I was so excited to see this show on TLC (Tumor Loving Channel). Did anyone else actually watch it? Is anyone else as fascinated by hoarding as I am? I have several relatives who do stuff like this, but not nearly as bad as anyone on the show (but still bad). Every time I see anything on hoarding I am terrified of one day waking up and seeing junk everywhere in my house. We have way more stuff than we need, but nobody would call us hoarders or anything.

I couldn't believe the couple that had the pretty nice house. You get a nice house like that and fill it with junk? What was the point of buying a nice house? They didn't seem all that mentally ill. They just kept making excuses. "The shower is filled with crap because it leaks, so we can't use it as a shower." Get it fixed! It's a shower, not a closet. At least they cleaned up for a while, but I wonder how long it will last.

The older lady in the apartment must have had some sort of serious mental illness-type hoarding problem. I felt a lot sorrier for her, for some reason. At the same time I wanted her to just stop making excuses already. Stop saving the used bread bags already. Keep a path clear to the exit window so the fire inspector stops hassling you. Stop saying you can't do it and start saying that you won't do it.

I have to give all of them credit for seeking help and at least wanting to want to change.

One of the therapists said that people who hoard do it because it gives them a sense of control. Then she starts saying how they can't control their hoarding. I'd think being in control of their hoarding would give them a sense of control.

I watched this also. This is such a widespread problem. There are the reality shows like "Clean House" and "Clean Sweep" that show moderate versions of this. There was a BBC makeover series about hoarders and cleaning out their places also. I even saw a documentary on the German TV channel, with subtitles. But as the program showed there are degrees of severity. I thought it was good that they tried to explain why people do this, and to show there are people trained to deal with this problem.

It looked like the hoarding couple just had the upstairs that was stuffed, but they had some liveable area in the downstairs. Oh yeah, the garage was filled, and maybe the basement if they had one.

I can understand how it gets much worse if you're living alone, there's no one to challenge you to throw things out, so you forget you're seeing therm. and get used to everything. One good thing about the internet, you can't physically hoard online newspapers.

Me too. Or stories of cat hoarding.

It may be that when your life is out of control a lot of parts of your life are out of control. Even though her apartment had been professionally emptied into a dumpster she filled it up again in a year. Well, when you don't have a job or any structure to your life and spend days blankly wandering the streets you're out of tune with a lot of regular society, you're already on the fringe.

I think hoarding is a thing that can ebb and flow. In the Clean House/Sweep genre a lot of it is recognizing things that once had a role in your life don't any longer and letting go. That can be tricky, the emotional letting go. Someone once told me "two moves is as good as a fire" for getting rid of stuff. Or was it three moves?

In my family my dad was a neatnik and couldn't stand a lot of clutter, but my mom, child of the drepression, saved lots of stuff. Some was related to hobbies, which is always a problem of where to store that stuff, but she'd save every bag that came into the house, and I do the same. It's really pathetic. Every now and then my spouse will get fed up and toss out a few "bags of bags". But I know there are some places I can't go without triggering off a spasm of needing to collect, such as thrift shops, flea markets, garage sales, TJMaax/Marshalls/Home Goods types of places, and eBay. I feel if I slip on those it'll cause a downward spiral.

Bwa ha ha! Tumor Loving Channel! That's classic! Yeah, the first time I realized that TLC was seriously going down the road to "strange conditions voyeurism" was the giant tumor that a woman (in...was it Romania?) had.



<*puts her hand up*> Me!



I'm kind of the opposite. I have a fear of clutter. Not saying that I never have any, but I spend a lot of time thinking "why the heck do I have so much stuff?" and trying to get a rid of a lot of it. My apartment is extremely small and (when it's clean) it's very well organized and does not look overly full of clutter. But I do have an issue with books. I rent a storage space because I can't fit all my books in my apartment! And I even go through my books regularly and sell or donate what I don't want, but I am always left over with more books than I can fit into my apartment. There are so many that I can't bear to part with. And most of those I have read already, but I still just feel a need to own them.



Seriously, that was unbelievable! Her apartment was basically a series of gopher tunnels in between all her stuff. It was really interesting the insight into how her mind works. Like she said if she could not see something virtually right in front of her, she'd forget that it existed. And she'd buy things she already had. (I did that a few times with CDs when I had a huge CD collection, but now I have all my music on my computer so I can organize it and know what I have in my music library.)



Totally. But the mentally ill woman is being evicted! Where the heck is she going to go? And how will she cope without all her stuff, because the next place she goes - no way will they let her bring all that stuff with her. Even if she can't bring it, she'll just create another pile at the next place.

Q: how does she pay her rent? They said she does not have a job. They didn't mention anything about a patron saint relative, or money from "disability" income (Does she even qualify for that? Do they recognize her hoarding as a mental condition that needs to be treated?)

