hoarders show

saracelica

Pattern Altitude
Joined
Oct 20, 2010
Messages
1,817
Display Name

Display name:
saracelica
Was visiting my parents and so I got caught up on my cable TV. Watched one episode of hoarders: buried alive. In this one the woman's house was condemned/not safe to live in, since it was so full. Anyway near the end the hoarder was nervous about just leaving stuff with the neighbor (the stuff that was clean enough to save) so the hoarder picked up the stuff and put it back in the house after the helpers/cleaners left. I turned the TV off at that point.

Which got me thinking why doesnt pods or some one sponsor that show? Seems ideal... Were going to put your stuff to keep in here and here is the only key.
 
Pods? They'll just fill it up and then fill up the house again. Hoarders have mental problems. They don't need even more room for stuff, they need to rewire their brains so they can learn to let go of what they already have.
 
My mom is a hoarder. Yes, this is real and not easy to deal with. The only positive in the past decade or so is the medical community classifying as an actual condition and not a "just clean your house and everything will be ok" instruction. . . .
 
I meant pod as the cleaning up is under way.
 
I have had family and have friends with family members who have this problem. It seems to be especially common with older men who grew up in the depression... wasting anything with any potential use becomes unthinkable.
 
I have had family and have friends with family members who have this problem. It seems to be especially common with older men who grew up in the depression... wasting anything with any potential use becomes unthinkable.

Yeah I know the mindset. I'm thinking of a garage that is completely filled with cabinets containing dry foods and canned goods dating to the 1940's.

Umm, why. Tell me you're going to eat that crap.
 
I've had to deal with a couple of hoarders with rentals. Eviction is the first step, and then clean out the house. There is no "fixing" it from a landlords perspective. Flush, repaint, re-rent.
 
My parents could probably fit this description. It's bad enough none of the kids or grand kids want to stay there. I have no idea how it got that way as my grandparents still live at home in a clean house.

I feel bad as it clearly affects their well being but they don't change anything. They get hostile when confronted. There's acres (figuratively) of counter space in the kitchen and every inch is occupied by junk.

They still have a battery pack from an ELT out of an airplane they sold 10 years ago on the counter...
 
I don't believe anything I see on those shows. I know there are hoarders, but those shows are all scripted, IMO. Storage Wars and all. Hokey. Even Ice Pilots is scripted. The real stories would be boring.

Dan
 
Reality TV is an oxymoron, however hoarders most definitely exist. If you think they're bad inland, you should boat people at it out at anchor. They'll have a whole flotilla of junk boats rafted up filled with crap, they can grow infinitely.
 
I wouldn't call my brother a hoarder, but he is a collector and he will collect anything. You go through his house or property, and he has collections of stuff everywhere. Pop bottles, pop cans, oil cans, pocket knives, pole insulators, wood planes, military uniforms on mannequins, the list goes on and on. All very orderly and organized, but every square inch has a collection stuck in it.
 
I've got a tendency to collect junk that I think I might use or repair later a and things tend to be cluttered.

But, I don't feel emotional attachment to the things and am able to put in the trash or give away free on craigslist when I go through periodic purges so I figure I'm ok.
 
I don't believe anything I see on those shows. I know there are hoarders, but those shows are all scripted, IMO. Storage Wars and all. Hokey. Even Ice Pilots is scripted. The real stories would be boring.


In this case, I doubt they have to embellish much. My wife, who's done in home nursing for just under two decades has worse stories than the show. And she won't watch it.

A couple weeks ago she came home and said, "Gotta go change... I think the lady's dog ****ed on the couch. Scratch that. It always ****es on the couch."

Not exactly hoarding, but mix elderly patients with multiple pets with whatever piles of stuff you've seen on the show and you're getting closer to reality not further away from it.
 
My mom is a hoarder. It wasn't too bad growing up, we just knew she had a lot of junk, but with us kids ordered to clean up the house before going out to play every Saturday, we kept it reasonable, though my dad was embarrassed by the whole thing, and used to joke that he had to tie a rope to the plumber or electrician when they had to go downstairs.

After my dad died in 1995, it was a joke no more. I hadn't been in her home in about 5 years, but had to go there last March. There are barely pathways to move around. Some rooms are inaccessible. It's disgusting and sad, and nothing can be done about it until she passes away. We've tried.
 
It sucks when it's a family member. Everyone sees the problem, everyone wants to help or NEEDS to help so it stops. They won't listen... or can't take your pick. They won't let you clean it up either. Really really really sucks...
 
This went a different direction then I anticipated. My great aunt was a hoarder. We cleaned after she died. We found hundreds of dollars inside catalogs, we theorized that she set money aside for the item on that page and never went back for it. I have a cedar chest from the house... Its like new inside.
 
Back
Top