"Hoarders" on A&E is fascinating

[Kelemvor]

We watched that show last night too. Lady lost her kids because it was unsafe. A crew came in to clean the house but she refused to get rid of anything and had 1400 boxes put into storage. State said Nope, you need to seek professional help.

They are now getting a divorce, the dad has custody, and the mom has been told to move out.

I just don't understand it but I know it's a major mental problem. Hopefully she can get some help.

 

[Miramonti]

Originally posted by: Kelemvor
We watched that show last night too. Lady lost her kids because it was unsafe. A crew came in to clean the house but she refused to get rid of anything and had 1400 boxes put into storage. State said Nope, you need to seek professional help.

They are now getting a divorce, the dad has custody, and the mom has been told to move out.

I just don't understand it but I know it's a major mental problem. Hopefully she can get some help.

1400 boxes?!?!?! :Q

 

[Gooberlx2]

Yeah, that show makes me realize that my mom has become something of a hoarder, to a very small degree, as she's aged. She doesn't garbage or rotten food pile up or anything, but she doesn't really throw useless shit out either. She also collects stuffed animals and other display-type shit that have really, really cluttered the house.

I have the tendency to keep things I *think* I *could* use at *some* point in the future. My wife keeps me in check.

 

[PingSpike]

I only watched one episode of this show, it grossed me the fuck out. I sort of understand the insanity of it. You want to keep stuff you might use, its preparation and its kind of a core human trait. They have just gone off the deep end with it. I can sort of understand the piles of worthless junk, who hasn't tossed some bolts or part of something and then needed it later? But the food is just insane. Fucking rotten pumpkins, fruit and cabage and shit all over the fucking house. And then when the interviewer guy points them out they say something retarded like "Oh, I can cut off the rotten parts". Your house is full of food that you could not possibly eat and you're seriously going to nom on a mooshy half rotten pear tonight? I mean, piles of canned goods for the apocaplyse is nuts, but at least they actually last. They seem to forget one person just plain can't get 500 yogurts before the expire no matter how much they bend the rules or how good a deal they were.

Who wants to live in a house that reeks and then stomp on a bowl of maggot infested apples that you "forgot about" on the floor? I'd rather live in a cave.

 

[ModerateRepZero]

I sort of understand the insanity of it. You want to keep stuff you might use, its preparation and its kind of a core human trait. They have just gone off the deep end with it. I can sort of understand the piles of worthless junk, who hasn't tossed some bolts or part of something and then needed it later? But the food is just insane.

This ^^ I'm somewhat of a packrat, but thankfully I have some sense of sanitation/health and don't hoard food, but I do have piles of papers and some clothes Not nearly as bad as the hoarders pictured, but I do like to keep things "just in case".

If you watch the show you notice that the hoarders' behavior is (mostly) psychological; the obsession to possess and retain items (usually either to use or to avoid the destruction of something of 'value'), and the inability to efficiently sort out items in a given bag / location is what I noticed just from channel-surfing 2 episodes.

 

[nanette1985]

I'm embarassed to admit that I love to watch this train-wreck of a show. I know the people are crazy-mentally ill but whoa, are they disgusting. The one with all the rotten food? The one with all the dead-cat skeletons? Choosing to keep your garbage and let the state take your kids away? 1500 boxes?? These people have some serious problems.

I'd maybe feel some sympathy for them, crazy and all, except that I'm too busy feeling sorry for their kids, their families, their neighbors, landlords, etc.

I have to clean something after I watch the show.

 

[flexy]

Haven't seen the show - but a time ago i saw some forum threads/sites...with unbelievable stories.

One women had literally no place to sleep because her house was filled up to the rim with boxes from ebay - ebay: Dream of any hoarder

Then there are cases where people dont even flush the toilet anymore..and literally KEEP THEIR ***T in the bowl for months and months. (Kid you not).

So i don't need to watch the show to know that this can be very extreme.

