Hoarders

[OBIO]

Do any of you watch the show Hoarders on Monday nights? Deb and I watch it every week....and while I know that hoarding is a psychological illness/mental disorder, there are times that I can't help but scream at the people on the show to just throw the trash away.

On tonight's show, there was a family that had 17 dogs and 5 cats (animal control had previously removed 22 cats from the house). There was feces EVERYWHERE...and the Mom/Wife did not see how Child Protective Services saw her house as an unfit place for her children to live and remove them from the home. Huh? Luckily, the four children were able to go live with their aunt and uncle instead of being placed into the foster system....but still, animal feces in such abundance that you can't walk through the house without stepping in it....not to mention all the trash and junk that was piled up everywhere.

OBIO

[Gdavis101]

The show kind of grows on ya! Its sad that people can get that way, but I find myself just saying "throw the sh*t away!"

[brad kaste]

Yeah,...I've seen a few of the 'hoarder' shows. You're right Obio about it being a mental illness of sorts. Besides feeling sad for the person who's consumed with their mountains of trash,...ya' gotta' feel for the grown kids that try to logically make sense to their confused elderly parent. Usually, it doesn't seem to do any good. The most they can toss is a small, token amount,...if that.
It seems to afflict middle aged and older woman. I'm sure there's men out there too that go way beyond the rat pack stage of collecting.
I personally knew a friend who's father would go out 'junking' the night before the trash would be picked up. What caught his eye he'd haul back in stuff into the garage. Within a few years there was no place for anything. Just junk piled on top of junk. Needless to say,..the car stayed outside...:icon_lol:

[TARPSBird]

I think we all have a "pack-rat" gene that causes us to hold on to stuff we don't need, or we think we might need in the future. When that gene gets out of control you get Hoarders. :icon_lol:
When we lived in San Diego I once went door-to-door with my sons soliciting magazine subscriptions to help their school. One of the folks who answered the door was a very nice "cat lady". She got a subscription and while she was signing up I looked past her into the house and it looked like the grandstands at Yankee Stadium - cats everywhere. I've owned cats and loved 'em all but I've never had more than two at a time. Maybe Hoarders will at least serve to show other variations of the obsessive collecting compulsion that takes over people's lives.

[OBIO]

I know a guy, whose name I shall not say...even though none on you know him and he won't see this thread...that is pushing 50 and has the clothing he wore in high school back in the 70s. His storage shed in half full of those cheap white hanging planter baskets...each year his mom buys his wife a hanging basket for Easter...and each year the guy saves the basket. His parents are both hoarders...they have a house full of stuff....as in a second house they own just to keep stuff in because the house they live in has no more room for stuff...a 4 bedroom, full basement, 2 story house just to store stuff in that they simply have to keep for what ever reason.

OBIO

[Lionheart]

Yikes....

Sounds like me with computer boxes of burned out computers, lol...

arrgh...

[Navy Chief]

When my divorce was finalized, I moved just about everything around in my house to suit my tastes. Sort of a "bachelor" thing. Well, I have a bedroom upstairs that USED to be a game room. (Now my entire house is). Anyway, the former game room has stuff everywhere. It's a total mess. But at least I have the mess confined to one room!

NC

[Cazzie]

Yikes....

Sounds like me with computer boxes of burned out computers, lol...

arrgh...

LOL Bill, me too, but I do rifle those boxes for good parts that work in fixing some other computer.

Unfortunately, there are two hoarders in our family, not here, although we have our fair share of critters. Our animals, 2 dogs, 2 cats and 2 Iguanas (except for these guys) go outdoors, as they have two doors to go in and out as they please. I have to sweep daily and vacuum weekly, but at least there are no feces lying about. Our Iguanas are large, they each have very large three-tier shelters. They eat a lot (especially in warm weather) and they make a mess on the bottom floor. The wife and I clean their habitats twice weekly. It is like living with miniature herbivore dinosaurs.

