Do know anyone who is a hoarder?

Teacher Terry said:
We have a similar show in the states, but people’s homes are so disgusting that I can’t stand to watch them. We used to have a show called clean house and a crew would come in and help the people have a garage sale and then match whatever money they made in the garage sale to redo a room or two in their house. Sometimes they made enough money to do a bunch of rooms.

While the people‘s homes were extremely cluttered with junk everywhere, they weren’t dirty so it wasn’t disgusting. It was a really fun show that I loved, but unfortunately they no longer make it. They would ask people about their taste and then send them off to a hotel while they had the garage sale and then did the makeover.
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They also this one here as well..again I watched just a few..then of course it's more of the same... but it was amazing how much stuff they had.. they laid it all out in an arline hanger.. and I remember on women had 2 whole trellis tables full of shoes she had never worn..,,,and same with other stuff the teens had, and her husband.. and when it was all sold, it came to almost £10k....
 

hollydolly said:
They also this one here as well..again I watched just a few..then of course it's more of the same... but it was amazing how much stuff they had.. they laid it all out in an arline hanger.. and I remember on women had 2 whole trellis tables full of shoes she had never worn..,,,and same with other stuff the teens had, and her husband.. and when it was all sold, it came to almost £10k....
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Wow, that’s a lot of brand new stuff they had and they certainly made a lot of money. None of the shows I ever saw were at that level of money. I really enjoyed seeing what they did to people‘s homes based on the peoples taste.
 
After my sister-in-law died, the TV show, Hoarders, helped family members to understand the compulsions, illness and shame she must have suffered. She must have felt so out of control. A 3500 SF house, 2 car garage, and 4 outbuildings on her property, plus 2 large rental storage units, all loaded to the gills. Even when she surely must have tried to address it, she must have felt like she was bailing the ocean with a teaspoon.

Most everything was brand new - tags still on and mostly still in the department store bags. She had plenty of money and (obviously) loved to shop.
 

Yes ,sadly ..I stopped visiting her years ago …..you had to shuffle sideways in the house it was so full of stuff

Last time I drove past her home it no longer had windows ..instead it had sheets of corrugated iron over where the windows used to be …..…I’m guessing the windows fell out ….its a very old wood / iron constructed house
 
One of my Aunts was a hoarder, my father's sister. She only became like that after her divorce. I had stayed with her for a week in the summers a couple of time when I was a kid and she wasn't like that then but after her marriage failed, she went downhill fast. I remember my Mom & Dad took us kids to visit her at one point years after she had been on her own. It was shocking just walking into her house. Stuff everwhere piled up to the ceiling! We cleand out an area to sit for awhile but we all refused politely when she asked if we wanted something to drink. Her kitchen was disgusting with bugs running all over the piles of garbage🤢

I had to use the toilet before we left and I'll never forget ... the toilet bowl was literally black o_O I opened the door to one of the bedrooms beside the bathroom and stuff started falling out of the room so I closed the door real quick. We were never so glad to leave a place! I always wondered if the parents took us there as a lesson on how not to live 🤔
 
Daughter in law’s mother is a hoarder. Two years ago my daughter in law spent all summer cleaning out her mother’s house. She threw away the stuff her mother would let her throw away, cleaned out the dead critters she found, painted and installed new floors and organized what was left.

Two years later it’s a mess again. I tried to make excuses to my son that it was a mental illness and she had a sentimental attachment to things. His reply was, “No one has a sentimental attachment to potato peels. She’s just lazy.”
 
My darling husband was a hoarder. He loved to write in diaries what he did every day of the year. I asked him what he intended to do with these books, which went back 10 years, and he said the boys would be interested in what life was like all those years ago. I knew the boys wouldn't be interested so when he passed on, I got all the diaries together and shredded them for the compost bin. I didn't feel guilty, although I did read a
couple of them, but it was all old hat, and nobody would be interested. Rest in Peace Dear Heart.
 
I do not know anyone personally, but here where I live, people are free to fill up their property with anything they want, junk cars, all manner of things so that the yard is a huge eyesore.
 
SeniorSally said:
Two years later it’s a mess again. I tried to make excuses to my son that it was a mental illness and she had a sentimental attachment to things. His reply was, “No one has a sentimental attachment to potato peels. She’s just lazy.”
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That's sad - sad that she lives like that and sad that he has no empathy or understanding that it is an illness.

I have known one person who was a hoarder - house, 3 sheds, 5 broken cars all filled with stuff - some actual stuff and some things like junk mail - he threw out nothing. Small 3 bedroom house, 2 bedrooms and the living room so full of stuff you couldn't get in them - one you literally couldn't, the door wouldnt open, it was so stuffed full. He only used the kitchen and main bedroom and you could only just move around in them

Sad thing, when he died, 99% of the stuff he had been saving over the years and that ruined his life just went to the dump.
 
