Lately I've been watching "The Hoarders" and it's truly mind-blowing how hoarders live. Many elderly live like this - so dangerous. There's no way paramedics could get a gurney inside one of these homes. Anyone know a hoarder and what caused them to live this way? Any of you a hoarder?
I have a family member who is a hoarder. Their house is full of stuff and unfinished projects, and they have built outside storage to hold even more stuff. I also have a bit of a hoarding tendency. I make it a point to go through everything every year or so and get rid of a lot of stuff. My wife does the same. It's interesting that when there is a lot of clutter, we just get use to it. I can easily understand how people just let it all go. The only thing that would really get me about some hoarders who never toss trash is the smell and vermin. One thing we all have in common (the three people I mentioned) is that we are all high creatives. It's hard to get rid of something when you can imagine a use for it or have some attachment. My process is that if I haven't used it for a year and it's taking up valuable space, off it goes.
Well, kudos to you for recognizing you have the tendency to hoard and have control of it. The shows I've seen is........well, unbelievable. Children who are loved by parent hoarder have been taken away from them and wouldn't be returned until house is livable and the hoarder still had a problem getting rid of the stuff........gawd, that's SAD. It's a mental issue - obviously - and caused by different reasons. I believe you're right about many hoarders being highly creative. They see an item, imagine it can be made into something useful or appealing and ......there ya go. They can't let go of it.
I could easily become a hoarder. Some say that I already am, but just an organized hoarder. My husband keeps me in line. If it is not organized or looks cluttered, things have to go. What I do keep isn't trash or would be considered trash. Number of years ago, a guy from church was a hoarder. His vehicle he drove was full of stuff/trash. There was barely enough room for him in the driver's seat. He owned an old school in a very small town. From what I heard, it was full with trash. I drove by once and he had numerous vehicles on the property that were filled with trash. I'm sure he has passed away by now, as he was probably in his 70s at the time and this was about 20 years ago. I'd hate to think about whoever had to clean it all up when he did die.
They don't need a gurney to transfer a patient. They can put them on a transfer tarp and carry them to the exterior. It just takes more hands to do it. As for hoarders, not I have never known someone as bad as the ones on TV but I have known some people who were hoarders. Most I have known keep it out of their living space, well usually, by using out buildings and such. I do know one guy who had his basement so full of junk when his AC went out, he had to go but window units because there was no way to get through his basement to the utility closet. His wife eventually left him over all that nonsense.
But your stuff is clean and organized. Check out "The Hoarders" tv show, it's unbelievable how a true hoarder lives. The guy you described certainly was a hoarder, but for many it's just an incredible amount of stuff. One woman was obsessed w/teddy bears. She had 1,000's of teddy bears piled high in every room to the point where she had no room anywhere.......mental issue, obviously.
I would have left him a lot sooner........ One hoarder show, the couple's house was so filled to the brim and instead of taking care of the problem, they went and bought another house and did the same thing......
I applaud their dedication to their sport j/k all the ones I know who are JV hoarders really do seem to think that their building full of cheap light fixtures and such really will be worth a fortune some day. One of my outbuilding hoarder people died a couple years ago and his g/f was absolutely giddy when she finally was done administering his estate because she had several buildings of junk to get rid of. He was a flea market type guy and had an old block convenience store building packed to the gills and like 4 or 6 outbuilding on his various rental properties. I know another guy who was like that but with cars. People thought he ran a junkard because he had between 80 and 100 clunkers in his yard at once. He would buy like 6 of the same broken down car and then piece them together into running cars. When he got too old to keep doing that, he at least got rid of all of them.
Wow.....watching this show, it's amazing and so sad to see how some people view their lives. The only thing that's important to them, even over their own families is stuff....more and more stuff. And when children and animals are trapped in squalor, death traps, that's really sickening and it takes someone else to remove them b/c the hoarder parent can't see the danger to them.
