Hoarders

We also call it the pack rat gene in my family. My grandparents were the product of the great depression. My grandmother saved everything, because it could be re-used/ repurposed, whatever. When they moved from their farm house, two stories, a basement, an attic, and two barns, into a 3 bedroom ranch with a basement it was really hard for my grandmother. We had to be sneaky with getting rid of stuff. We did stretch the truth in saying that we were giving stuff away, and threw some stuff into a dumpster. While my grandparents house was never unsanitary, or in my mind unsafe, it was because of my grandfather's effort. My mom saves more stuff than she needs, and cannot pass up a good bargain. She calls it collecting. She collects snowmen, salt and pepper shakers, music boxes, spoons, and blue bottles. Eventually, it will be me going through and getting rid of stuff.

I have seen parts of the show...but thing is... those people aren't hoarders..most are just sloppy, dirty, lazy kind of people. HOarders SAVE things..and in very specific ways. Stacks and stacks of magazines along all the walls, but all in very neat and orderly fashion. A hoarder doesn't have dirty dishes stacked and bugs running around them. They don't have slim and mold growing in their fridge. THey dont have their clothes and house in total upheaval...that is just trashy, filthy lazy people doing that. And there is a diff between "pak rat" and hoarding. Again..the pak rat keeps things just to be keeping them. Hoarders save things...specifically and orderly. You mention the one that had the dogs and cats...and the feces all over the house...he isn't hoarding anything...his is just not taking care of the animals or his home or himself...that is nothing but lazy, sloppy, and down right filthy dirty fool. What was he hoarding? the feces? If he was..he would have picked it all up and put it in containers or piled it in a corner to keep it there etc. Not just let it lay where it was "released" by the animal. And so many animals...that is more a sign of insecurity or loneliness. I saw one where the woman "got high" on the smell of mold.. how is that hoarding? But they have to give it a "politically correct" name so that these people can get away with being filthy, lazy slobs. The guy you mention with the birds..again..was he hoarding birds? That is just more collecting and not being able to say no or just being lonely. Not that any of that is an excuse for doing int...but still...they aren't hoarders.

I tend to hoard things, makes hubby cross as he can't understand why I just want to keep things from the past. Our loft is full of stuff that needs to be sorted, but hasn't been sorted as we just can't decided on how ot sort it, so it just stays there and we keep adding ot it!!! not good really, but never mind

Personally I do not, although I sometimes think my eldest is starting with it. I can remember my granny had an elderly friend who did. To be honest I don't know if she did on purpose since she also seemed to have a bad memory and was accusing people (we never did what kind of people) robbing her even in her house. As she passed away all the stolen stuff was there and even more. Soap, medication, food, etc etc all hidden everywhere and from the period out or just after the 2nd world war. BTW we have a programm about it on tv as well. Mostly the partner has a problem with it since the partner/hoarder is also not interested in anything or anyone else anymore. To be honest I was never really collecting anything and the older I get the more I get the attitude of my other granny: what should I do with it? It's a waste of good money and I can't take it with me if I die anyway.

Yes my brother has this. If it weren't for all of us living here it would be even worse than it is. I have seen his room and it is loaded with garbage and actual junk he should just throw out, and it goes out all along the hallway to the kitchen area up there. He has kept three vehicles that do not work anymore and fills two of them with junk as well. The underside of the porch here is filled with junk. He only cares for the yard and his garden, and the grass. he will shovel snow if he wants to. Other than that he does no housework or cleaning at all. My parents live here and they don't say anything to him about it. He also has a pile of his stuff in one corner where he sleeps on the couch downstairs. He also has alot of other mental issues, such as repeating things over and over at times. He has a temper issue and watches TV almost constantly unless he is doing work outside--or working at his job. He doesn't seem to like women either and doesn't date anyone that I know if cause he is always at home bothering me. Everything has to be his way at times, a control freak in many ways. He has so many money problems it seems and does not know how to save or invest anything well. Just don't know how he can sleep on my parents couch for his whole adult life.

I'm not as extreme as those people on that show, but I'm a bit of a hoarder. If I find something which I deem usable (in the future), I'm going to keep it in a box. And I collect all kinds of paper-based memorabilia from everywhere I go... theatre tickets, plane tickets, flyers for programs I attended, public transport tickets, postcards etc... I have two folders full of them :).

I know someone that hoards in my family, that will be my aunt. She collects almost all items. Some food stuffs that are from the US - chocolates, canned goods, coffee and also some nonfood stuffs like perfumes, cologne, makeup and lipsticks. I found out these items last January and it was so sad to see that majority of these items already expired, the shelf life indicated on its boxes already passed. Wow, what a waste, she told me that those were "overflows" she never keep trck of those dates. That's why, now, everytime, a new package arrives, we immediately distribute those items among us, his nieces and nephews just to avoid that habit. Thanks

Sure do, my sister who lives in las vegas usa. She keeps anything and everything forever. She even keeps all plastic containers food come sin, she must have 100s. She keeps mayo jars and other glass containers. But neve ruses them. They are in boxes out side her house. You cant even get into her house- there is so much stuff all over she has collected over the years. Funny thing- if you see her, shes a pretty girl. Youd never know she lived that way. its a true sickness.

One of my best friends is a hoarder. He has stuff piled up all over his apartment to the point where you barely have room to walk. He also only recently purchased a bed and doesn't even have any other furniture. A few months ago my friend go married. I love talking to his wife. She has the funniest stories about the weird things she finds cleaning out his mountain of junk. One day she found an ore. She says to her husband "I didn't know you took up canoeing." He says "no, I didn't." Then she went on this big rant about why he needs this ore and he was refusing to let her throw it out. He also had burned a question mark shape onto the paddle for some reason. He used to carry it around as some sort of accessory and now its a keep sake of some sort I guess.

Hi! I don't know anyone who hoards but I did watch someone whose been featured in Oprah before about hoarding. It was I think 3 or 4 yrs back. You should've seen their house! Excuse me for saying but its like a huge dump site with all sort of stuff there! Their rooms are filled with clothes that you don't know if its clean or not, and you can't see their bed anymore. Another was their kitchen, you should've seen the pile of boxes, cans of food, etc. They ( the family members ) said that they just want to buy and buy stuff and don't care if they use it or not. So what Oprah's team did was to clean everything, and said that they would be back after a month I think to check up on things. Too bad, I haven't seen the second part of that story