My neighbor is a hoarder. I haven't been inside their house but DH has and says it's wall to wall with paths.
The carport next to us is jammed full. They have a very nice RV that was her father's. It was near new when they moved here but it has been used for storage and is now falling apart and become an eyesore. A shame. They never used it for travel.
They are nice people. Always the first to offer assistance so therefore we turn a blind eye.

I have blocked them out in the back with landscaping but the RV is a glaring monstrosity to our side. At least we don't see it from the house.The across the street neighbors get that privilege.
I hate to be insensitive. I know people have deep emotional reasons for hoarding. So, I just live with it and know I could have worse neighbors. At least in an emergency I can call on them and that's a comfort.
 
oscash said:
My darling husband was a hoarder. He loved to write in diaries what he did every day of the year. I asked him what he intended to do with these books, which went back 10 years, and he said the boys would be interested in what life was like all those years ago. I knew the boys wouldn't be interested so when he passed on, I got all the diaries together and shredded them for the compost bin. I didn't feel guilty, although I did read a
couple of them, but it was all old hat, and nobody would be interested. Rest in Peace Dear Heart.
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I also write my diaries most days... have done for decades.. they're all boxed up, except for the recent ones .. and I often wonder if I should burn them.. but occasionally I'll see one and it will remind me of things that happened that I'd completely forgotten about, so for now they remain with me
 
hearlady said:
My neighbor is a hoarder. I haven't been inside their house but DH has and says it's wall to wall with paths.
The carport next to us is jammed full. They have a very nice RV that was her father's. It was near new when they moved here but it has been used for storage and is now falling apart and become an eyesore. A shame. They never used it for travel.
They are nice people. Always the first to offer assistance so therefore we turn a blind eye.

I have blocked them out in the back with landscaping but the RV is a glaring monstrosity to our side. At least we don't see it from the house.The across the street neighbors get that privilege.
I hate to be insensitive. I know people have deep emotional reasons for hoarding. So, I just live with it and know I could have worse neighbors. At least in an emergency I can call on them and that's a comfort.
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sorry, HR..what do you mean wall to wall paths ?:unsure:
 
hollydolly said:
sorry, HR..what do you mean wall to wall paths ?:unsure:
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No I mean the hoard covers the walls from floors to ceiling with paths in between to travel.
Her adult son lives there and a very large husky. Now her daughter and SIL are staying "temporarily". It would be nice if they would all help get organized but I think they all like living that way. The Dad is a video game addict and plays all night.
Ok I'm becoming too gossipy but need a little vent. 😕
 
I met the daughter of a hoarder a few years ago. She was at her mother’s house while she was away. That Christmas I made her cookies and dropped them off to her. She opened the door and immediately I saw walls of stuff almost to the ceiling which would be 8 feet high. It was real fire hazzard. Especially since the wood stove was right there near the front door. I really felt sorry for her.
 
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hearlady said:
No I mean the hoard covers the walls from floors to ceiling with paths in between to travel.
Her adult son lives there and a very large husky. Now her daughter and SIL are staying "temporarily". It would be nice if they would all help get organized but I think they all like living that way. The Dad is a video game addict and plays all night.
Ok I'm becoming too gossipy but need a little vent. 😕
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oooh that's what forums are for... gossip... and chat lol
 
My Mother (spoken to my stepfather): "Honey, please go downstairs to the basement and get me a bottle of dishwashing liquid."

Stepfather: "Okay."

Stepfather, after coming back upstairs empty-handed: "I gotta go to the store."

Mom: "Why?"

Stepfather: "I can see the bottle of Dawn. The problem is, I can't get to it."

True story. I saw it happen.
 
Even for those that are not “hoarders” but rather prone to clutter, once the walkways get clogged, it is all downhill. I have designated problem areas in our home as “no objects or storage” after I have cleaned and organized. Anything placed in the area is promptly removed, even if it has to stay out in the yard as a last resort.
 
There is the matter of "collecting" things because having them fills some "need" in you and then there is just leaving piles of disgusting stuff (huge piles of used adult diapers, garbage thrown on the floor, a layer of pet waste covering the carpet, etc).

The first one is a mental illness, the second one is just being a slob but carrying it to the point of also being a mental illness.

You see both cases on the hoarding shows.
 
Michael Z said:
Even for those that are not “hoarders” but rather prone to clutter, once the walkways get clogged, it is all downhill. I have designated problem areas in our home as “no objects or storage” after I have cleaned and organized. Anything placed in the area is promptly removed, even if it has to stay out in the yard as a last resort.
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Exactly what I've done.
 
Yes I do and quite well having been together over forty years. Fortunately she doesn’t keep garbage but she still owns every piece of clothing she ever wore. Living in a warehouse makes it possible to collect way too much stuff.
 

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