Hoarding buried alive

lulu1

Just sitting watching an episode of hoarding buried alive, and wondering is there really anyone who lives like this or is it just made up to make a tv programme.

I know I am guilty of keeping things that the children had when they were small but then again I would think almost everyone dose that.

Who would let their home get like that?

ceadaoin.

Yes there are people who really live like that. It's a mental illness

I'm skeptical that any of those shows can actually get to the root of the issue and prevent the person from going back to their hoarding when left to their own devices. They need serious psychological help , not just a clean up

Kablamo!

I grew up in a home with two hoarding parents. When my father, the chief hoarder as it were, died, I sent my mother away for two weeks and hired fourteen skips and sent seven van loads off to charity shops. That was only about three quarters of the house sorted, mind you.
The house is now mostly cleared, but my mother still tries to keep unnecessary things just in case. I wait for a few days and throw them out when she isn't paying attention.
It's a very stressful and disorganised environment to live in, it's very hard to relax in that sort of clutter.

Oh there is definitely people like this!
I know one guy, in his 70s, his house has newspapers going back to the 70s piled up against the walls.
Bits of engines & tractors all over the house.
Bags of rubbish everywhere
Roof falling in!
He won't accept anyone doing anything to the place.
We have done a little clean up, when he is in hospital, but he goes mad after & won't interact with anyone for ages.
If you want to keep contact & make sure he is ok, then you just have to accept the way the house is.
Unfortunately

astrofool

It's the idea that nothing is useless and that every item can be repaired or turned into something useful, thus should be kept, and if someone else is getting rid of something, than that thing also has a value that is going under-utilised so should be kept.

Filmer Paradise

Kablamo! wrote: »

I grew up in a home with two hoarding parents. When my father, the chief hoarder as it were, died, I sent my mother away for two weeks and hired fourteen skips and sent seven van loads off to charity shops. That was only about three quarters of the house sorted, mind you.
The house is now mostly cleared, but my mother still tries to keep unnecessary things just in case. I wait for a few days and throw them out when she isn't paying attention.
It's a very stressful and disorganised environment to live in, it's very hard to relax in that sort of clutter.

I understand this too. A lot of hoarders are mentally ill to begin with.

Some hoard after a bereavement/trauma.

They try to replace people with possessions & it doesn't matter what it it is....

A switch just goes off in their brain & they just go into a mode where collecting is all important.

The minute an object enters their front door, the craic is gone.

Another object has to be found the next day!

Graces7

Old neighbour at my previous rental. Kindest man alive but was there once and the room was chocked with stuff... Just took over and he could find nothing. My landlord once spent half the night there, searching for dept of ag paperwork in the debris. I asked ll if I could help and he said no, it would shame the man....

Begins in many ways.

Hannah Hauxwell of TV fame; when she moved to a bungalow, filled the place with eg margarine tubs as they were too good to throw away.

I am like that with knitting yarn but frequent moves have "helped" greatly and am about to sort and give away more this week.

Have to be in the right mood!

JackTaylorFan

Yes, people live like this. And it is a recognised mental illness.

Someone in my family is a hoarder and it is extremely challenging to deal with. In my own exp it has been incredibly difficult trying to confront said loved one. They will go on the defensive even when they know there is a problem.

And cleaning the house isn't a permanent solution either - the person needs proper help. I mean, we managed to clear out the entire house a few years back - but now it is worse than before.

It's hard to understand really, I agree with what many have said: That it stems from some sort of trauma or anxiety and leads to the sufferer forming an emotional attachment to what is essentially crap.

gramar

Also known as diogones syndrome.
There's a fella here whose mother owns a small field just across the lane.
About 3 years ago he started arriving at about 9 or 10 at night with the car absolutely brimming with stuff and he'd leave it in a corner of the field. The stuff was old broken rubbish people would leave out for collection. He must have brought about 10 car loads of crap until his mother found out and put
a stop to it although it's still there piled in a heap. A big pile of broken, useless junk.

Surreptitious

One show had a British man store his own urine and faeces in the shed. I find those shows fascinating but always feel bad for the victim being forced to face up to their illness.

Kablamo!

From what I could tell from living with my father, who grew up in a large family in the 1930's, it wasn't necessarily replacing anything or filling a hole in his life, it was more surprise and a sense of wonderment that he could easily access and stockpile so many items.
My house was never filled with rubbish per se, but I found 53 of the same shirt and tie, still packaged, in his room when I was clearing it. And 7 soft close toilet seats, still in boxes. We got a great laugh out of that one!

Noddyholder

I know a man where there is now a path through the old papers & rubbish ( not in his mind) stuff all along his hall into his sitting room, he now has a little enclave dug out around a ridiculous fireplace, which in its self is very dangerous & there is no talking to the man, If you asked for any piece of item he would say no he needs it, his back garden is ridiculous as is his upstairs.

He has been reported many a time but because he owns his property council says there not much they can do, nor do they seem interested , he is 63.

Little CuChulainn

I was in a hoarders house before. It was hard to take in what I was seeing. The hallway was extremely narrow because of stuff stacked on either side. The sitting room was completely full bar the couch and TV and a path to the door. The kitchen was worse again.

SEPT 23 1989

I would be the very opposite to these people I could walk away from my house with a few things in a bag and never give it another thought

gramar

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

I would be the very opposite to these people I could walk away from my house with a few things in a bag and never give it another thought

Is that you Jack Reacher?

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This post has been deleted.

PauloMN

Anyone ever see the programme (Extreme Hoarding or one of those) where this woman let her house turn into a kind of cat home for local stray cats? Sounds ok if you are a pet lover until you then saw the place literally covered in mountains of shít and piss. But even worse was the fact that when any of the animals died, she wouldn't want to let go of them, and would put them in bags and keep them all over the house. The cleanup people opened the fridge and there were bags of liquefied cats in at the bottom. Never seen the like. I felt very sorry for the lady who was clearly not at all well.

Edit - here's a clip, warning it's not for the feint hearted: