Watching Hoarders keeps me living simply....

[sylvia]

I admit I watch the show Hoarders. It is a very sad show filled with people who live in clutter, squalor and emotional pain. I watch it because it shows me the extreme end of living with too much stuff. It gets me really motivated towards my goal of minimalism and simplicity. I don't watch every show but sometimes when I do , it jump starts my projects that's for sure. I firmly can say that clutter is emotional and letting go can be very liberating! My parents keep everything, so most likely I will inherit their junk.By then I'll know what to do.
Before I started living simply I didn't realize how much I had and why I kept it. I grew up that way. Today I am still peeling back layers of extra things, but I do have 40 percent less stuff than 10 years ago. However convincing my DH and DS is another thing!
I regret tossing a few things over the years but I am not afraid of the future, I am welcoming new things and a minimalist way of life.

[iris lily]

I admit I watch the show Hoarders. It is a very sad show filled with people who live in clutter, squalor and emotional pain. I watch it because it shows me the extreme end of living with too much stuff. It gets me really motivated towards my goal of minimalism and simplicity. I don't watch every show but sometimes when I do , it jump starts my projects that's for sure. I firmly can say that clutter is emotional and letting go can be very liberating! My parents keep everything, so most likely I will inherit their junk.By then I'll know what to do.
Before I started living simply I didn't realize how much I had and why I kept it. I grew up that way. Today I am still peeling back layers of extra things, but I do have 40 percent less stuff than 10 years ago. However convincing my DH and DS is another thing!
I regret tossing a few things over the years but I am not afraid of the future, I am welcoming new things and a minimalist way of life.

I regret tossing very very little.

Last weekend I was hoarding iris in the house, I had pots and buckets and vases full of them, hundreds of them.

Well--who would have thought that they would give my house the smell of cat pee? REALLY??!!!!! I appears that masses of old shriveled iris flowers smell like cat pee.

This is only remotely tied to hoarding but it reminded me of the unexpected problems of excess. And this is why I love flowers and plants--they die and shrivel up, and I don't have to keep them forever. They self delete.

[catherine]

I like to watch Hoarders also, with the sick curiosity of people rubbernecking to see an accident.

But from what I can gather, their issues aren't just having too much stuff--it's the whole psychological grip that keeps them attached. Sometimes people have raised their kids in spotless homes and then go off the deep end when the kids are gone. Or there was one highly educated woman who lived in a DC townhouse with her husband--when her husband died, she basically just entombed herself in there, burying herself alive in stuff.

The degree of our attachment to our stuff varies I think, and that show makes me realize that "there but for the grace of God go i." My garage may be a bit of a mess right now, but I'm reasonably happy with my living areas and with my ability to let things go.

[iris lily]

My darling handsome, extremely intelligent, wonderful and beloved cousin is a hoarder. He's got it under control-- barely. He was that way since the time he was a kid.He had a tiny bedroom and it was packed to the gills. I will say, he's got some pretty awesome archives in his area of collecting. He pulled out some obscure thing about Scottish history one day, I was gobsmacked. This thing was not something that a library could get for you. So in a way he's like those ratty old professors who have offices piled to the ceiling with crap.

[happystuff]

We don't get that show on our very basic cable, but I've seen bits and pieces. I agree that it is a great reminder of where I DON'T want to be!

Another reminder for me is whenever I have a hotel stay (which is not often at all!). But when I pack for a trip and stay in a hotel, I'm always amazed at how comfortable and content I am with the bit of stuff I've packed and the functionality of the hotel room and its furnishings.

[catherine]

Another reminder for me is whenever I have a hotel stay (which is not often at all!). But when I pack for a trip and stay in a hotel, I'm always amazed at how comfortable and content I am with the bit of stuff I've packed and the functionality of the hotel room and its furnishings.

I completely agree!!! I've actually sketched layouts of some larger hotel rooms I've stayed in for ideas if I ever build my own tiny house.

I particularly remember one time when I was staying for three months in St. Louis with two kids. We were staying at a hotel there all that time. We were called to be there on very short notice (one day), so I just threw stuff for me and my two kids in one medium suitcase and told DH that I'd send him a list of stuff to ship later.

I never sent that list. We had everything we needed--for three people including two children--in one medium suitcase. It was amazingly freeing.

[goldensmom]

Of the few episodes I’ve watched of this show, very few were true hoarders. Most episodes were of people that live in unsanitary, trashy, dangerous, condemnable dwellings. True hoarders have an enormous amount of stuff but do not pose a health hazard to themselves or others. I’ve dealt with such situations in my previous employment and it is truly sad to see a television network (TLC - really??) exploiting people with this type of psychological disorder. It does, however, make me want to go clean and throw away something.

[ToomuchStuff]

Never have seen the show, but I feel the mentality of a hoarder, while trying to sort out stuff to keep and get rid of. Although I do understand the reasons people fall into it too well. (death, depression, stuff rather then connections with people, etc)

[Tussiemussies]

After watching Hoarders for awhile I decided to never shop at a thrift shop again. They pile up all of the leftovers and send them to Goodwill or something similar. After seeing the filth that these people live in I realized, I don't know where this clothing is coming from, it could have been a filthy house. Just not for me along with concerns about the bedbug epidemic...

[pony mom]

I always get angry and upset that these hoarders have pets, forced to live in their own filth.

A large amount of clutter is one thing, but not having running water/flushing toilets is just digusting. But I watch it anyway.