View Full Version : hoarders is so inspiring / family
i switched from law and order svu to hoarders last night, it is so inspiring. i tend towards anti-hoarding but life still creates a lot of stuff! i was watching one where a young lady was being encouraged by her mom to keep something she wanted to give away. reminded me of my mom, i think my mom is a 'functional hoarder' , they have a 4 bedroom house with every closet and other spaces full but my dad is as much into not having stuff so it is a very nice house. Still i get overwhelmed when i visit with it all.
i have 2 grocery bags of trash and one of goodwill from one room, i do keep it up. i am getting a couple new towels and washclothes. Better a couple good ones than a pile of junky ones. also framing some art for the bathroom that my kids made. i had a lot of socks, gave a lot of good ones to goodwill because it was just too many. i went to about 10 pairs of underwear months ago and i have never had an issue getting dressed so that works.
it feels good
I love watching Hoarders because I am fascinated at the reasoning behind why they do it.
My mom was a functioning hoarder too. I called her the organized hoarder when I was growing up but noticed that as she got older, it was getting out of control. When I say we removed 23 full size storage bins of shoes from the first go around, it opened my eyes.
I just did another go around and I brought another load to the donation place.
I was pretty excited to see netflix had some new hoarders episodes the other night. Love watching it to get in the mood to clean. My moms attic and basement are full but organized in labeled boxes. My mother only gives me checks anymore because she said one time "I'm afraid to give you anything because I know you'll just get rid of it later."
Love watching it to get in the mood to clean. My moms attic and basement are full but organized in labeled boxes.
Yes, it does do that to me also. It's fascinating and sad at the same time. When I watch it I think of all the spiritual injunctions in every religious tradition against "attachments" and watching that you can see why.
rodeosweetheart
1-31-15, 3:15pm
I have a love hate reaction this show--it definitely inspires me to get rid of stuff, which is good, but I think it's really intrusive and creepy and cannot believe that therapists are involved in publicly giving treatment to these people--seems really unethical to turn their pain into entertainment and source of schadenfreude, but that's also true of Dr. Drew and intervention shows--just think a hundred years from now, people will react like we react now to circus freak show entertainment. Although hey, that is also making a comeback, I guess.
Anyway, I hate seeing human pain turned into entertainment. Hoarding is a serious mental issue, a confluence of things like anxiety, OCD, and depression. And it definitely gets worse as one gets older, so I'm sure we will be seeing more of it.
But you can argue that these shows do a great service by bringing these problems out in the open.
Who knows.
Teacher Terry
1-31-15, 4:33pm
I can't stand to watch that show-the homes are so dirty/disgusting that is makes me sick. Also I agree that is unethical on the part of therapists. However, I used to love clean house because the homes were not disgusting & I felt like they were helping people who homes were out of control & helping them before they truly became sick hoarders. They would also ask them what led to the situation so the people could think about it.
I went to the wreckin' yard, to pull some good, garnteed, salvaged parts for my 1-ton, dually flatbed 4x4 '84 GMC. It has the mighty 454. I had acquired it from a goat rancher from Yellville, ark. He wasn't using it, and it needed too much work, anyway. But, the engine runs excellent, the body is pretty solid, and there is none of that hi-tech, computerized electronic garbage or antipollution or safety junk on it. You can start it with a key that costs 99 cents to duplicate at any hardware store, instead of wasting $300 at the dealership. Anyway, I got the removeable trans hump out of a late-70s model, since someone had cut the non-removeable trans hump found in 81-up trucks w/4-speed and/or 4wd, to gain clearance when they changed out the clutch at one time. Also, a nice set of door weatherstrips, a nearly-new boot for the transfer case shift lever, a set of door locks w/key, and seat tracks. There was a huge rats nest under the seat of my the GMC, and a stash of dry dogg food. The rats' means of egress was the gap in the trans tunnel cut during the hill-persons' clutch change. See? So, I pressure-washed everything to clean it up. But, one of the pickups at the wreckin' yard had a really nice passenhger-side door, and they are getting hard to find. So, I picked it up, too. Ha. I have no need for it, but may in the future, and by that time, they will be even more scarce. Right now, it is in the driveway, leaning against a car, and one project this afternoon will be to find a spot to store that door, out of plain sight, for the time being. I've even got a spare clutch disc and pressure plate in nice shape I picked up, for it, that I bought cheep from a guy who was parting out a truck. They are $150+, new. Plus, other spare parts hoarded, including a steering column. How do you neatniks like that? Plus, I'll cut and fit that trans hump & clean up parts. Tomorrow, another trip to the wreckin' yard for more bits n' pieces. I'm having to pack a tool box, instead of just taking a few basic things. Never know what I might find to bring home. Ha. ( Wish me luck.) and, (Thankk Mee)
okay i have had enough, the next episode has rats and there is this Stephen King story i am flashing back to. My son and his girlfriend just pulled a lot of trash out of his room, emptied all the little trash cans in the house and did the cat box WITHOUT being asked. Gosh i love and appreciate my family right now. My oldest came home for 24 hours last week and i could see every place she had been because she likes stuff and is a potential hoarder. i have offered to help her sell things on ebay that she thinks are valuable but no luck. But she pretty much cleaned before she left, just little things that are not that important.
