I'm a compulsive hoarder who is trying desperately to change.

I am a British woman with hoarding disorder who lives a seemingly normal life, except I never invite anybody to my home. That's because I have this condition, which is highly stigmatised, and I am too ashamed to tell people. That's what the podcast is about: what compulsive hoarding is, what helps, what doesn't help, and how we can understand ourselves better. My listeners are other compulsive hoarders, they are people who love or know hoarders, or they are people who work professionally with hoarders.
 

I wanted to have a platform to bust some myths about hoarding disorder, from a perspective that is not often heard. As I already listened to a lot of podcasts, podcasting was the obvious place to build this platform. Podcasting also offered me a way to talk openly about this without plastering my name or face over everything - the stigma is such that that was very important to me. My goals were always to raise awareness and build empathy and understanding, but it is surprisingly useful for me to have an outlet too, somewhere to vent.

I launched my first episode of the podcast in March 2021. Once I recorded the first episode, I put it up quite quickly but I had spent months, if not years, thinking about doing it before that!
 

I release weekly episodes and it takes more time than people might expect. Not only do you have to plan your podcast (i.e. plan what topics you want to cover but also what aspects of each topic you want to talk about), then record it, and then edit it. You also have to deal with the technical side of things like uploading it to the web, transcribing it, and putting it on your website. And then, of course, share it on social media! If I'm doing an interview, that also needs additional communication and planning.

I have to fit it around my day job but I feel strongly about it - and feel benefit from it - so make time for it in my spare time. I fund the podcast myself at this point. I would love it if listeners started to donate or sponsors took an interest, just to ease that a bit.
 

I gain a great sense of achievement from podcasting. I feel proud that I am one of the very few people speaking openly about having hoarding disorder, and I feel proud whenever somebody contacts me to either praise the podcast or to tell me it helps them. It's incredible to me that my messy (literally!) life could be helping other people. I am yet to discover how to find sponsors but the more downloads I get, the more possible that will be.
 

My podcasting process has changed a lot over time and I've no doubt I'm still refining it. I used to record straight to Otter.ai but I found out that the sound quality of audio files was better if I recorded it into a dedicated app. So now I do that, using a lapel mic and my Android phone. I edit in Audacity.

In terms of finding guests, one was introduced to me by an organisation supporting children of hoarders. Another was somebody whose email newsletter I receive and respect, so I approached her. Generally, a personable and friendly approach seems to go a long way. I interview over Zoom, because we can see each other and record it as we speak without needing multiple pieces of software.
 

I do most of my marketing on social media, predominantly Twitter but also Facebook and, recently, Reddit. I share brief clips from each episode to YouTube as well. I get some Google search traffic, which is growing all the time, and 59% of my listeners use Apple devices. 76% are in North America, and 85% listen on mobile devices.
 

I would say to give it some thought and planning and research but don't use those as an excuse to never start. There is always more you can learn but the best way to learn is to start. Your first few episodes will probably suck, but people expect that so just start and you will quickly start to improve.
 

My website is http://www.overcomecompulsivehoarding.co.uk/ and this is where you will find every episode, every transcript, and all the links to subscribe to the podcast.

I am on Twitter https://twitter.com/ThatHoarder and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Overcome-Compulsive-Hoarding-with-That-Hoarder-104370761703319

You can find my YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSxMqB_fGckbGOQZpkl6l9g and my subreddit at https://www.reddit.com/r/overcomehoarding/

If you want to support the podcast, visit http://www.overcomecompulsivehoarding.co.uk/support-this-project/