hoarding program...WTF???

[targa911S]

I just watched the best program of hoarders EVER. This woman's house had 3 feet of cat crap in it. Yes 3 ft! Also she has been crapping in plastic bags for 10 years AND SAVING IT! I feel so good right now I could just flick my cigarette ashes on the floor! They were actually trying to save this house. I would have just put mom in a home and put a road flare to the place! How can people be so disgusting? There was much crap and dead cats in this place the foundation was giving away!

[Danny_Ocean]

That show skeezes me out. I can't watch it.

[RPKESQ]

It is a mental disease fairly common with people after 40. It develops slowly and they also try to hide it. Which prevents proper treatment in many cases until it is too late.

[targa911S]

Man it was WAY late for this gal.

[911boost]

Camping over Labor Day weekend I had to move a dead horse that had been laying in the sun and chewed on by 'yotes for about 6 days. There were maggots all over it, an the smell was horrible.

I would rather do that again, and again, than deal with some of the people on that show. Cat poop? Human poop in a bag? I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

[slodave]

There's a person in the condo complex next to me that is like that. The blinds are not closed all the way and stuff has fallen to the windows. Piles of clothes and trash everywhere. A lot of fast food soft drinks lying around the bedroom as well. I also see a cat from time to time. Pretty bad, pretty sad.

[VINMAN]

We have one house that we have been to for fire calls a number of times. This woman must have every possesion she ever owned saved. there is so much stuff piled up in the house that you have to walk sideways to get thrugh. Probably 30 yrs worth of newspapers stacked all over the place. Garbage a ft deep. Unwashed pots and dishes all over the kitchen.
Everytime I leave that house, I have to immediately take a shower because the place makes my skin crawl it is so filthy.

[Scuba Steve]

My grandma was going in that direction for at least her last 30 years. She never did the cats, newspapers or worse though.

Basically, she managed an apartment complex near a university and then a better complex for 40 years or so. From what I could tell, she saved everything that tenants left behind. Washcloths, dish racks, tapes, 8 tracks, furniture. Everything. Luckily things like toothbrushes and food she would throw out, but she kept every one of those that she bought. When we were cleaning out her place I counted about 30 of them in sight, including one taped to the wall as decoration.

She retired to the country next door to two of her sisters who passed before she did, and the mountain of stuff she owned was moved along with her. Towards the end her hearing was failing along with her mind and we had to make the decision to move closer to civilization (near where my parents live) for her. It just wasn't safe anymore; you'd call and she wouldn't answer unless she happened to be standing by the phone when it rang and we would go for a long time not knowing if she was ok or not. She was also being preyed upon by sweepstakes scams.

But about the junk - it took three years to move everything to my parent's place and go through it all one enclosed trailer load at a time. There was no other choice since she packed boxes based upon what fit in the box instead of by what was going in, and there is no trash pickup out there. What we found... medicines going back to the mid '60s, some food that came in metal tins (crackers, nothing that was nasty), coupons dating to the Nixon administration, every tax return from 1947 - late '60s in a box, neatly rolled and tied with string, who knows how many 8 tracks, a bunch of vintage hats (kept those), toys belonging to me or my brother that were lost or fallen behind something, and basically a collection of the worst of the '60s - today. Anything Wal Mart sold during that time she had. I had to go through all the financial stuff that was unearthed - all the various banks, accounts, and everything. About 40 years worth of records turned up and at least 8 or 10 checking accounts.

All of this stuff was just forgotten - it'd get put in a box, then a closet, then new things would cover it and block access and it just kept on going. Then it must've become overwhelming thinking about going through all of it and dealing with the problem while it just continued to grow. I think she saw things that she had on the individual level - that she has, say a bottle of shampoo with just a tiny bit left at the bottom, and sees it only as "I have something that can be used" rather than looking at it on the bigger scale "I have 45 bottles with just a little at the bottom so this 46th one is useless." She was also unable to see the benefit of just working on a little bit of the problem at a time. She would see that there's still stuff everywhere after we would leave with a carload of things to throw out rather than seeing that now the trail to get into a bedroom was a bit wider or that she could sit in a chair in the living room again. IMO that's how hoarders work - it's basically ignoring a problem as it continues to grow and grow until finally "stuff" becomes a part of the person.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by slodave

There's a person in the condo complex next to me that is like that. The blinds are not closed all the way and stuff has fallen to the windows. Piles of clothes and trash everywhere. A lot of fast food soft drinks lying around the bedroom as well. I also see a cat from time to time. Pretty bad, pretty sad.

