ACOT Message Board

Maybe this has been a topic here before and I missed it - but I watched my first episode today. OMG! If I wasn't so exhausted from a full day already, I'd have the closet of my scrapping room and all of my mosaic stuff in the basement cleaned up already! And I'd do the rest after Physical Torture tomorrow! I'll at least get the closet up here done tomorrow afternoon or evening - that show just totally creeped me out!! UGH!!

I had posted on my facebook this morning "Every time I watch the show "Hoarders" I want to clean out a drawer or organize something", it's so sad.

A lot of that is just sad...those people have some serious issues that they are battling. When i watch it I just want to throw out everything, esp things that i am not currently using. On a lighter note I did clean up my scrap area...my husband goes you better take a picture...I wonder what he meant by that?

LOL, Cort - my DH said the same thing! And Joey, that's just what I feel like. That really gave me the creeps. And I am NOT watching the 2 hour season premiere tonight or I'll be cleaning the whole house tonight!!

I can't watch that show...It seriously sends me into a cleaning frenzy. It is sad that people live like that!

It takes a certain kind of personality to get that bad.

One of my co-workers turned it on today and I had to change the channel or I would have been cleaning the pharmacy like a mad woman....

I can't watch tonight's premier or I'd be running around the TV room cleaning. So I'm taping it. It's a compelling show, isn't it? My neighbor is a hoarder and so are my in-laws. We cleaned out their bedroom and found bills and canceled checks from 1956!!!! But other than the piles and bags of paper, the place was clean.

I think I"m bad and get frustrated...then i see that show and realize I don't have issues! Yes, I collect scrapping stuff, and my house could stand to be cleaner because I'd rather scrap than clean, but it's nothing like on that show! I can at least walk around, and my kids play on the floor,a nd everyone has a bed to sleep in!

It took this show to make me realize these people have some mental illness - and sheds a whole new light on a man I dated back in the late '80's who had a lane cleared through who his house, ate standing up and had his bed cleared off just enough for him to get into.

Did you hear about the Las Vegas (I think) woman who disappeared, and it turned out she had died and her husband and police dogs all missed seeing her in the house because of all the stuff?! Yuck. But I think anyone who is concerned that they have too much is ok and not in danger.

yeah...we watch it here and realize what kind of mental problems alot of them have...it's truly sad, but it makes me want to clean my house and organize...I already have 4 boxes of scrappy stuff to get rid of

PezKat wrote:Did you hear about the Las Vegas (I think) woman who disappeared, and it turned out she had died and her husband and police dogs all missed seeing her in the house because of all the stuff?! Yuck. But I think anyone who is concerned that they have too much is ok and not in danger.

I read about that...and I think it was actually their 3rd or 4th time thru the house before they found her! That is so sad!!!

We watch it quite often and I feel bad for some of the people, but really there are a few that are in a different category. I just have a hard time with it when they have tons and tons of garbage and pet feces in corners and ICK, it seems like they are more in the lazy category rather than the hoarder category. (imo)

I actually had to turn it off a few weeks ago because I had just eaten dinner and it made me physically ill. I have considered using it as a diet tool!

edit: does anyone else think that the people on tonight's episode are MEAN? - the family

I'm watching it right now. I agree that some of these seem like laziness, but I believe there is a mental illness behind some of it. I come from a family of "collectors". It isn't as bad as those on tv, but my mom lives in a really small apartment and it's pretty darned crowded. Much of her treasures are in plastic bags or clear storage containers. I worry so much about her getting around - but she doesn't ever want to throw anything away. I have to watch myself, because I suspect part of that is in me, too. So - I am weeding through and getting rid of clothes that don't fit and everything in the house that I don't use. It's kind of scary.

Yep, gets me motivated everytime I see it!! Even the commercials!

I think my kids should watch it.

I've known a few people like that in my short lifetime.. I could never ever be like that.. I mean.. I might leave dishes in the sink from dinner and then wait to do them until the next day.. or wait to do laundry until the hamper is fuller than it should be.. but I'd never let it go on for weeks..months.. especially not years! I have an extreme phobia of bugs and I suppose that is why I'd never have "piles" of stuff around.. I'd be afraid of what was lurking under all that clutter. Everything has a place and I HATE knick knack things.. I don't even like saying those words LOL.. my mom had knick knacks and unicorns.. the house was never like the show, but she did hate to dust anything...I'll never have a ceramic unicorn in my house that's for sure lol
I don't understand it. How can people not notice that they have a problem after a few months? How does it get to that point? I do watch the show though.. it's like a train wreck.. and a reminder of how I don't want to be.

joeybrat2 wrote:I had posted on my facebook this morning "Every time I watch the show "Hoarders" I want to clean out a drawer or organize something", it's so sad.

Ditto!

yeah, that show gets to me and it is a good motivator to clean, I hate piles because like the poster above I am scared of bugs or mold! But I still hold on to stuff longer than I should so I end up organizing and tossing stuff after that show. One time I watched 2 episodes (back to back) and I ended up with 3 bags of clothes to donate, I went through all the rooms and all the drawers. I am far from that show or even having a messy house but I still worry about collecting too much scrap stuff, I mean it always starts out slow!


Oh and to respond above I do think they have a mental disorder but why would you want to hoard feces and trash? I understand (well i can try to) tons of papers and stuff but I think the trash and feces is laziness mixed in with it. I have an aunt who has so much stuff you can barely walk around but she does clean the stuff and there isn't food trash mixed in. Just a whole lot of stuff!