Hoarding. It's Freaking Me Out

[Little Flower]

Has anyone else dealt with a hoarder in their life? Have you ever had to clean up behind one?

 

[Ed Norton]

My mother is a chronic hoarder. I did have to clean up behind her frequently. It was the only way I could study in college. She is also very hateful and vicious. She purposely broke my computer, lost my degree when it came in the mail.
Destroyed my term papers it was a nightmare. I feel for you.

Furthermore she called the police on me and told them that I was high on PCP and that I was threatening and harassing her when I tried to move her out of my apartment. Hence my trauma when they tortured me.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

My mom is a hoarder. My dad was the one who was always cleaning up behind her. (He finally gave up.) The house was always a mess growing up. I never had company over and always escaped to other peoples houses. She is getting a little bit better with age, but she still has a hard time letting anything go. She has control issues.

 

[Little Flower]

My mom let my sister have 3 rooms on her end the house. It was a nasty nightmare. I'm having panic Attacks about even tho she is now in a group home n my parents have passed. I had to clean out the mess. I'm so angry with her I don't know if ill ever be able to speak to my sister again

 

[ms spock]

I don't know how it happened. I must have dissociated really badly because one day I came to and realised that the TV show was about hoarders and my house was a hoard. It was awful and so embarrassing.

 

[Ed Norton]

It may help to realize that hoarding is part of a mental illness. Usually OCD. In my case I also think my mother has a schizotypal personality disorder.

 

[digger]

Have you ever had to clean up behind one?

Yes, my dad was a chronic hoarder. We had to clear out his house after he died. It is really difficult thing to deal with.

 

[Fadeaway]

I guess I am a hoarder. I fought against that label for a long time, because I had such few possessions and I am also an anti-materialist. But I do have a hard time letting go of things. When I finally got the pair of shoes I had always wanted I wore them until the soul was falling off. I kept super gluing them back together.

I couldn't give them up because they meant so much to me and because of the way they said I clung to my purse, which I had never noticed before, that I had hoarder tendencies. I have never really gotten over the loss of certain objects and I can't get rid of one particular item that I consider my comfort item.

I also have this thing about feeling safer in more cluttered rooms, actually what it is I think is smaller rooms. I don't like things being too open so the more clutter and objects in a room make it feel safer if the room is too big.

I have been told that because of those things I could fall into hoarding very easy. The problem is I just don't accumulate things despite having problems letting go of what little I do have.

 

[Lolly]

My Nan is a hoarder. We had to help her move, and It was a nightmare. It took us a week to just pack up her conservatory. We all have tried countless times to help her get the house sorted a bit, so she can at least walk across her living room safely, but she just buys more stuff. We've given her thousands of pounds so she can buy her rent, buy food etc, because every time she gets some money she just buys more crap. I can't go to her house anymore, just sitting in it gives me panic attacks. I'm sorry you to deal with your sister's mess all by yourself, its not fair :(

 

[desiderata310]

My ex (and abuser) was a hoarder. It was difficult to go through the stuff after I managed to get him to "move out". When I finally got rid of it all it was a dumpster full of stuff. It was very stressful and in the end I wound up paying someone to finish it because it was overwhelming.

 

[Little Flower]

Wow. I guess I'm not alone in this. My sister hoarded garbage. Trash. She would pile her garbage from food right into the floor. My mom denied what was going on ( not a huge surprise). When they all went to the hospital with MRSA staph inf
I put four bug bombs in the apt. When I came back the floor was carpeted in roaches They were even in my parents beds Omg I can't write about it anymore right now

 

[TXbandit]

@Fadeaway I was going to reply to this thread but you basically took the post right out of my mouth. I am the same exact way. I hate an open room. I like the clutter it is sort of comforting in a strange way. I have stuff I can NOT let go even though I can not wear it, use it, etc. BUT I also get into those phases where I get sick of looking at it and get in a frantic, almost ocd cleaning spree and start chunking stuff. Then I feel sick afterwards. Maybe I am just crazy lol who knows