When I moved I threw away absolutely everything I could. I was like "Oh nos I'm a hoarder!!!" I had so much junk from my youth. Tossed almost all of it. So now in 30 years I will be watching Antiques Roadshow and screaming, "Oh nos. If only I had saved all that junk from when I was a kid, I'd be rich!!!"
Lol~ hey, that's very possible. You'd be surprised what people will pay on eBay for old items. I bet some of these hoarders on the show would have made a mint by selling their very old stuff still in good condition, but it got lost in the piles and piles.......
I noticed all my old star wars stuff peaked in value. I kept some of it, but not much. I gave a lot to Goodwill so hopefully some other kid can make use of the boxes of wrestling figures and hotwheels and such. Most of it was old school stuff and odds and ends I picked up here and there combing junk....and of course furniture. I was buying a bunch of new furniture for the new crib so I tossed almost anything that wasn't an antique.
Growing up, my girls had their Barbies and kept them. When my youngest had her girl, she gave her her Barbies, which were in good condition - then later she saw on eBay how much they went for, which was a lot.....to late - g'daughter played it to death. I bet you would have gotten a lot for your old Star Wars.........
I tend to hoard stuff but nowhere near to the extent of those people on those TV shows. I'm a computer nerd and I used to build computers as a hobby and still do but not as often. I build them for friends now when they ask and whatnot. I have boxes upon boxes of old computer parts scattered in my basement. My dining room table is full of random parts from PC's that I've built recently. Most of the parts that I have are extremely outdated and useless and literally less powerful than the average modern cell phone but for some reason I keep them lol. Not really sure why I keep all this crap. I think some of it is the sentimental value. I still have the very first PC I successfully built decades ago. I still have the fried motherboards of the PC's I've tried to build and failed when I was just learning. Still have the fried CPU's, the failed hard drives, etc. Every once and awhile I'll find an old hard drive and hook it up and it makes me smile seeing all the old files on there from like 1999 or something and just seeing what I was storing on there oh so many years ago. It's not just computer parts. I just have an issue getting rid of stuff in general because I'm afraid that one day I might think about it and realize I tossed something out that I wanted. I highly doubt that will ever be the case but ya never know. Hell each time I move a good 1/3 of my boxes never even get unpacked. Right now sitting in my basement are stacks of boxes of random crap that I don't even know whats in there and I function perfectly fine every day without even thinking about that stuff. I assume those extreme hoarders think the same way I do only on a more extreme level. At the rate im going now I very well might accumulate a sizable hoard of random crap once I reach my elderly years. I keep my stuff organized though I don't like stuff scattered everywhere. I have a lot of stuff but I keep in packed in boxes at least.
Well, at least you have your stuff boxe4d - these people don't. Recently there was an episode where a man's wife died, leaving him w/3 yr old son, Frankie, who was taken away from him b/c the house was filled to the brim and unsafe. Pros moved in, helped him clean everything out. Before the boy was returned, pros went to visit and dad was hoarding again. He was asked 'why?" He made a comment about 'having to replace' item and one guy threw a question at him 'who's going to replace Frankie?' That question seemed to do the trick in getting him to realize the seriousness of his hoarding would cause him to lose his son. It is a mental issue and they need help. Last summer my daughters and I went to a hoarder's garage sale. The hoarder died and family sold everything she hoarded....what a sale! GOOD stuff - good clothing galore and all clothing was a $1 each....brand new bathrobes, jammies, jeans, etc w/price tags still on. Household items, so much good stuff and the hoarder had everything in storage, telling family someday she might need it...... One of my girls bought a brand-new, never used good quality leather laptop case w/a trendy name on it for $20. She sold it on eBay for $250.00. That family sold everything cheap to get rid of it, but I bet they made big bucks off it. That sale went on for a week....... So if you hear of a hoarder's garage sale, be the 1st one in line. You might get lucky like we did........
Hoarding generates clutter; clutter is a fire-hazard. My advice would read to contact a charity-org; they will take care of it. Also prof-organizers should be contracted to take care of the mess. As we are humans, we do not need to hoard like hamsters.
