided to become a professional organizer by starting her own business called Organizing Your Space. This decision was a culmination of her lifelong passion and hobby of helping people organize their spaces and lives…