do you know a hoarder

[moonangel]

i do  my step brother and his wife are both hoarders i had the unfortunate experiance of helping them move many many years ago up til then i had no idea that they were like this i have to say it is beyond gross

[catchow]

yes unfortunately, my aunt and uncle are, and have been for 40 some years, I can no longer count the times that we (family) have tried to help them by cleaning their house, only to have them clutter it up again within weeks. Its sad really, but you cant talk reasoning to them they just dont see that there is a problem.

[Tresbn00]

I hoard aluminum cans and scrap metal for a year at a time but it is in it's own spot in the garage out of sight of my family members and if it gets to be too much I take it in and cash it in.  The family understands that every single cent is important to me. I was on the board of a non-profit that rebuilt houses for the handicapped. One handicapped lady had had pert of her roof cave in so her family asked if we could help. In order to access the entire roof we had to go through her house and she had horded so much junk that we had to follow pathways through junk piled to the ceiling that were only about two feet in width. She had filled her non-functioning bathroom so that you couldn't even go in. Apparently she was going into her back yard at night in order to do her business.

[kimber62372]

omg Tresbn00, that is horrible! But I don't think your aluminum and scrap metal interest is considered hoarding. My father in law was a big time hoarder and when he passed away (almost 3 yrs ago), my husband and my mother in law who was 68 at the time and was separated from the man for more than 8 yrs had to go into his smelly, rodent infested, dirty house and clean it out. It was the worst feeling in the world and we NEVER knew he lived like that because he lived in the next state over (1.5 hr away) he never wanted us to visit him and always drove to us which I thought was better for us because all we did was commute any way. But it was so so sad to see my husband go through cleaning all his fathers crap up and not even have time to grieve properly. It was over a year before we cleaned it out. Very exhausting to say the least and the man had NO life insurance and left my husband nothing. We didn't even have money to bury him. Thank God he had a burial plot paid for and was mysteriously right on the kitchen table for us to find, otherwise we would have never found it and never known about it. The worse part about this is that he had a Saint Bernard dog that was his whole life and it was 2 days before we discovered he was dead in his house, a lone with his dog. Poor dog! I can't even imagine. Thankfully we found a very good home for her. I could not care for her because my son and I have allergies. Hoarders need help! It's all about TOUGH LOVE! If we knew, we would have helped him. I think he died due to inhaling feces of rodents and black mold that we found. Very sad!

[davidh121]

My cousin is. His house is full of memorabilia (which is nice and organized), but he also saves everything else. The kitchen is riddled with boxes of food among other things and everything else is also littered all over the floor, tables, chairs, etc. The garage is also a pile of stacked goods and empty boxes. I want to clean, but I'm afraid of offending him. I really should say something, but I don't think he will change.

[LaTashaS28]

No I do not. That is not a good lifestyle.

[gaylasue]

I have to admit that I have a problem with throwing things away.  It's amazing how things can accumulate in no time!  I tell my daughter I'm saving it all for her to inherit.  I can tell she's over thrilled with the prospect of having to go through everything one day....

[debidoo]

My father-in-law was definitely but kind of on a different scale than you see on tv.  His house looked ok inside but he had shelf upon shelf in the garage that was packed with tons of stuff - unused christmas presents, plastic jugs and bags, closets throughout the house I mean it took us forever to empty his house after he died but you wouldn't have known how much stuff was in there because he was I guess an "organized" hoarder.  My deceased husband was the same.  Saved tons of stuff because he thought he would need it one day.

[bowrunner]

I don't think I'm a hoarder but there's a lot of things I hate to throw away because the next day I will need them.

[michele2042]

I'm not a hoarder as far as what the term hoarder means.   I'm like some others here, I have a problem throwing things away or getting rid of them.   I am trying my best to get better.   Each week I try to get rid of something, donate, throw away, sell on ebay, just eliminate.   I'm trying to start a more minimal lifestyle.   Anyone have any suggestions I would love to hear them.

[lvstephanie]

I guessmy girlfriend's mother is a hoarder. When my GF was younger, her and her friend tried to "help" her mom clean her house, and her mom spazzed out when they tried to throw out some of the stuff. After that they swore not to help her mom clean anymore (until after she passes away and the kids have to go through it all). We had a Christmas dinner there this year, and even though her mom had spent weeks cleaning for the dinner, the kitchen (the only room we really went into) still had junk on top of the cabinets, cluttering the China hutch (you couldn't really tell what piece of furniture it was except for guessing based on size and the room it was in), etc. And after that dinner, I understood what my girlfriend was talking about.

I also know another person whose daughter-in-law is a hoarder too. From what my friend reports, her grand-daughter doesn't have her own bedroom because it is completely filled with stuff to the point that you can barely walk into that room. The little girl ends up having to sleep on the sofa instead, and even then usually has to push junk off of it just so she can lie down. She's been reported on and they had to have some group that specializes in cleaning a hoarder's home come and clean it out so that their house wouldn't be condemned. But then after the court hearing, I guess she went back to her hoarding habits.

I sometimes joke that I'm a techno-hoarder -- that I just keep any old electronic gadget or computer part -- but it's more that I tend to hold onto stuff just in case I need it in the future, and usually when i could use it to fix an issue I'm having, it's already obsolete. I just have to remind myself that technology changes so quickly that it really isn't worth it to hold onto, say memory cards.

[yaayme]

My late aunt was a semi hoarder. She never kept her house like really filthy or anything, but when she asked us to help her move out, there was a lot of junk she didn't want to throw away.

[vickysue]

Until I met and married my hubby, I had never known a hoarder. But his Aunt was so bad you could not even get in her house and it smelt really bad. The first 12 years we were married I had never been in her house, and then when she let us in, I thought oh my God how can anyone live like this. Any way we lived about 6 hours away and she at 93 decided that she wanted to sell her house and move down where we lived. We said ok, we will move you. We packed for 3 days and I had to keep going out side to breath. We packed up all the good stuff and then called in professional cleaners to finish. The crew refused to work with out haz. mat suits it was that bad. We had them yank everything out and go to the wooden floor and clean out it all. cost us $2100.00. But once it was done the house sold the next day for what she was asking. Never again I thought. Well when she  had to go into assisted living and I had to clean out her apartment it was getting the same way. Never threw anything away. including foam plates from home delivery.  Then she went into a nursing home and every time we went up we had to carry out newspapers and  other trash and we were there a couple times a month. She lacked 12 days being 99.

[countrygirl12]

I tend to keep things but I am not what you would call a hoarder.  The things I saw on that tv show were ridiculous.  I always thought that was a lot made up to make the tv show. 

[colbtrist]

My mother was like this, when she pasted away we had to rent a big dumpster to throw away the entire house. We found her dead cat in the house. It was gross.