i am feeling good i bought new little towels and washcloths and threw away junky ones, got a mat ordered for artwork my son has done, am putting away the little bits of Christmas stuff that i had out (and by my personal deadline, last day of January it should all be put away).
i have nothing against saving and recycling, i collect tp tubes, small boxes, egg cartons, etc. the difference is that i have a designated space in a designated size. once my recycled item area for doing crafts with kids at work is full then i recycle the rest or use up. ooh i almost threw out socks and we need to make sock snakes!
goldensmom
1-31-15, 6:10pm
I've watched a few episodes of 'Hoarders'. I am so spartan that I cannot imagine why people hoard so I thought the show might be enlightening but when they went from hoarders (people who just collect tons of stuff) to those who are trashy and disgusting I stopped watching the show. People do not 'collect' feces ladden toilet paper; soiled feminine products; moldy, spoiled, maggot infested food; rats, pet feces, etc.. It's also the same pattern, starting out agreeing to help then something happens, they get mad, stomp off and will not cooperate, then they come back and on and on and on. Could be a show that is helpful and informative but it's nothing I'm interested anymore.
Yes, the thing I don't care for about the show is that aspect of disrespect / superiority / oversimplification ... the hosts always act as if ... I don't know. As if the people with issues are simply ignorant children, and VOILA! a few words of explanation from our sponsor (I have to actually gather and throw away my trash? Oh, praise God, Thank You, I had no idea, I've spent the last four years waiting for the Skunk Bottle and Dirty Pizza Box Collection Committee to empty my living room while I'm sleeping), and the problem's going to be solved forever.
On the flip side, I do agree that the before and after, if taken from a purely visual standpoint without the human aspect, always makes me want to declutter, too.
Okay--:thankyou:You kids need to eliminate ALL commas--ALL--periods---use multiple hyphens---and of course--use parentheses and CAPS and exclamation points excessively and inappropriately!(see what I mean)? Plus--from now on--start every reply with "Okay---"/See?/also---slash/change subject/slash/change subject again/slash/Hope that helps you some--it DOES sound MORE obsessive and MANIC(like a TRUE hoarder)--does it not? (Thankk Mee!)
Okay--:thankyou:You kids need to eliminate ALL commas--ALL--periods---use multiple hyphens---and of course--use parentheses and CAPS and exclamation points excessively and inappropriately!(see what I mean)? Plus--from now on--start every reply with "Okay---"/See?/also---slash/change subject/slash/change subject again/slash/Hope that helps you some--it DOES sound MORE obsessive and MANIC(like a TRUE hoarder)--does it not? (Thankk Mee!)
What was that all about, Packy?
iris lilies
2-1-15, 11:04am
I can't stand to watch that show-the homes are so dirty/disgusting that is makes me sick. Also I agree that is unethical on the part of therapists. However, I used to love clean house because the homes were not disgusting & I felt like they were helping people who homes were out of control & helping them before they truly became sick hoarders. They would also ask them what led to the situation so the people could think about it.
I am with you, those hoarder shows are awful, and once you,ve seen one you,ve seen them all.
but the Clean House one, if that was the name, seemed rather useful.
