"Hoarders" on A&E

http://www.aetv.com/hoarders/

Anyone else watch this show on A&E? My wife and I recently got hooked on it. It fascinates, yet terrifies, me at the same time. As the title suggests, it profiles people who are "hoarders," i.e. people who have emotional attachments to ... well, just about everything, and as a result their homes are so overflowing with junk and random objects that it eventually threatens their health and safety. Usually by request of a family member, the show then sends in a team of psychologists and cleaners to try and help'em separate them from their stuff, though not always successfully (one guy eventually told the team to leave because he couldn't part with anything...)

Mind you these are not people who just have a lot of one thing (i.e. a lot of CDs, a lot of old magazines, a lot of salt shakers, etc.)... they have a lot of EVERYTHING. They never throw ANYTHING away. Every room in their house is filled to the ceilings with boxes and bags of whatever. It's pretty damn creepy. On last night's episode they emptied out a lady's house in Louisiana that was so full of crap that she hadn't slept in her bedroom in years because she couldn't GET to her bed under all the stuff. The cleanup crew found the dried-up remains of two dead cats under all the layers of trash, which was waist-high in some places. GACK! The poor things had just gotten crushed under falling junk and the lady either didn't notice or didn't care. Freaky. They eventually hauled 8000 pounds (!) of garbage out of her house.

Another woman had stockpiled so much food in every nook and cranny of her house that the city was going to condemn the place because of the stench. The whole time the cleanup crew was taking godawful dripping rotten stuff out of her house she was freaking out and trying to take things back, saying "I could use that! It's OK!" It didn't seem to occur to her that the cleanup guys were wearing Haz-Mat suits for a reason. Good grief.

A third woman was being threatened by Child Services that they would remove her children from the home if she didn't clean out her house, and she actually had to stop and think about it. Maybe it's just me, but if I were given that ultimatum, I'd say "f**k it, burn it all!" When the cleanup of her house began, she watched every damn thing that the crew brought out, nit picking about every little thing and getting all emotional about getting rid of the weirdest stuff. I could see if they were removing family photos or keepsakes, but she was getting mental about old pairs of rubber gloves, paper towel tubes, etc. (There are some people on this show that I think they should just shoot with a tranquilizer gun before the cleanup crew moves in. That lady was one of 'em. Haha.)

Seriously, the wife and I have a good amount of clutter in our house (like anyone else, I'm sure) and it could stand a good purging every year or two, but when I watch this show I'm like "Wow, I got nothing to worry about."

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I think they are starting a Norwegian version of this series come the New Years.

It's a interesting yet sometimes disturbing show.

Troublezone wrote:

It's a interesting yet sometimes disturbing show.

It's kinda got that "passing a bad car wreck on the highway" feel to it. You don't want to look at it, but you can't help yourself.

My Dad is in Real Estate and man, i've seen some nasty stuff. Also, you ever see those people in cars that are jammed full with just enough room to sit behind the steering wheel? Sad really.

I'm just the opposite, i'm a purger. I'll go through and be like, haven't used this in three days, let's get rid of it. My wife doesn't really like that.

TheNazgul wrote:

My Dad is in Real Estate and man, i've seen some nasty stuff.

Oh yea, one of my wife's friends is a Realtor and she's got some stories too. I guess they all do. The one I remember most was she was showing a house to a prospective buyer and when they went into an upstairs bedroom, there was a kiddie pool on the floor full of human excrement. Needless to say, she didn't make the sale.

Yeah,I've watched several episodes of Hoarders.Its scary to think of the way some people live but I guess its just like any other sickness.One episode had the crew cleaning out this guys bathroom that was full of used toilet paper piled up all over the room.That was pretty nasty.

TheNazgul wrote:

I'm just the opposite, i'm a purger. I'll go through and be like, haven't used this in three days, let's get rid of it. My wife doesn't really like that.

Haha!...me too.

I'm in people's homes daily, and never at a time when they've had a chance to clean up. You should see how many people really live. Even in very nice homes where you'd expect it to be nice. Humans are filthy, filthy animals.

TheNazgul wrote:

I'm just the opposite, i'm a purger. I'll go through and be like, haven't used this in three days, let's get rid of it. My wife doesn't really like that.

Haha. My mom always complains that I try to get rid of everything and anything in the house I don't like. I guess I'm the opposite of these people. Really sad to see this.

99% of people I know are eccentric packrats. It must be me. I am that way with certain stuff, and I have a random piece of paper here and there which has been floating around forever and I can't recall exactly why, but for the most part I have discovered the joy of crushing everything up and creating a big glorious garbage bag to throw out, over and over again.

This house that I deliver mail to is like this. Just walking to the door there are trails of garbage all over the ground. I hate going to their door cause when they open it the smell leaks out and I just want to throw up. They have a bunch of kids which I don't see how they havent gotten removed from the house, its that bad. I don't know whats wrong with some people, but I guess its just a disorder. I'm not the cleanest person in the world but I do know when something needs to be thrown out.

now we know what you do

This thread actually makes me proud of myself.

