Hoarders.

[navygreen]

I saw my first ever episode of Hoarders two nights ago, and I'm still shell-shocked. The episode had a family in Massachusetts that was living in a tent on their lawn due to a bedbug infestation in the house. You could actually SEE the bugs crawling all over things, everything, everywhere - it was SO. DISGUSTING.

Now, the hoarding kinda disgusts me in itself. I can't understand it, and I cannot imagine living a life so cluttered. Growing up, my very best friend's mom was a hoarder, and I remember dodging through piles of stuff literally all over the house just to play. That's what this show brings to mind. I sincerely hope that Tracy's mom has changed her ways, but they moved away when I was 9, so I'll just give her the benefit of the doubt.

I'm the kind of gal who donates to Goodwill twice a month. Sure, there are always some things that I could "save for a garage sale," but I would go nuts living with the extra STUFF around that we don't need. Plus, I'm used to a military lifestyle - we've not had an attic anywhere we've lived, and I never want to be in the habit of storing something for years down the road. We keep it down to what we are actually using, and that's it.

But this house. Even after they spent the weekend cleaning out the junk, the show's staff still weren't sure if it would be salvaged enough to have the exterminator come in (in the minutes I missed at the beginning, I guess the family had called an exterminator, but he refused the job because of the grossness). They were showing these before-and-after pictures, and the mom was crying from happiness, and I was just flabbergasted. The house was still filthy, disgusting, and in my opinion, unlivable. The carpets were stained and sticky everywhere - not a clean spot visible. The walls were holed, moldy, and down to sheetrock in several places. The wood floors had dried bug and rodent crap on them, and the toilet was still green and black with ick.

But yay, the family got to move back in and sleep in their home again - whee! /sarcasm

I'm pretty sure I can't stomach ever watching that show again. I couldn't stop thinking about it as I tried to fall asleep - BLECH.

Comments

[syven.livejournal.com]

Gah, I can't watch that show. Just the info descriptions make me know I can't watch it. I can't watch Clean House or Clean Sweep anymore either. They just give me headaches. I can't fathom how anyone can live like that.

I have a hard and fast rule and I do "spring cleaning" twice a year. If I haven't looked for, thought about or needed something in those six months time - it goes to the Thrift Shop on post. The only exception to that rule is the two big boxes labeled "Germany" in the garage because they are full of Euro appliances, transformers and the gondola for the back yard.

Being in the military lifestyle as well, it's a good reason but I'm still stunned by how cluttered my military neighbors have been in the past. It's one of the reasons why Jim and I won't live on post unless we are overseas and have to.

[navygreen.livejournal.com]

This is fabulous. Now that my emailed comments contain the entry that mentions bedbugs, Google's email sidebar is recommending all sorts of links and whatnot to get rid of them. HA!

[donnajean2277.livejournal.com]

LOL EW!

[posthaste.livejournal.com]

omg that episode...that man was absolutely disgusting, just his overall personality, bravado, BLEH. i just wanted to slap him. and his wife too for putting up with his ass.

that said -- whenever i watch that show i end up with about five bags of stuff to send off to goodwill. that's the only benefit i can see in watching it. that and it appeals to my "omg i love reality television" gene.

[navygreen.livejournal.com]

I really don't like reality TV, and that may be a problem as well. But yeah, the husband acted all proud just for cleaning spare lumber out of his bathtub. HELLO?! And he didn't even get rid of it, he just moved it all to the garage. The wife was crying about how having her bathroom and her dining room back was SO IMPORTANT to her, and I'm thinking, "You LET him do this to your house, too. Yeah, he might be hoarder, but NEITHER ONE OF YOU ever cleaned anything, or you probably wouldn't have had a BUG INFESTATION in the first place."

GAH.

[amberlovely.livejournal.com]

I watched the hoarder show on tlc and it motivated me to finally go through my junk drawer and go to ikea and get some toy organzier for the kids' closet downstairs. Other than that the show is just a train wreck. Wait till you see the one where the woman dodnt throw away her depends diapers for years and it literally ate a hole in her house.