Was that the one where they made piles of Keep, Sell, Toss and they had garage sales?
it was a good approach to helping overwhelmed families.
i looked for clean house on netflix but they don't have it.
i realized what fascinates me is that i have the 'do it yourself/project' mindset as well. it is challenging to balance my stuff with that. not all of the hoarders, but many start with good ideas about projects and not throwing everything away but then get seriously derailed. the ones that make me upset are the ones throwing things on the floor rather than a trash can, being a grownup is hard and you ned to clean up. usually those are the same people who show some serious mental illness as well. isolation seems to be a big issue, if it didn't start that way then it definitely became part of it when they no longer could have anyone over.
on the other comments, i don't need to respond to everyone in this thread of course. And if someone is off track but not mean then i just pay attention to the rest of the discussion which has been a nice one.
I am with you rodeo. My way of dealing with it is to ignore the posts.
I am with you rodeo. My way of dealing with it is to ignore the posts.
His posts are visual clutter...
I have a love hate reaction
Anyway, I hate.........
.Yes, Rodeo; you seem to have a love/hate reaction to my posts. You do have the option of blocking them, but apparently you don't. My previous post was an incomprehensible, random ramble-on rant. It's meaning, is only the one that the reader assigns to it, much like an inkblot test. The reader interprets in a way that they are predisposed to. See? I am getting the idea that if I posted: "Rodeosweetheart is the smartest, most perceptive person on this board", you would immediately post something accusing me of a vicious hate attack, and notify the mods! So, I have a question: what is your definition of the term "Victim"? What about; "hate"; or: "respect". Do you know what "respect" is? Would you give us your definition of it, please? Hope that helps you some.
"Hoarders", just sounds like a wonderful, wonderful program! Sitting, watching Tee Vee, sure beats actually doing something productive, doesn't it? I can see why you kids are so enthusiastic and...fulfilled by it. In fact, they ought to offer a College-equivalency Diploma, for those who are TV-Educated. After completing 10,000 hours of TEE-Vee, you are awarded a B.S.T.V. Degree. How do you like that?
Thanks, <rodeosweetheart>, I get it now.
"Hoarders", just sounds like a wonderful, wonderful program! Sitting, watching Tee Vee, sure beats actually doing something productive, doesn't it? I can see why you kids are so enthusiastic and...fulfilled by it. In fact, they ought to offer a College-equivalency Diploma, for those who are TV-Educated. After completing 10,000 hours of TEE-Vee, you are awarded a B.S.T.V. Degree. How do you like that?
okay i choose to respond and a lot of things that are simply off topic i have no problem, like you said a total waste of typing. but assumptions that are grossly inaccurate i do choose to respond to. you have no reason to assume anything here,
and for your information i have a masters,not in tv but in education.
okay i respond to people who watch tee vee and think it is good when i strongly disagree hope it helps you some thank mee
I've never seen hoarders and I'm quite OK with that.
Teacher Terry
2-1-15, 8:17pm
IL: yes clean House was the show you described. Watching TV is a great way to relax.
Ha. This is an odd coincidence--one of my F'book friends recently shared one of those sage viral messages. It said: "Try Hosting an Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Support Group Meeting at your home. Chances are, someone will get the urge to do some housecleaning!" So, there you are. Interesting, huh? Disclaimer: I am in no way mocking or ridiculing victims stricken with OCD. No, not at all. But, it might be an idea to try out, sometime. Hope that helps you some. Thankk Mee.
Chicken lady
2-9-15, 8:49am
I'm a hoarder and I come from a family of hoarders. We are "clean" hoarders - the worst filth is something that got lost in the fridge for a month or the horrible discovery that this box at the back of the pile has water damage or something was packed away damp or dirty and is starting to mildew. also the occaisional mouse nest in a storage area. Living space is usually full, but neat, organized and manageable. But we tend to live in really big, really full houses. Then we don't have very many children and we die and leave behind all that stuff to be divided among the next generation of hoarders.
I do not live in a really big house, and as a result the storage started to eat my living space. (If you put everything I own in my great grandmother's home, it would have looked sparse) I am 46 years old and have been trying to dig out for about 15 years. That was when the basement flooded. I think I was "digging in" for the whole thirty years before that - I had tons of toys before I was born.
one thing that helped me was finding a book about 4 years ago called Stuff: compulsive hoarding and the meaning of things. It gave me insight into my behavior and language to use to talk to my friends and family about what I need and how they can help with the problem.
