How do you convince a spouse who hoards clothes to stop?

You can do what my wife does and say, “You have too many fucking t-shirts. Get rid of some of them.”

It is very difficult for a hoarder to get rid of things. I urge you to reconsider and offer to but a storage shed for the excess, or rent a storage unit.

The best thing is to gently push them toward the idea of purging their clothes on their own. If that can’t be done, then bag up the excess items or the items you know they don’t use and store them. You could get rid of the items but that will make hoarding worse down the line.

This is hard if next to impossible for YOU to do anything.

THEY have to want to stop hoarding.

Find out why they have that need in the first place, usually its from a tramatic moment in their life when they lacked sufficient clothes.( fear).
Talking with them to make them feel safe and protected would help them ease off theat need as much.

Thanks so much jellies! GA’s all.

Set up discarding criteria e.g. looks worn out, too small, faded, stretched, etc. Give to charity to let someone else benefit from them.

First, get a hoarding expert to help her get rid of the shirts. Second, get a team to help clean up the mess. Third find the shirts you don’t mind keeping and keep them.

Recently I did an experiment with my 12yo. After doing laundry, I would confiscate their clothes. (Only returning undergarments and socks.)

We worked through their whole wardrobe. Then when their memory of each article of clothing was fresh in their minds, we went through and sorted them into piles.

“So glad to have this back. Can’t wait to wear it again.”

“Liked wearing this and would definitely wear it more now.”

“Made me miss my other clothes.”

(They agreed to this experiment.)