One thing I did identify with with the apartment woman hoarder was the sense of frustration when people throw out perfectly good things. It really bothers me when people do this. (I probably would have grabbed those canes, too!) First, it's a shame that people who need things but can't afford them could not use them (I'm sure there are a lot of elderly or disabled people that could use those canes), and second, sending that stuff to a landfill just exacerbates landfill/environmental issues. (But if I "rescue" something that I don't need, I give it away on Craig's List, or donate it to Goodwill, I don't hoard it.) It always bothered me how on Clean Sweep, they'd have a pile for "donate" and a pile for "throw away" and there would always be so much perfectly good stuff in the "throw away" pile - they could have just added a lot of that to the "donate" pile. Or there would be recyclable items that looked like they were going to throw in a garbage can. Drives me crazy! I think that people need to look at both the incoming issues of "stuff" (don't acquire too much, or what you don't want/need/don't have room for), and the outgoing issues (don't throw away perfectly good items that other people could use, and recycle items like paper, glass, tin, etc.)

Does anyone know if they are going to have other shows on hoarders, or was this just a one-off?

While I didn't see this show, I've seen a number of other documentaries on the subject and I've noticed that a lot of these folks seem to be motivated by the belief that they will need something that they are hoarding in the future, and that to be caught unprepared would be a disaster. They must hold on to that plastic bag, or styrofoam packing tray because something terrible will happen if they were to need it and not have it.

And it isn't just a characteristic that hoarders that would have lived through the Great Depression have, one doc mentions a girl in her early teens that was like that. Needless to say that issues such as perfectionism and OCD have come up in other docs on the subject; was it mentioned on this show? To me a lot of these hoarders seem to believe that they would be bad people if they threw out something they "might" need later, and I've yet to see such black and white thinking addressed.

Hoarding fascinates me too. I can't believe I missed this show!

I tend to have a hard time letting go of things, but not specific things. Just, random things from my childhood and stuff like that. I can't imagine the compulsion to collect old bread bags! Interesting!

Have any of you ever heard of the Collyer Brothers? I remember reading a pretty in debth story about them a long time ago (I can't find it online now) and it's really disturbing, but totally fascinating. Wikipedia Article on the Collyer Brothers

I saw this show late last night and then went to their site. There was nothing about it at all! Just a little blurb on the schedule - which was over by then.

The older lady should have not been alone in the first place. She just wasn't capable of taking care of herself at all plus the hoarding issue. Would be nice to get an update on her........

The couple needed a place for the decorating wife to store her supplies and get keep organized. She could probably never find what she needed when she wanted to use it. (Even Vern on the new HG competition gave a peek into his storage room - Buys things by the dozens on clearance!)

I'm with you Drum on the Clean Sweep and that type shows and the donating issue.

I'm not a hoarder either but I could use another closet or two! Couldn't everyone?!!!

The show started with some word graphics telling the story of these brothers, and had some photos as well.

Has anyone read the Don Aslett (yes, the same cleaning guy with the product line on QVC) de-Clutter books? I have several of them and re-read them from time to time. They're funny and get me re-psyched to purge.

It sounded like she was on government/public support for her meds and psychiatrist visits, so I'm assuming she was on public assistance for housing, food etc. People like this can't work. Would you hire her to do anything? It looked like she never changed her outfit, she slept in it also. I'm guessing she doesn't take showers.. they didn't show if she had a rat trail to the bathroom.

Same for me. Dreaded trash day, when my Dad might have tossed something out without our knowledge.



Right!
"How many of these bags do we need? Are we saving these for any reason?"

Wish I had seen the whole show, but only caught half of it. How about the couple- the one with the husband who said that his wife has relatives that have never even been inside their house!
"CHAOS", as in- Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome.

YES! People who are as fascinated as I am with hoarding. I am so happy there is a thread here; I was thinking about starting one!

Where to begin? I don't think of myself as a hoarder but I do have a problem letting go of things. Especially things from my childhood. My husband? Just the opposite. In fact, he got a whole bunch of stuff together to throw out and I secretly looked through it and picked out stuff that he just COULDN'T get rid of. He wasn't too happy with that. But these were actual things that had memories attached. I am floored by those that save bread bags, old receipts, mismatched socks and shoes, broked items, etc. but I can see how they rationalize keeping them. I am someone who hates clutter and can't function unless everything is in it's place but I do have a number of things that watching Clean House is helping me rid myself of.

The poor woman from San Fran....I really pegged her as someone who was mentally ill. Hoarding is but a symptom of what's wrong with her. I fear that by now, she is homeless or living in a homeless shelter because I can't see how she could get her life together and find a new place unless she has a LOT of help. Was there any mention of family around her? She just really made me sad.