True, but a true hoarder has a serious mental issue about their stuff and they're not going to let it go until they have no choice and even then, they will fight it.....and they need therapy on top of it. Many of these hoarders are reported by family, the authorities show up, see the dangers in the house and that starts the ball rolling. If there's children in the house, CPS takes them out until the house is safe for them.....
Most of what Hoarders collect are items one could easily find at a Dollar General Stor. We're not talkin' Antique furniture or collectables like valuable Sports memorabelia Like highly prized exclusively signed { autographed Balls or baseball cards }. Passe stuff like funny dolls { Cabbage Patch dolls } or maybe old trains sets. Stuff that once was popular but never really collectable.Not even good jewelry but costume jewelry. Hoarders have a psychological craving to possess stuff.But Hoarders are not Rich eccentrics but average if not Poor Eccentrics.Not to say some Hoarders haven't stuff that has become collectable over time.But again most of the stuff is Plastic. Or inexpensive porcelain.There's a channel on PBS that has Antiques of every kind for sale.Mostly furniture and paintings and some bric-a-brac.But then you can go to places like - Hardcore Pawn - a TV reality show from Detroit and see how they rip off people based on quickie researches on the internet. The best bet would be a Hoarder who had some classic cars that haven't rusted too bad.But most stuff today outside quality furniture and maybe fine China just becomes junk after a time.Especially Plastic stuff.
They become attached to stuff as if a physical attraction as to a pet.It's mulitipled each time they bring home more stuff.Like the more,the more to protect. However it's also more a Guy or Grandpa thing.Most Guys have what is known as Junk drawers or a junk room.Where they can hoard stuff they refuse to part with., Because it brings back memories.Woman don't seem to have that mindset. Yet they approach it differently.Like use the attic as a hoarding spot.However Hoarders are also women,in fact i'd say majority of Hoarders from that TV show are women.Meaning most Junk Yards are owned and operated by Men. Not exactly so.Ever heard the term Bag Lady.Like Apple Annie from : - Pocketful of Miracles - {1961} - Starring Bette Davis and Glenn Ford.
Yes, I'm very much aware of that. I had said 'their very old stuff still in good condition" to sell on eBay......like the hoarder's garage sale my girls and I went to and my daughter bought a brand new leather laptop case, sold it tor $250, but that's very rare. This hoarder's stuff was boxed and stored. It didn't turn into moldy trash like a typical hoarder.
I view garage sales as basically someone else's junk.Now an " estate " Sale is better.That is what someone dies and their entire Estate is liquidated. The lawyers round up someone in charge of inventorying the entire content inside the home along with an appraiser.There's usually some good stuff like Jewelry or watches or old electronics,albums and of course furniture.Howevere there are those types who look in the paper for those Estate Sales and grab-up all the good bargains first.Flea Markets have turned into a weekend racket. Years ago I bought a really nice big fat console TV from a little old lady.I think it was a Curtis Mathis.She wanted too much but the TV was top of the line.Plus it worked.I used it for about a couple years before the Tube { Cathode Ray } would no longer light up.So,the little old lady probably used it more than I figured.It must of had a lot of hours on it.
Yes, I'm very much aware what an estate sale is. Family & I go to garage sales and estate sale too and no, not all garage sales are junk. My ebay seller daughter picks up baby clothes in perfect condition and sells it on eBay, makes a good profit, b/c the garage sale price is very cheap. I've found kitchen ware like Corning Ware in perfect condition and cheap that I buy for families I know that could use it......kids toys that they outgrew, perfect condition. Tools and lots of them for the men in family and the list goes on and on.
The problem with that idea, there's no pathway in the house's to walk an obese person out on a tarp, and for some reason, hoarders tend to be on the "Heavy" side of the scale.
Well, that's true. They're not living a lifestyle that requires them to be active or to even care about their weight and health. Hoarding is one of the saddest lifestyles I've ever seen........particularly when there's kids involved.....