Must say I have not seen the show, just never watch anything on TV but sports; racing (bicycling, cycling, and auto), baseball, and football. Other than that, unless there's a great movie on TMC, FMC, or IFC, where I do not have to deal with redundant stupid commercials, I do not even bother. TV is an inane medium as a whole, better left turned off. It does nothing to increase one's mentality, but a lot to increase one's blood pressure.

Caz

[PRB]

Ok, tell me if I got this right... There's a TV show out there about people who hoard things. ... ? (?) That's what the show is about?

Free advice for anybody who finds themselves watching this:

Go read a book! :icon_lol: :isadizzy:

[Snuffy]

I've seen the ads for the program, I've never watched it.

Like Bill (Lionheart) I'm a selective hoarder ... it appears to be the same affliction that affects Bill. Oh! and Books, I don't care as long as the subject interests me ... I collect em.

Outside of that I run a pretty clean place. :bump:

[cheezyflier]

i have a rule. anything that hasn't been used in a year, we get rid of. period.

[rayrey10]

Funny PRB but I've seen the show a few times, and I found it interesting because I can't imagine what would make a person live like that. And like Brad said you have to feel bad for the kids who live in those conditions. They are basically being "bred" to live like that because that is all they know.

I am at the other end of the scale, I don't save anything. I have a few things from my days in the Corps and that's it. I don't collect anything either.

[GT182]

Not seen it but I've seen homes of people like that.... YUCK! :barf:

But then again, we're all hoarders.... just look at what you've saved on you computer that you don't really need. ;) :bump:

[PRB]

Funny PRB but I've seen the show a few times, and I found it interesting because I can't imagine what would make a person live like that. And like Brad said you have to feel bad for the kids who live in those conditions. They are basically being "bred" to live like that because that is all they know.

I am at the other end of the scale, I don't save anything. I have a few things from my days in the Corps and that's it. I don't collect anything either.

Well, I once met a guy who collected those wooden carved airplane models. Ok, he hoarded them. Imagine a medium sized house, two stories, in which every single horizontal surface is covered by these airplane models. Living room: Every chair, sofa, shelf, light stand, coffee table, covered. Kitchen: Every counter top, the kitchen table, all four chairs around the table, the stove top, coverd. The stair case leading up stairs: Every step has two or three models on them. The garage: A jaw-dropping collection of models on shelves, in boxed, floor to ceiling. His classic car project: covered in airplane models. Damnest thing I ever saw. And yes, he was married... :isadizzy:

What's more amazing to me than the hoarders themselves, is how a TV show with such little production costs can apparently attract plenty of sponsorship. All you need is one camera guy and maybe a hapless interviewer. The possibilities here are, sadly, endless. I know, how about a TV show where you find and interview women who were pregnant! No, wait, here's the best part: See, we'll interview women who were pregnant, but didn't know they were pregnant! No, that's just silly. Never work. Nevermind... :icon_lol:

[Cazzie]

Well, I once met a guy who collected those wooden carved airplane models. Ok, he hoarded them. Imagine a medium sized house, two stories, in which every single horizontal surface is covered by these airplane models. Living room: Every chair, sofa, shelf, light stand, coffee table, covered. Kitchen: Every counter top, the kitchen table, all four chairs around the table, the stove top, coverd. The stair case leading up stairs: Every step has two or three models on them. The garage: A jaw-dropping collection of models on shelves, in boxed, floor to ceiling. His classic car project: covered in airplane models. Damnest thing I ever saw. And yes, he was married... :isadizzy:

What's more amazing to me than the hoarders themselves, is how a TV show with such little production costs can apparently attract plenty of sponsorship. All you need is one camera guy and maybe a hapless interviewer. The possibilities here are, sadly, endless. I know, how about a TV show where you find and interview women who were pregnant! No, wait, here's the best part: See, we'll interview women who were pregnant, but didn't know they were pregnant! No, that's just silly. Never work. Nevermind... :icon_lol:

Oh crappers, now you cutting to the core! :monkies:

Let's see, at last count, I had maybe 3 to 4 hundred unbuilt plastic models! And about 250 to 275 built models! There's airplanes all around me. :bump:

Caz, hoarder of styrene.