So Much Clutter, So Little Room: Examining the Roots of Hoarding

The New York Times ^ | Sunday, January 4, 2004 | NINA BERNSTEIN

[muggs]

"Most of this new attention is not coming from the mental health side of things, because many people with this problem don't seek help. It's coming from the housing side and services to the elderly."

As an apartment manager, I have seen this problem way to often. Some people can't part with anything. When my maintenance staff has to repair something in the apartment, it is nearly impossible because there isn't a flat surface in the whole place that isn't covered in junk.

[sweetliberty]

"It might be fun to take all the others and make things up to write on the back."

Might I suggest contacting your local hustorical or geneological society and see if they would be interested in the photos or might have a suggestion as to what to do with them.

[.38sw]

Thanks. I was worried that I tend to hang on to too much stuff, I don't even approach these levels. And I do clean out periodically, tossing stuff and taking boxes of useable things to goodwill. And I really don't have a problem with maneuvering in my house. I'm a long way from needing to clear paths, and putting tunnels through the junk! The worse thing is, we have a spare bedroom, and it's pretty much filled with gun parts, ammo and books. I rarely go in there, just when I need ammo to go to the range.

[tiamat]

Your Grandma sounds sweet!

I have noticed that a lot of seniors do the hoarding thing. Must be from having been through the depression.

I am intending to get rid of a lot of our stuff on eBay.

tia

[Howlin]

When we moved to this new house in Raleigh, I moved my stuff, my husband's stuff, my niece and nephew's stuff, my deceased sister's stuff, and my son's stuff in one big old transfer truck.

When we moved my mother in with us, she alone had ONE BIG OLD transfer truck; that was two years ago and she is STILL going through all that crap. She keeps accusing me of throwing her stuff away -- but Lord only knows what's missing, you know?

The other day I found her trying to fix a broken old umbrella "in case we ever need it." I finally put it with the other six she has that she's fixed.

It's driving me nuts. She has a 30 foot walk-in closet that is packed so tight you can't even get a rack out of there, yet she wears the same five outfits over and over.

I'm to the point where I hardly keep anything just so my kids won't have to go through this!

[Mad Dawgg]

"Interesting article. Wonder if any FReeper might have a hoarding problem...uhhh..."

If books count, then guilty as charged here!

[sweetliberty]

Wish Ebay had been around when I was trying to figure out what to do with all that stuff.

[jellybean]

I have a tendency to save email unless it's obvious spam or advertising. I find it hard to delete anything until my account is almost to it's storage limits and they're asking me to purchase more storage space...LOL Then I have to wade through hundreds of messages and delete those that truly have no sentimental value.

I just peeked at my FReepmail account and added up all those I have saved. There are 547 from 74 different FReepers, plus 319 which I sent to myself before the "sent mail" feature was instituted in FReepmail. Most of these could probably go... someday I'll get around to it.... (famous last words of a hoarder/procrastinator).

Some of these will never be deleted, such as the 35 from Angelique. Regrefully, I had deleted a number of them from her before learning of her passing.

I won't mention my Yahoo! account or another account with 100 mg of storage space that is 50% filled. <}:(

[Eric in the Ozarks]

A Becker Mexico with the shortwave button ?
I think I have one, too.

[dennisw]

btttttttt

[dennisw]

"Filthy with Things" is the funniest short story about hoarding and packratting. By T. Coraghessan Boyle

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0670849634/102-9379793-5270529?v=glance&st=*

In "Filthy with Things," a pathological couple whose home is sinking under the weight of their "collectibles" enlists the services of an evangelical professional organizer who banishes them to a "nonacquisitive environment" while she takes inventory of their astounding clutter ("three hundred and nine bookends, forty-seven rocking chairs and over two thousand plates, cups and saucers")

[1rudeboy]

bttt

[JusPasenThru]

Bump for further reading.

[hedgetrimmer]

We are just now going through a dozen boxes of old photos, cards and memorabilia, pitching out pictures and obituaries of people we don't know.

If your local library has a genealogy room, or there is a genealogy or historical society in your town, ask them before you toss out those pictures and obits. The geneaologists may be particularly interested in the obits.

[LauraJean]

Yes, I see you subscribe to the Paul Powell method of financial management.

Paul Powell was the Illinois Secretary of State who when he died had shoeboxes filled with money in his closet.

[Ditter]

This inspires me! My 2 New Years Resolutions: #1. Continue to lose weight. #2. Clear some of the junk out of my house. (But first I need to freep a while longer) ;9}

[Twinkie]

I'll bet that a person who has been collecting &
stumbling over junk & squalor which was begun 40 yrs.
ago would have been horrified if - in the beginning -
someone had brought dump trucks in and deluged the
interior of their house with the same stuff they have
gladly hoarded all those years. It's like sin. It
doesn't hit you full in the face right away. It just
slowly creeps up on you until one day you just can't
get enough of it.

[Dont Mention the War]

Actually this is a clinical manifestation of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), treated with massive doses of SSRI medication.

What's your definition of massive? Well beyond normal theraputic doses?

[meowmeow]

read later

[ChefKeith]

head gasket set, valve adjusting tools and books for 3.8 and 4.2 six cylinder engines

If You have a valve adjusting shim kit and cam timing gauge/tensioner tools to go with the rest of this You have about $600-900 worth of stuff there. Even more if it is the right brand (O.E.M.)