Hoarders (on A&E)

[tamaradixon]

I watched too and found it sad, but compelling. I'm not too sympathetic though, if I was helping out I'd trash it all and smack them silly for messing it up again.

I think it really put shows like Clean Sweep and even How Clean is Your House on the spot. Basically saying what we've all said all along....they'll never reform just cause it was cleaned up once.

[Deleted]

I'm not too sympathetic though, if I was helping out I'd trash it all and smack them silly for messing it up again.

WORD. I'd have stuck them in a hotel and thrown everything that wasn't a basic need in the dumpster. I'm really surprised that the shopper/hoarder family hadn't already lost their kids to the state.

[margojata]

And why did they encourage those kids to scrawl all over the walls? Good lord, the squalor!

I know! I don't know where the line is drawn between mental illness and laziness. Even after they cleaned all the crap out of the house, it still badly badly badly needed a paint job and some cleaning. Why not go the extra step and do that? If you can afford to be a compulsive shopper, you can buy some paint and slap it on the walls.

That woman (the shopper) was on the Today Show proclaiming herself all better. It's not that easy. She was very nonchalant about the whole thing -
"Oh yeah, the house is clean now - no problem!". I'm sure they'll have a follow up in a few months where they find it back to the same horrible state.

This show fascinates and horrifies me because I have the opposite problem - I have a bit of a phobia about clutter. Things out of place, clutter, dirt, dust ... I think I need a reality show!

[BoroKat]

Me too. I would like to see a show about people who can't leave the house unless everything is put. in. its. place. Borokat would be the first subject.

[divasahm]

I grew up knowing a food hoarder. Alvin was a friend of my parents and grandparents, and was happily married with three daughters. The house was modest but clean, and there were no signs of anything unusual at all. One day, though, when I was about eight or nine, my mom and I went over to visit, and his wife asked me if I'd ever seen their garage. I said no, and she took me to the door by the kitchen.

The garage was lined and half-filled with grocery-store type shelving, and every shelf was neatly filled with different types of non-perishables. There were three chest freezers that were full of perishables. Everything was organized and labeled, and nothing was particularly dusty--I learned later that everything was rotated so it wouldn't sit there for years on end.

On the way home, my mom explained why our friends had a small convenience store set up in their garage. Alvin was one of the handful of US soldiers to survive the Bataan Death March and two and a half years of subsequent imprisonment by the Japanese army. He weighed less than 100 pounds when the camps were liberated. Until Alzheimer's overtook him, he never felt comfortable without at least that much food to "tide him over".

Now, THAT I can justify. These people on TV need serious therapy and maybe some meds.

[LurkerNan]

I think I'm guilty of that mindset a bit. My mom never allowed junk food in the house when I was growing up, so now I make sure to keep snacks in the house so my son won't do what I did - go nuts with the junk food once I moved out.

[Mugsy]

divasahm, it sounds like Alvin didn't really have a problem; he just liked to have a lot of food on hand. If it was being eaten and the area was neat and clean, I would only classify that behaviour as odd, at worst. It's actually no different than someone who has 60 pairs of shoes.

My parents know a lot about antiques and go to a lot of auction sales, so a church friend of theirs (Mary) contacted them when she became the executor of an estate for an old lady in her town. This old lady was involved with a lot of community organizations and volunteer work. Her dirty little secret was that she was a horrific hoarder, much like Jill in Hoarders. Mary didn't know where to start in the old lady's house; it was filled from wall to wall with stuff, and she consulted my parents, hoping they'd know and auction house to deal with and if stuff was valuable.

My mom said that there were bulging tins of food in the cupboards, a freezer filled with meat that hadn't worked in 6 years (imagine the smell!), and that the narrow path between the mountains of crap was 3 inches deep with dirt, leaves, etc. because they (the old lady was married at one time) tracked it in on their shoes over the years and never, ever cleaned. Apparently the old lady went to local grocery stores to keep up the image that she cooked at home, but it all just rotted there and she dined out for three meals a day. She had stacks of unopened boxes from Avon because she ordered from every catalogue her Avon lady dropped off. Her garage was filled with cases of glasses (wine, drinking, etc) that she bought over the years.

She was always well-dressed and had jewelry and makeup on when she attended all her volunteer meetings and events, and no one ever guessed that she lived in such squalor. So I guess you never know about people; if a friend never invites you over, be suspicious?

[Shanmac]

My boss lives next door to a hoarder. Her family cleaned everything out once and put it out by the curb to be taken away, and she FLIPPED. She made them bring it all back in. My boss said their back screened-in porch is so filled with crap that you can't even see into it. I think that's horribly sad. My nana is somewhat of a hoarder (I've found canned goods in her closet -- she's afraid my great-aunt will steal it), but nowhere near the scale of some of these people on the show. I can see how, living through the Depression and WWII, she would feel the need to save every little thing.

[kostgard]

Man, this show just depresses me. I just end up feeling so sorry for these people. I know the hoarding is a psychological disorder in and of itself, but it seems like maybe it goes hand-in-hand with other things like depression, too.

I was glad that at the end of this second episode the guy seemed to be keeping his place clean and was trying to make a change and be proactive about stuff (and writing a book). But the lady just gave up and moved out of her house.

[tabby]

divasahm, it sounds like Alvin didn't really have a problem; he just liked to have a lot of food on hand.

I believe Alvin's behavior is common for people who've undergone starvation conditions - they tend to stash food. I read in some book - it may have been In the Heart of the Sea - about starvation and the lifelong effects it has on people who survive it.