 

[fleabag]

Originally posted by: PingSpike
I only watched one episode of this show, it grossed me the fuck out. I sort of understand the insanity of it. You want to keep stuff you might use, its preparation and its kind of a core human trait. They have just gone off the deep end with it. I can sort of understand the piles of worthless junk, who hasn't tossed some bolts or part of something and then needed it later? But the food is just insane. Fucking rotten pumpkins, fruit and cabage and shit all over the fucking house. And then when the interviewer guy points them out they say something retarded like "Oh, I can cut off the rotten parts". Your house is full of food that you could not possibly eat and you're seriously going to nom on a mooshy half rotten pear tonight? I mean, piles of canned goods for the apocaplyse is nuts, but at least they actually last. They seem to forget one person just plain can't get 500 yogurts before the expire no matter how much they bend the rules or how good a deal they were.

Who wants to live in a house that reeks and then stomp on a bowl of maggot infested apples that you "forgot about" on the floor? I'd rather live in a cave.

Yeah this stuff is what usually pisses me off because it's so completely illogical that in this case it actually feels more like being lazy than actually feeling like it's because they feel it has an intrinsic value. Are most of these people who've got the really messed up houses the ones with what seems like a shopping addiction? If none of these people liked to shop and ONLY picked up shit that was free, I'm pretty sure their houses would never look as bad as they do/did.

 

[Jmman]

When I was a kid I had two old ladies (I think they were sisters) and they were total hoarders. They had something like 200 cats, and the place smelled so bad, you could literally smell it blocks away. I had to wear nose plugs just to throw the newspaper in their yard. And seriously folks, this is a mental illness, so give them a little break......

 

[TwiceOver]

The episode with the alcoholic dad and the son in which neither of them threw anything including trash away was just ridiculous. Every cabinet they opened had empty wine bottles. It was crazy. The son (over 18) wouldn't throw away his dog's shedded hair because in his mind it would make his dog die sooner.

Whoa. Crazy people.

My mom still holds on to my toys from long ago. She keeps bothering me to take them and I keep telling her to put $3 on each entire bin and get rid of them in the next community yard sale... She still holds on to them. My wife is somewhat of a horder, but she has specific and semi useful things she hordes. I, on the other hand, can't wait to throw shit away.

 

[CKent]

I'm the opposite, I throw stuff away that I end up needing in the future. It's the same OCD at work, but in my case it compels me to be spartan and carry no baggage through life, rather than to tie myself down with posessions.

 

[Drako]

Originally posted by: princess ida

I have to clean something after I watch the show.

LOL, my wife was watching this show last week, and she went on a 2 hour cleaning spree afterwards. Vacuuming, sweeping, mopping, etc .

 

[irishScott]

One of my friends' mom is like this. Was over at her house recently, went to use the bathroom, and discovered a huge pile of band aid wrappers blocking off everything but the toilet and sink. I can sort of understand the notion of hoarding actual objects, but why trash? What possible use could those have?

 

[MotionMan]

You HAVE TO watch the one about the woman does not believe that food spoils if your keep it at all cold.

She went through a really gross fridge and picked out some stuff she was going to save and put it in a cooler. Most of it was totally spoiled and disgusting - I thought her adult son was going to kill her right then and there.

MotionMan

 

[Kanalua]

My Mother-in-law was a hoarder...took us two weeks to clear half of her house when she died. She had two pantries full of food that had last been bought in the 90s. Instead of cleaning dishes, she'd just buy new ones. She had all of her children clothes and shoes stored. She lived in a double wide trailer (Native American, not white trash) and every little nook and cranny was stuffed with something. Threw away tens of thousands of dollars of new products that she had bought and never opened because it was lost in the pile.

The worst was the pantries. Canned goods that had turned into balls because of the bacterial growth inside. Most with just balls of dried up goods inside the cans. lots of canned goods that expired in the 1990s. anything opened (like pepper or spices) were infested with bugs and bug parts.

Two weeks. I was ready to just take out what was useful and burning the trailer to the ground.

