Jennifer and Ron are both working hard to change and have been forced to make some difficult decisions along the way. Six months after cleaning up their home, the couple decided to live apart. "It's almost like I've got these new tools. I'm clumsy with them. I've got to figure out a way of using them without battling him, because we trigger each other," she says.

12 strategies to overcome hoarding

Now, Jennifer won't bring home anything she doesn't have a place for. She also says living in a clean home has made life manageable again. "Laundry was an awful task for us. We couldn't ever find anything we needed, and so you would think that you needed more," she says. "I've really figured out that stuff isn't going to give me these human connections. It's really going to prevent me from that."

Ron still lives in the home he shared with Jennifer. "It feels different being in my house, really. Having it more organized and a lot of the stuff out of here, it's freed me up to where I don't have as much negative energy all the time," he says. "I still have a lot of clutter, but it's a world away from where I was."

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