ctquilter

[quote=LovingIzabella]I was able to come up close and personal with a hoarder. She had a 5000 square foot home with a 2 car garage and an outdoor wine cellar. Needless to say you could barely move in any of the rooms. Floor to ceiling! I saw up close and personal what hoarding is and am saddened by it! It took 3 days, 25 plus men, 12 30 yard rolloffs and about 10 of the huge moving trucks to get everything out of the house. She had pets that used the house as their toilet and rodents as well :-( A very sad situation indeed to see what some of these people live like and to watch the families do nothing and let it happen :-( After being so up close and personal with it I can not watch the show. It is truly a horrific situation.
Hugs

It isn't really fair to blame the families of hoarders for watching and doing nothing. It's hard to understand how people can live this way and think it's normal. One of the saddest and probably most frustrating aspects of the disease is that these people can't be helped if they're not willing to accept help. Family members can talk until they are blue in the face and it won't mean a thing, they become defensive, argumentative.... Even if family members make the effort to clean it won't stay that way. I think this disease/disorder is very difficult for family members as well.

earlylace

Its personal for me, my mom became a hoarder. The house was nice when me and my sis grew up. It was after we left home that it got bad. My mom is depressed but won't take meds. She won't let me help her clean. Yesterday I stopped, and she let me take some clothes for donation, she has promised to clean up the living room and dinning area, get new carpet, paint and a new couch, badly needed. i told her if she would do that i would make her a quilt with dogs!She loves her dogs. She said she wants new things so I hope I can motivate her, she loves my quilts, only made 2 so far,
I also helped her fill two garbage bags, she choose the things to throw away, so sad, it didn't even make a dent. We used to have Christmas holiday there before it was bad, she got so upset when we said we wouldn't come anymore because of the mess, she was so hurt. Honestly, I didn't want to even eat thing that she made when she brought it to my house, so now we tell her to bring a jar of pickles and olives. They feel like they are throwing away their life when you ask them to clean it up. I feel sorry for my day. At least there is a path to walk though her house.
Lace (daughter of a hoarder)

LovingIzabella

I do not blame the family members but there comes a point where one must step in and do what is right for the other. I am not sure about all states but I know where I am you can have someone committed for an evaluation with two signatures of family members. I think the problem is that it is so hard to deal with so some family members just give up instead of fighting to help. I am not saying clean up after the hoarder I am saying help them. Family seems to always help those who have bipolar or depression or some other mental illness but shy away from hoarders because they are "dirty" and "want to live like that". No one WANTS to live like that but again they are mentally ill and need the love, support and help of their family not the unwillingness to give it everything no matter what. In the particular case I was in it was a matter where she was a shame to the family so better to leave her be than bother with her. These are the kinds of family members I am referring to sorry I did not mean to imply it was the family's fault.
Hugs
April

Jingle

They sometimes find dead animals in those homes. I can not watch that. I consider them fifthy and would not go anywhere near them nor their houses. Just me and my opinion.
My Mom got to where her house was cluttered but, nothing like these. She has been dead for 25 yr.s or so.

Cathy M

Uh, not that I have a problem, but have the shown any episodes of people who have lots and lots of fabrics? Okay, I'm lying, I might have a problem, okay, I have a problem, but I don't want any help :):):)
I'm making a bit light of the issue, which is very tragic. We had a gentleman in the area that had died and it took the officers forever to find him in his trailer house. I always pray that people on these shows get the help they need by compassionate others who can guide them to a better way of life.

rivka

I always end up cleaning my house like a maniac after watching shows like that. Seeing the filth they live in just really grosses me out.

bodie358

I used to work for a lady that was a hoarder. She owned a 3 bedroom house with attached double garage, a commerical building where she used to run a store, and she rented a huge storage unit. All of them (including her back yard) were piled to the ceiling with stuff. I worried about her because she was elderly and had hip and knee problems. I was afraid that she would fall and be trapped in the piles.

Scissor Queen

There are hoarders on both sides of my family. My father's father was a hoarder on the scale of those on the program. My mother's father and mother both were hoarders. I can remember when I was a little kid my Grampa had a shed in the back yard. There was a path thru the shed to the back. By the time I was a teen he had filled that shed floor to ceiling and wall to wall and built on a 10 foot extension and filled it full. Plus he had another old house down the block that was full nearly to capacity. We never thought my Grandmother was a hoarder until after she died and my mother found all her cupboards and closets packed full of stuff like styrofoam meat trays and oatmeal boxes. The house was always clean and neat though. She just hid her hoarding.

I think my mother is a food hoarder. She has a huge chest freezer that's always packed full, her pantry is always packed full and there's barely room to put a can of pop in her refrigerator. She lives alone. My husband and I couldn't possibly eat all the food she has in a year!

I think the people on the show have other issues besides just hoarding.

AtHomeSewing

Sadly, I have a friend who fits this description. Other than this problem she is a wonderful and creative gal. Her commercial shop was 5,000 sf, all stuffed. I remember it was so packed that the public entrance door had to be shoved hard just to make enough room to get in. Also, she had rented multiple storage units. The rent for the storage units ran over $2,500 a month! She kept buying/hoarding until she ran out through 2 or 3 million $. Eventually her storage unit contents were auctioned off by the storage company, her 3,000 sf house over Lake Washington, also packed half way to the ceilings, went into foreclosure. The court had 20 tons in the house hauled to the dump and the rest was put into PODS. The PODS also eventually were auctioned off by that storage company. ALL of THAT because this illness drives her to buy and hoard and the ONLY thing that prevents her from doing it is literally NO money, NO credit, and No friends who will loan her any money.

P.S. bodie358, If you lived a little closer, I'd just have to "kidnap" that precious puppy!

Lisanne

Thanks for this information! I've watched shows on the network channel websites, never thought to check the cable channels. I'll be watching them this week.