Life /
Polish Hoarders? [42]
Typically they think their problem is lack of organization rather than an inability to part with stinking, useless garbage.....
Sometimes, it seems like the hoarder doesn't want to take out the garbage. They just let it pile up in the house until it becomes unmanageable, then they want someone else to clean it for them. It's at the least a ten person job, cleaning up a house like that. A few weeks later, the house is like it was before it was cleaned, which is why cleaning their houses for them doesn't work. A therapist must sort through the mess with the obsessive compulsive, letting them do most of the work cleaning it. The therapist talks to the hoarder the entire time, helping them see that most of what they have is meaningless while human relationships are valuable. I've seen this on reality shows about them. I also have an
Aunt who has this. She just wants people to clean her house for her, isn't interested in getting therapy for it.
You a hoarder, PP?
Absolutely not, after seeing what my Aunt goes through. Nobody in my family is because of her. She has a severe case of it, rivaling the worst ones on the reality shows, I'm sorry to say.
At least it keeps all her relatives from being hoarders, so it does have one positive.
You're onto something here. My grandfather could have been called a hoarder. He lived through the Depression and wartime and hard times. After he became an old widower and he was lonely and his mind started to deteriorate he began collecting things.
My Aunt's father died of emphyzema when she was in her early twenties. On those hoarding reality shows, there seems to be similar circumstances, hoarding behavior following the death of a loved one or a divorce. My Aunt grew up in the country without a lot of money, too.
Most of my Aunt's stuff is junk. She has some collectible tableware and glassware.
Seriously, my basement might be loaded with stuff but I have a pretty good inventory of what is down there and indeed use much of it.
You should have tons of garage sales! Garage sales are awesome. Before you know it, you have hundreds of dollars. It's so weird.
You don't want your basement to escalate into a hoarding situation, bursting at the seams, so keep an eye on it.