I too donate regularly. I donate once a month to amvets and always have a donation pile for the salvation army. I can't stand clutter. Drives me up the wall.

[navygreen.livejournal.com]

BLECH. I really don't think I can watch another one. It disgusted me so much, and it infuriated me that they let the children go back into that filthy house - I don't care if it was finally bug-free. Nasty!

But OMG, why would anyone SAVE diapers of ANY kind?! Ick, ick, ICK!

[laciann.livejournal.com]

I can't stop watching that show - kinda like a gruesome accident where you know you shouldn't look, but you can't stop.

I'm the furthest thing from a hoarder, but after every episode, I go throw another item out - just in case!

[navygreen.livejournal.com]

LOL, you might be right on that. I don't *intend* to watch it again, but I think if Philip had it *on already*, I might "rest my butt" for a moment on the couch. :-)

But it's great that it inspires so much decluttering everywhere else BUT the homes that really need it. *wink*

[prosodic.livejournal.com]

I've watched a few episodes and the ones I've seen weren't quite that bad.

Lance seems horrified when he watches it, yet he has his own little pockets of clutter all over the house, which drive me bonkers. He'll never get that bad, I hope, but he still has some work to do.

I, for one, make regular donations to the area thrift stores to get rid of stuff.

[the-fishery.livejournal.com]

I saw one episode and I can't watch it again either. It is so sad. My aunt is a cat hoarder. I'd say at one time she had over 100. You could smell her house from the street. She has bad health and every time she would be admitted to the hospital we would take cats. Right now she has 6 or 7. The least amount she has had in decades. My mom got a call from the no kill shelter, my aunt was up there trying to adopt a kitten. I just don't understand. It truly is a mental illness.

[kattale.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if you realize that hoarding is a full category in itself now, of a mental illness. It doesn't fall under neglect or laziness or being disorganized (all of which I am, and why my house is a constant battle with clutter), but once you get to the quality of living on that show, you are dealing with serious mental illness. Emptying their home of stuff might trigger even deeper mental illness. The people need treatment for a disease, not a housecleaner or garbage truck.

I have sympathy for the people living with this disease, but I have basically no sympathy or patience for the people who created the show, or the people who watch and enjoy it. It's like the noblemen going down to Bedlam Insane Asylum to watch the madmen for entertainment - it is sickening and ... disrespectful is just way too much of an understatement.

Mind, I don't like reality shows anyway. But watching people's illness destroy their homes, families, and lives is NOT entertainment.

[jillerbob.livejournal.com]

I've watched this a couple of times and its so hard for me to fathom it getting that out of control. maybe its that we move so much and before and after every move we donate soo much stuff that we dont need. Its hard to watch and feel compled to just throw sooo much of it away and just want to yell at them when they want to keep some of their dirty junk. I know they cant help it but ugh..

[donnazita.livejournal.com]

I watch it sometimes. It actually incites me to clean(!)

I do get angry, though. After seeing the show a few times, I came to the conclusion that they treat the hoarders too gently. The hoarders are taking their families (and animals sometimes) down with them, and yet the psychologists and organizers permit the hoarders to set the pace. (So basically, if they're not ready to move the stuff out, they don't.) They wouldn't treat drug addicts the same way; they'd simply take away the drugs. This might be a bad comparison, but for example there was one show in which a man wasn't prepared to clean (despite his wife having broken her arm falling down the stairs). They let it go....at the end of the show, his update was that his wife had had a heart attack a few weeks later, so finally he decided it was time to clean up.

They let them go way too long with this illness at the expense of those around them.

[donnajean2277.livejournal.com]

My house is messy, but it's not that messy! And every time I watch that show, it just makes me want to clean and clean and throw everything away!!

[chelelev.livejournal.com]

Did you watch the TLC version or the A&E version?

Hoarding is just the other end of the OCD spectrum. It is a mental illness and you have to have the patient set the pace. I like that they do a follow-up so I can see how they are doing.

I about died when I saw Longaberger on hoarders. Yikes.

And I do toss stuff after that show. Do it after Clean House too. I am a pack rat and I would keep everything if I had room. My aunt was a hoarder, she filled about 3 houses.