You may want to report that.

Single detached home is one thing.

Attached Condo units puts others at risk. Vermin, fire, structural etc...

[Zeke]

I watched a minute or 2 of one show, left the room, came back for another episode and another minute. During that time they showed a teaser for the next show. I was grossed out by then vowing to never turn that show on again.

Too bad because the idea had some potential if they looked for humor in the homes of hoarders, not roaches and literal crap. This show brings reality TV to a new low, as if they couldn't get lower.

I wanted to disinfect the TV.

[vash]

my friends parents are like that. it is unbelievable. the dad would find crap in the streets and bring it home. the insides are like a mouse maze. i have gotten into the garage, but never invited "in". she is sad for her parents.

[azasadny]

My in-laws had a neighbor (retired docent at Detroit Museum) who was a hoarder. When he died, the neighbor gave anything my in-laws wanted so we went through the house. It was very hard to move as albums (remember those?) were stacked over 6ft high throughout the entire 900sq ft house. Newspaper, cats, filth, wine, antiquities, etc... With all of the filth/dust/mold, it was sickening and the family cleaned up the house and sold it very cheap to a lady who gutted it and cleaned it all up. Very strange folks out there...

[R K T]

Saw a car parked on the street the other day that was just like some of the houses. There was NO space in the car other than a small spot for the driver. The entire back seat and passenger side was filled to the top with McD's bags, bottles, and just basically garbage and trash. No way could he or she see out the back window!

[azasadny]

Whenever I see a car on the road like that, I get as far away as possible. They usually have stuffed animals in the rear window....

[Eric 951]

I watched last night during breaks in the MNF game--man some of thos folks have SERIOUS issues. The espisode I watched had (2) seperate families where they were both in danger of losing custody of their children because of the messes and they both still had problems cleaning up--anxiety, etc.

The one lady is Washington seemed to be more like a lazy slob than a hoarder, as all of her "stuff" was mostly garbage--fast food wrappers, empty bottles, etc. Never again will I watch, as I don't have sympathy towards these people as much as anger.

The lady was sitting on a pile of trash petting her dog crying about how she "didn't know what to do" and I'm yelling "get off you ass and clean".

I understand it is a mental health issue, but I just can't relate.

[targa911S]

i agree. get off yer ass an d clean.

[herr_oberst]

Is "Hoarders" on before or after "American Pickers"?

[GLASEM]

Whenever I see a car on the road like that, I get as far away as possible. They usually have stuffed animals in the rear window....__________________
Art.......watch that.......afterall I have a Porsche Racing Bear in the back seat of the 911

I can relate to all of this. My mother is one

[porsche4life]

My aunt is heading down that path.... I think my dad would be too but mom keeps the crap cleaned up. It definitely runs in our family.

[Talewinds]

Eric 951 hit it on the head. That television show takes on the entirety of hoarding and makes no distinction. But I think they're missing the responsibility of identifying a very important distinction. There are some people that are clinically considered hoarders. They actually have some nice things tucked away in there. Their outward appearance is otherwise "normal", they have jobs, etc.
Then, there is the other..... I don't actually consider them hoarders in the traditional sense. Sure, the same mechanism may be at work on them but I think there are much more serious mental issues at work on a few of those people, ESPECIALLY the lady depicted on the program from the other night. You could tell from a 2-second glance that she was mentally unfit.

It is very sad. And of course there are many varying degrees of hoarding, but some of the people occupy a realm that is much, MUCH worse, they need to be in nursing homes.