I like to watch the show because it motivates me in a "there but for the grace of god and a lot of determination go I" fashion, but I don't like the ones that are focused on filth and animal hoarding. (I don't hoard animals, it took me one season to learn that 100 chickens are too many for my barn even if you are going to butcher half of them at 18 weeks)
I'm also don't like the whole "clean everything out in two days" approach. Someone who truly has a hoarding disorder - as opposed to someone who is suffering from severe depression or other causes is going to be deeply traumatized by having all their stuff cleared out in two days. My dh and my dad used to get really upset like those families and push for a huge purge and I could never do enough to make them happy, but I would do more than I was really willing to do and then afterward I would just feel bad and there would be another hoarding binge because I hadn't actually made any progress on me, I had just removed stuff that I still wanted.
One show that really go to me was the one where the woman picked non-recyclables out of the recycling. When they started in cleaning her kitchen, she got so upset, and I thought - if you could each just take a category of recycling and go through the house only collecting that and then take it to be recycled - you could clean the kitchen by the end of the day and the poor woman would actually feel better! But it would have taken alot more than two days to clean the house. The expansion of recycling in my area was a huge blessing to me.
Chicken lady, interesting insights.
I see what you mean about how the "2 day clear out" could be really traumatizing for someone who has trouble letting even one thing go. It's probably like an amputation, as opposed to dressing a wound every day.
I'm not a hoarder. I don't bring a lot of stuff into the house--I'm not compelled to buy stuff I don't need. But sometimes I find it difficult to let things go when the time has come. I remember we had a second hand couch, and with 4 kids it had gotten really worn and dirty, and DH said, "OK, tomorrow it goes out with the garbage." Rationally, I agreed completely, but I was surprised at how resistant I was to letting that couch go! I was sad--a strange emotion for someone getting rid of a big ugly THING. I remember thinking that it was a shame to throw it away when basically, its "bones" were still good (kind of gets to what you were saying about the hoarder's need to recycle rather than junk things)--I also remember how comfortable it was for sleeping on if we had guests, and I remembered how my dog would lay his head on the arm of it while I played the piano. It was as if parts of my life were knitted into the fibers of the couch and I was throwing me away too.
Of course I threw away the couch and dealt with the hard emotions, but I tap into that experience when I watch Hoarders to try to find common emotional ground.
We also have had a few basement floods over the years, and I've called them blessings in disguise. I had no trouble cleaning out the basement of the wet, moldy stuff that was left behind. And the basement wound up so much cleaner. But it literally took a flood to do it.
ApatheticNoMore
2-9-15, 12:46pm
Like I've said watching hoarders to be inspired to clean is about like watching fat people in order to be inspired to exercise and give up desert (omg - I don't want to be like those fatties!). Only fat people, like hoarders, don't really exist in the world for your amusement and edification but as human beings in their own right (even if they compulsively hoard or got fat by binge or emotional eating). Maybe like watching homeless to get inspired to do well at work (omg I could end up like them! I need to stop goofing off at work!).
Only fat people, like hoarders, don't really exist in the world for your amusement.
Biggest Loser? I've watched that, and I find it inspiring, and I'm within my BMI range. But watching anyone try to push themselves to overcome their "demons" is inspiring to me.
Watching Hoarders is a mixed bag for me.
On one hand, I will admit it helps keep me on track with decluttering efforts and reminds me that it's only stuff that I am getting rid of, and how much freer I am without it. On the other, it's disturbing to see how far some of these people have gone and the demons they have to wrestle with.
Chicken lady
2-9-15, 1:20pm
Someone said, "if you can't be a good example, at least be a dire warning."and I Wish I could remember where the quote came from because I believe it was someone whose life fit the second category.
I believe that being a hoarder is like being an alcoholic. And as someone who is a hoarder, I'm ok with my life inspiring other people to get it together before their basement floods. My friend quit drinking at 19. My uncle is still struggling and has lost two wives, two houses, a boat, and his relationship with his daughter. Some guy is lying in a gutter freezing to death. None of that should be entertainment, but maybe these people are willing to accept that shallow, callous people are going to see them as entertainment in order to get help and maybe help someone else.
Catherine, you're exactly right about the amputation thing. Only it's not just the couch, it's literally also the paperclip and the onion bag. I have a problem with styrofoam. I will not bring home leftovers from a restaurant that uses styrofoam. It can't be recycled here, and dh knows if any styrofoam comes in the house he as to throw it away quickly and out of my sight. There is a real physical discomfort. If you told me my next meal had to be take out in styrofoam I'm not sure how long I would go without eating before the pain of being hungry got worse than the pain of knowing I was sending another styrofoam container to the landfill. I used to save the styrofoam, wash it, and take it on vacation with us to give to my mil to recycle. Letting dh throw it out is a big step for me, but I still need to avoid it as much as possible.