 

[DrPizza]

I've gradually been decreasing hoarding tendencies over the years. But, living out in the country, there are certain types of things I generally hang on to. Scraps of wood, just about any type of fastener, etc. If I have to fix something and simply need a 1/4" nut for a bolt, not having it on hand can result in a 45 min to 1 hour trip to the store. My favorite hardware store has a giant bin of assorted bags of nuts, screws, washers, and other similar miscellaneous hardware/fasteners. Your choice, 5 cents a bag. I'll literally stand there for 45 minutes going through the bin, continuing my collection of at least one of everything, multiple bags of more common items. Every time I need a fastener of some sort (about once every other week), I usually have it on hand thanks to those bags. I must have 500 of those bags in the garage, neatly sorted in a couple of drawers. It has saved me hours of frustration & driving into town to get parts.

 

[Kaervak]

I'm watching the show now, it's rather interesting & depressing at the same time.

 

[MrPickins]

My reply in a thread from last year:

Originally posted by: MrPickins
My grandma has that disease (and it is a disease), only worse:
Entryway (after I cleared a path wide enough for a walker)
Kitchen

I felt so sorry for my Grandad that I spent ~60 hrs this summer clearing out the living room which had been walled off with boxes since 2000. You wouldn't believe the random stuff I pulled out of there, including an envelope with $1700 in cash (all old style bills):
It's getting there...


Edit: Luckily I avoided those tendencies. Or did I?

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: lifeobry
Hoarding is beyond my understanding. I think it's some kind of primitive "saving" instinct taken to some deliriously extreme heights.

i dunno, look at how many people collect massive collections of say mp3s

 

[JD50]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
I've gradually been decreasing hoarding tendencies over the years. But, living out in the country, there are certain types of things I generally hang on to. Scraps of wood, just about any type of fastener, etc. If I have to fix something and simply need a 1/4" nut for a bolt, not having it on hand can result in a 45 min to 1 hour trip to the store. My favorite hardware store has a giant bin of assorted bags of nuts, screws, washers, and other similar miscellaneous hardware/fasteners. Your choice, 5 cents a bag. I'll literally stand there for 45 minutes going through the bin, continuing my collection of at least one of everything, multiple bags of more common items. Every time I need a fastener of some sort (about once every other week), I usually have it on hand thanks to those bags. I must have 500 of those bags in the garage, neatly sorted in a couple of drawers. It has saved me hours of frustration & driving into town to get parts.

I don't think you're saving as much time as you think you are...

 

[xavier es]

my mom should be on that show. she moved to a nursing home four years ago, when she moved out of the house we got a large dumpster, the kind that is big enough to drive a car into. we filled it four times. she moved so much stuff into the two bedroom apt at the nursing home that there was no room to even sit and eat, she had so many boxes piled in the living room that there was only one place in the room you could see the tv. she saves every empty toilet paper roll, has cases of mayo that has curdled in the jars. she buys used clothes at thrift stores and never wears them, she is 89 and buys teenage girls clothes, i went to see her a few weeks ago and the bedroom was stacked with boxes, i took 12 to goodwill and put 28 in storage. it drives me nuts.
I save things i need for work, tools, wood, and fastners but i have them all sorted and organized and i do use most of the stuff i save. most everything else i chuck if i dont use it.

 

[Kev]

I'm the opposite of a hoarder, I love to throw shit out.

 

[tw1164]

I just watched the Paul/Missy and Alex episode, but my Tivo didn't record the last few mins of the show. Did Paul go to Jail?

 

[MotionMan]

Originally posted by: tw1164
I just watched the Paul/Missy and Alex episode, but my Tivo didn't record the last few mins of the show. Did Paul go to Jail?

I missed the end of it, too.

They should make him live in the freakin' school bus.

MotionMan

 

[Juddog]

Originally posted by: iFX
It might have already been mentioned but a lot of these people grew up poor and many are depression era kids. Growing up they didn't know where their next meal was going to come from. Now as adults, they have more resources (money) and can afford to buy some easy insurance in the form of non-perishable food items. I don't fault these people one bit.

Now, hoarding JUNK is another thing which I don't understand.

I wonder if this is where my tendencies came from. Growing up I had my house burn down when I was around 7 - 8 years old and I lost everything. We weren't well to do even before the house burned down, and kids I went to school with got to keep their toys while all of mine were melted in the fire.