Hoarders

[ThetaPrincess24]

It is largely psychological.

My mother is a hoarder. Just like the shows, a lot of hoarders will realize they have a problem but are so ashamed they will not let family & friends help, and such was the case with my mother.

I wont go in to her long history of physical & mental health issues, but my mother for years would not let family come to her home and once her health got to a point where she had no choice but to allow people into her home, it became obvious why she wouldnt allow anyone to come over. She had garbage everywhere--in and out of bags piled, dishes obviously hadnt been done in awhile as there was mold & mildew growing there, things would get spilled and didnt get cleaned up, she let her dog poop & pee all over and didnt clean it up, she had laundry piled up against her heating unit--a gas unit with a pilot light and the cover off, etc. Her landlord I guess never made visits because I honestly dont know how she wasnt evicted or how a fire didnt get started. There were issues the duplex had as well that the landlord would have been responsible to fix, but with the condition of the place, obviously she didnt call the landlord to fix it because she didnt want the landlord to see what was going on. We came in and did what we could, but we could never seem to get ahead and when we felt we were making progress, in a matter of 12 hours my mom would have a new mess piled up and it looked as though none of us had ever been there to clean. When we moved her the conditions were so bad, the movers had to call and get special permission to move stuff out. Just like in the shows, we all had on a double layer of latex gloves and a mask. Almost everything went in the trash, few things were able to be salvaged.

Long story very short, my mother is now in a one room, one bathroom assisted living facility. She cannot collect "stuff" because she has no place to put it anymore and we pay someone extra to come over and clean once a week. We have told her regardless of her issues, we will not go through such an ordeal again.

[VandalSquirrel]

Originally Posted by ThetaPrincess24

It is largely psychological.

My mother is a hoarder. Just like the shows, a lot of hoarders will realize they have a problem but are so ashamed they will not let family & friends help, and such was the case with my mother.

I wont go in to her long history of physical & mental health issues, but my mother for years would not let family come to her home and once her health got to a point where she had no choice but to allow people into her home, it became obvious why she wouldnt allow anyone to come over. She had garbage everywhere--in and out of bags piled, dishes obviously hadnt been done in awhile as there was mold & mildew growing there, things would get spilled and didnt get cleaned up, she let her dog poop & pee all over and didnt clean it up, she had laundry piled up against her heating unit--a gas unit with a pilot light and the cover off, etc. Her landlord I guess never made visits because I honestly dont know how she wasnt evicted or how a fire didnt get started. There were issues the duplex had as well that the landlord would have been responsible to fix, but with the condition of the place, obviously she didnt call the landlord to fix it because she didnt want the landlord to see what was going on. We came in and did what we could, but we could never seem to get ahead and when we felt we were making progress, in a matter of 12 hours my mom would have a new mess piled up and it looked as though none of us had ever been there to clean. When we moved her the conditions were so bad, the movers had to call and get special permission to move stuff out. Just like in the shows, we all had on a double layer of latex gloves and a mask. Almost everything went in the trash, few things were able to be salvaged.

Long story very short, my mother is now in a one room, one bathroom assisted living facility. She cannot collect "stuff" because she has no place to put it anymore and we pay someone extra to come over and clean once a week. We have told her regardless of her issues, we will not go through such an ordeal again.

I can't imagine how hard that must be for your family, I appreciate you sharing. I dated a guy who had a great grandmother who they had to clean up after twice, there were dead animals mummified against the wall of the trailer. Someone else I know had a mother in law who hoarded brand new items and kept them in boxes. Most of it came from home shopping and the like as she saw values and deals, but also was lonely and liked talking to people. She also gave things away as gifts and gave a group of people similar or identical gifts but more came in than went out.

My AAA membership has a discount to 1-800-Got-Junk which sounds like a great company if someone is just cleaning up or has a situation related to hoarding. They take the stuff away but will recycle or donate useful items and sweep the area when they are finished. No dumpster in front of the house and it doesn't all become garbage, so for some hoarders they can handle items leaving better if they aren't just thrown away. I have to go through my family home so we can appraise and settle my father's estate and I'm considering calling them to do the hauling.