Today I talked to my mom on FaceTime and she showed me her watercolor painting. It's really very good. She hasn't painted since college and is trying to get back to it. She mentioned putting something in the attic in passing and I jumped on it and told her that I would really like her to work on getting everything OUT of the attic in the next ten years because I worry about her going up and down those stairs (actually a pull down sloped ladder) and I don't want her doing it when she's 80. She talked around it, but what did come out of the conversation is that we both collect dolls, and we made a pact to get rid of the empty doll boxes and not save them for "resale value" when we are dead. This will be hard for me, but I am motivated by the idea of it bringing my mom a little closer to not climbing that damn ladder.
I've never seen hoarders and I'm quite OK with that.
It is a fascinating show though and inspires people to clean even if they aren't packrats.
Ultralight
10-6-16, 8:49am
It is a fascinating show though and inspires people to clean even if they aren't packrats.
I have many mixed feelings about the show. I don't like the idea of watching people struggle at their worst for entertainment. But the show did bring this major social/health problem to the fore.
Teacher Terry
10-7-16, 2:52pm
I can't watch it. The pain is horrible and usually the homes so dirty that they make me sick.
I can't watch it. The pain is horrible and usually the homes so dirty that they make me sick.
That's my take--about five minutes watching depressed people basically being paraded for the mockery of the viewing public disgusted me.
Ultralight
10-7-16, 3:26pm
In my social work classes many people are interested in working with hoarders. It is as though they came into the program with this in mind.
I thought about getting on that train... but I just can't stand the look of a hoard.
iris lilies
10-7-16, 3:31pm
That's my take--about five minutes watching depressed people basically being paraded for the mockery of the viewing public disgusted me.
I agree, I don't see the point of watching, over and over, filthy crowded homes and depressed, object obsessed people. I've watched bits of a couple of these slows about clean hoarders, and that's enough, they are all pretty much alike. One lady was cool in her desire to organize and store everything and she had storage systems for everything. But for the most part, it is all boring, this obsession we have with stuff, and this obsession we have with people who have obsessions with stuff.
Reality shows are the new circus freak shows. I am old enough to remember when Little People and fat people were exhibited in Midways.
freshstart
10-7-16, 6:55pm
In my social work classes many people are interested in working with hoarders. It is as though they came into the program with this in mind.
I thought about getting on that train... but I just can't stand the look of a hoard.
being in a true hoarder's home who happened to be too sick to do anything but lie down amongst their crap was incredibly hard. Picking up a damp box to try to make a path through to the patient who lives in her shit filled tub, only to find a flattened dead rat was horrifying. I thought that was bad until I found some dead cats. I could not have made a career of only caring for the worst hoarders. And Adult Protective Services in NY has no teeth backing it up, only once in 23 yrs did I have them remove someone from an unsafe situation. The rest were left to rot. Those kinds of hoards were beyond our social workers' abilities and they were too sick to deal with the hoard anyway. We just made a narrow pathway so staff and Meals on Wheels and firemen could get to them. The urge to get that patient out of that environment was so strong despite the fact that there is where they wanted to be. That was heartbreaking and difficult to reconcile.
I get so angry when they have pets living in that mess.
So a hoarder was finally booted from their rental home in my neck of the woods. The system had tried to work with the tenant but nothing solved the problem. Apparently the place has tons of problems from the dirt and infestations of pests. I have been sneaking a peek inside the windows (no one is living there) and there are piles of dirt everywhere. That can't be healthy. The outside is also bad but that is the landlords fault because they were responsible for those things. Church people and volunteers tried to help but to no avail. It wasn't fair to the people sharing a common wall or right next door either. They had to deal with the odor and pests.
littlebittybobby
10-30-22, 8:41pm
Okay--:thankyou:You kids need to eliminate ALL commas--ALL--periods---use multiple hyphens---and of course--use parentheses and CAPS and exclamation points excessively and inappropriately!(see what I mean)? Plus--from now on--start every reply with "Okay---"/See?/also---slash/change subject/slash/change subject again/slash/Hope that helps you some--it DOES sound MORE obsessive and MANIC(like a TRUE hoarder)--does it not? (Thankk Mee!)Yes, of course--it's very sensible. Yup.
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