# Hoarding, why does this happen?



## PamfromTx (Jun 1, 2021)

Last night I was going thru the Netflix movies/shows and found one on Hoarding.  I couldn't believe my eyes at the houses they showed.  Most of the homeowners seemed to have some mental issues.  

I though I was accumulating too much (especially kitchen stuff).  You couldn't open the doors to get in to these houses and the stuff was up to the ceiling.  Unbelievable!!!  The tenants had to crawl somehow thru all of the stuff to get from one room to another.  And they slept on piles of cushions and had yucky leftover food all around them.  The toilets about killed me.  

Why does this 'hoarding' happen to  people?


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## Marie5656 (Jun 1, 2021)

*I watch some of those shows as well.  Some seem to be related to shopping addictions, and unwillingness to part with any possessions, to make way for the new stuff. Many people shop thrift shops, etc. They even save things belonging to their adult children (from childhood) even if the child does not need ot want it any more.
I have seen some whole feel the need to save every bit of paper, or box, or item...because they may need it in the future.  I think it is the obsessive need to aquire things, or save things, without a willingness to get rid of things, no matter how old.   What I do not get is the stuff that is obvious garbage. .spoiled food, broken things (gonna fix it some day) Or memories attached to things.

I saw a lady with purses..LOTS of purses. She could have switched purses every day for a year and not go through all she owned.
So collect/hoard as a response to loss or tragedy. One lady had her husband murdered in their home. That was her trigger.*


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## Jules (Jun 1, 2021)

Sometimes these homes burn & the owner perishes.  It’s sad.


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## Murrmurr (Jun 1, 2021)

I watched that show once. When the team went into this lady's house on the first visit, one of them dug around in a few spots and found a dead cat, flat as a pancake. The guy held it up by its tail and the lady said, "Oh my goodness. I didn't know _that_ was there." 

I guess when you live in a house full of garbage long enough, you can't smell it.


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## Tish (Jun 1, 2021)

I couldn't hoard for the life of me, every 6 months I do a huge spring clean and donation campaign.
I have watched shows on hoarding and my heart goes out to them, some are so attached to their possessions that it breaks their heart.


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## terry123 (Jun 2, 2021)

I watched part of the show once and had to stop.  I am trying to get rid of things also.  Still going through books and trying to get them ready for The Salvation Army to pick up.  I will not throw away a book.  I will keep my Polish Pottery and in fact I ordered a set of three salad plates from them yesterday.  Its amazing the work it takes to paint each piece. One of the "grands" has expressed an interest in them so I plan on leaving them to her.  Her dad comes from a Polish family.  I use my pieces but have too many.  I do limit myself to one purchase a year.  So thats it for this year.


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## MrPants (Jun 2, 2021)

I tune into that Hoarders show from time to time when I feel bad about that state of my own place. Suddenly; I feel _great_ and I haven't done a thing


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## ohioboy (Jun 2, 2021)

Mainly obsessive-compulsive urges. The desire to aquire what no one else has, or if they do, to have a more desirable and or bragging on collection. Each individual mind is fixated on it, a habit, an addiction.


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## timoc (Jun 2, 2021)

This thread is starting to get me concerened, am I too a hoarder?
Going through a drawer in the kitchen I found 7 old tin openers, I won't throw them out, well, they may come in handy. 
Three weeks ago, we had a power cut just as I was about to open a can of beans on the electric can opener, so with a grin on my face I spent about half an hour looking for the old tin openers. I was just about to use one when the power came back on.
I used the old can opener.


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## Kadee (Jun 2, 2021)

I know someone who’s home is like …well nothing I’ve ever seen before and it’s not about lack of money ,she‘s reasonably well off.
The last time I make my way into her house via  a very narrow space down the passage

I seen 5 TV’s unopened boxes she going to set up in other rooms one day the trouble is all the other rooms are full to the brim as well .
It’s not only the extreme hoarding it’s the fact the house which is a very old wood and corrugated iron home is falling down and I drastic need of repairs . I I’ve been out with her and she will stop and pick up beer / cool drink bottle tops in the Street, I’ve asked are they valuable ? She said no I just like collecting them . I’ve stopped going to her place it’s like a local tip ( dump ) inside . I don't understand why she’s like that ,I’ve seen reports it may be related to depression who knows .

I even hate clutter in kitchen drawers ,Ive recently downsized my pantry containers to smaller ones to save room , so lots of stuff ready for the next op shop drop off


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## Verisure (Jun 2, 2021)

The days of the hardware store where you'd purchase by weight or by piece are now gone for the most part. So if you need two screws or one battery but are forced to buy a packet of six .... what do you do?


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## Verisure (Jun 2, 2021)

Kadee46 said:


> I know someone who’s home is like …well nothing I’ve ever seen before and it’s not about lack of money ,she‘s reasonably well off.
> The last time I make my way into her house via  a very narrow space down the passage
> 
> I seen 5 TV’s unopened boxes she going to set up in other rooms one day the trouble is all the other rooms are full to the brim as well .
> ...


There's an American misfit here in town. Last time I saw him was in a hospice with severe cancer so I don't know if he's still in the land of the living. Anyway, the guy never learned to speak Swedish and so he makes the most outrageous statements based upon his total misunderstanding of the language and the culture. He ended up homeless many years ago and he'd sleep on the beach or in a social services room until he had to be removed. This was because he'd cover the floor with water and wade in it with his bare feet claiming he was "washing the floor". But he also had this thing about gloves. If he found a lost glove on the street he could not resist taking back with him and putting it in a cardboard box in hope of someday finding the matching one. He had at least a hundred of them that I saw. He's also fixated by the colour green and he'd pick up anything of that colour. Bottles, shards of glass, plastic bits, etc. On one occasion I remember that he'd just got his social welfare check at the end of one month and he spent the whole thing on an expensive new pair of green Doctor Martin boots.


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## Keesha (Jun 2, 2021)

It’s definitely a mental disorder. I ‘had’ a friend once who was like this and my parents were hoarders but nothing like these shows. I ended up having to clean up their house so they could stay there for another two years. The workers had condemned it as unfit. It was a ridiculous amount of work to do. In hindsight I should have left it as is. That way my parents would have gotten into a nursing home sooner but I’d turn myself inside out for them at the time.

I, myself, am the opposite. I can’t stand clutter.


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## jujube (Jun 2, 2021)

For me, the Hoarders show is a "public service".  Every time I watch one, I start a new "Goodwill box".  

It's definitely a mental illness, compounded with, in many cases, terminal laziness.  Why get up out of your chair to toss the paper plate or empty soda can in the trash when you can just drop it on the floor?

And when they're walking on a foot of animal (and human) waste?  There are no words.....


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