I clean the house every week; sometimes more thoroughly than others but I always clean the kitchen counters and floor, the master bathroom and both cat boxes at the bare minimum. This past week I cleaned all three bathrooms dusted the living room and all three bedrooms as well.

I actually may be a "neat freak" compared to most people.

Stop putting women out of jobs.

Back in my hometown clutter is normal by most of the people. I never realized how bad it was until I saw it on tv. Thanks God my mom is a neat freak that stays the whole time, every day cleaning, so I got that habit from her. Recently I had to trow away like 10 jeans in good condition, just because I was not going to use them.

I see it as a good thing to put a show like this. It sure makes people to be aware of it, and worry about their stuff. Now I try to buy less, which means almost nothing (just some cd's here and there as an exception)

Quote :

This thread actually makes me proud of myself.

I clean the house every week; sometimes more thoroughly than others but I always clean the kitchen counters and floor, the master bathroom and both cat boxes at the bare minimum. This past week I cleaned all three bathrooms dusted the living room and all three bedrooms as well.

I actually may be a "neat freak" compared to most people

Every time I see a picture of your cats, cds, gym, etc....I say to myself "look how neat and clean his house is!"

We clean/tidy up at some point every day. We don't operate a museum, but we like "a place for everything, and everything in its place". The girls have to pick up their toys every night before bed and make their beds in the morning.

I find that a tidy house is much more relaxing and enjoyable.

I have a very mild case compared to those peoplen but I still have a hard time throwing stuff away (at any one time I have three large plastic containers full of junk). I try to organize every now and then but it's like I have a mental block that prevents me from doing so. I have a bad habit of not throwing things away. Office supplies are the worst, I have about a clothes drawer full of markers, pencils, pens, etc. I'd love to be tidy and neat but I'm just not wired that way. I'm sloppy and unoragized by natrure. Not to the point of roaches rooming with me but very cluttered (most of which is discreetly gathered in the aforementioned containers as to allow movement around the house-and to make it look clean when my dad comes home).

When I moved into my house for my final semester of college, I felt like Monk walking into the city dump. I swept , mopped, dusted, vaccuumed and washed a good 3/4 the house where my roomies were too lazy to clean themselves. After awhile I had to confront the male roomate about the lack of cleanliness in the bathroom and how I was able to sweep up enough dust about the size of a PS3 controller. (Yes, SWEEP)

I know it's a b*tch and a half to keep things clean or take the initiative to do it, but I enjoy coming home to a super clean house that you know what get you sick.

A timely subject for me as I'm just in the process of selling my deceased Father's property, and he was a hoarder (not of dirty garbage, more like rusty old junk etc). I try not to be too bitter about it since my Dad grew up in the 1930's and keeping everything was a sensible way to live at that time, but still...the property isn't worth much anymore and hard to sell. I've already taken two 20 yard dumpsters (each as big as a small bus) of junk out of there, and there's still more.
The worst thing is that it takes a lot of time to deal with, so the issue spills over into my own environment because I don't have time or energy to keep on top of everything. And since my job also involves cleaning the last thing I wan't to do when I get home is more cleaning.
I wonder if it doesn't often work this way, one generation of hoarders spawns the next generatoion of neat freaks (which I'd love to be if I had the time).
Some people suggest that a good solution might be to purchase another wife from somewhere like Indonesia or El Salvador or Sweden. I'm skeptical about that though, since the last wife was no help at all and left me with a houseful of Cats and a yardful of Goats (not to mention a Rabbit running around loose upstairs).
Another solution might be to bring the Goats in the house, and then try and sell my story to the producers of The Hoarders show so they would come and clean my house for me and give me counseling and Valium and all that. I bet they have never had anyone on that show yet with Goats in the house, have they?

SAHB Healer wrote:

I bet they have never had anyone on that show yet with Goats in the house, have they?

There is actually a episode where on of the hoarders had a goat on the property. The goat ate through the side of the house and made the house inhabitable for the winter. Also the lady had her utilities cut off no water or heat.

I've seen this a few times but its just too sad to watch frequently. You feel sorry yet you can't stand the people that are like that on the show.

I did see the one about the lady and all the food and that was beyond gross. She had stuff from the 80's in her fridge and cupboards. The hazmat team made the show that episode!

Lurideath wrote:

I've seen this a few times but its just too sad to watch frequently. You feel sorry yet you can't stand the people that are like that on the show.

I did see the one about the lady and all the food and that was beyond gross. She had stuff from the 80's in her fridge and cupboards. The hazmat team made the show that episode!

That IS sad, I being the slob I am at least throw unused pantry & frozen food away at least every 6 months and uneaten leftovers every month.

these people are freaks. and i'm a bit of a pig.
I'm not afraid to throw out an old sports illustrated though.