The other couple....meh. I guess it was interesting to see them and the process they went through but I wasn't as fascinated with them. Hopefully they cleaned out that jam packed garage by now.

MSNBC has a special on sometimes about OCD and hoarding. I have seen it several times and it features a couple young girls. One girl took her car to the mechanic who refused to work on it until she cleaned it out and she couldn't do it so she took her car home and parked it there w/o using it. Some of her excuses and justifications for keeping items were just crazy.

My episode guide said that the people in this show suffered from 'discardophobia' (sp?)...hee! The word just made me laugh. Fear of discarding things, for sure.

ETA: Thank you, Penserosa! 'Disposophobia'...I like that almost as much as 'discardophobia'. Fear of disposing of things.

I'm bad, because the whole time I watched this show, I kept thinking, 'Why don't they just throw stuff away? Why don't they hire one of these organizers to just come in with a dumpster and get rid of all this crap?' This is one mental disorder that I don't know if I could ever get an understanding of.

And here I've been waiting for this topic to pop up in Candid Reality!

Shali, the actual term is "disposophobia" aka "Collyer Brothers Syndrome". I'm not sure if it's like a technical DSM IV term, but I think it's pretty widely accepted.

Sunday Moon, I was also going to mention that show on MSNBC. Is that the one that had the guy who owned a company that cleaned out people's places when they were going to lose their house or get evicted? The only "souvenir" he'd kept was a Campbell's soup can that rattled when he shook it. I liked that one a lot more, I think it delved more into the 'how and why' of it and showing the therapies and nuts and bolts of how to tackle it rather than just a 'look at the packrats' kind of thing.

It also had quite a bit on the Collyer Brothers, who have fascinated me for years. I think I have a little bit of a problem when the clean up guy is going through the house on his current job or they're showing old newsreels of the Collyer house and I'm thinking "They're throwing that away? I'd like to have it!"

I googled Melodie because I was wanting to know if she'd gotten evicted or what happened to her and found some interesting things. She's not a Hoarding Documentary virgin by any means. In fact, she seems like somewhat of a hoarding celebrity. There was something about her being at the National Hoarding and Clutter Convention in 2006 (or some name like that), and there's been at least one other short film about her. One of the things that I wish they had mentioned on this program is that she was thrown off a bed when she was young and the brain damage affected her short-term memory. She touched on that, but didn't explain that it was an actual physical injury.

Also wondered how she had a laptop computer to organize her Very Important Stuff if she couldn't afford to do laundry. One of the articles mentions that the earlier filmmaker (Elizabeth Something Asian) had left out the film showing her at her rented storage units with her three paid assistants. Why wasn't that mentioned? That might purchase some therapy.

I have to give her props, though. With all those labels and sorting, she is the second most organized hoarder I've seen (number one spot goes to an English lady on "Life Laundry" who had boxes with printed out labels designating "Bags" "Little Bags" "Big Bags").

I had to block out the couple when they started talking about how much better they were relating to one another. Right after they showed the nightstand that had been cleared of everything save a lamp and an open jar of Vaseline.

Euuuw, good observation. I saw that but didn't connect the dots. Again, eeeuuuw.

Yes, Life Laundry, that was the show I remember. That was more interesting than Clean Sweep because instead of mostly dumping old kids toys these people really had hoarding problems that had gone on for years and the hoarding was more intense. I wish they had a show like that over here, but it would get hyped into a freak show rather than giving any insight into why and how the people ended up in this predicament.

After I read your post, Pensarosa, I also googled Melodie. There were some radio stories on her. I also found this site on general hoading. But a whole convention of hoarders and clutterers, man, what's that like? That's got to be severe.

Wow Penserosa you are a good sleuth! Storage units! Oh my! I know Melodie had spent a fortune on plastic storage containers and crates. She should open a thrift shop. Would that be a cure? Looks like we only got a partial report on the show.

Apparently TLC thought it wasn't so special. No previews. No mention on their site.

Word. There are a lot more hoarders and clutterers out there than 700 pound men. I don't think this really fits with that lineup, but being a one-off they didn't know where else to put it. Maybe if they get a lot of reaction to it like Little People Big World they'll do more with it. For now they're busy hyping their two tattoo shows..

Penserosa, yes that's the show! I agree, it was more interesting to see the depths of therapy, etc. I wonder if that guy who cleaned up for a living would ever consider going on Dirty Jobs because that's sure dirty. I would love to see a follow up on those people who were profiled on the MSNBC show. One of them was a young girl.

I wonder if the brain damage Melodee suffered kicked the OCD in overdrive. The damage is interesting to note. She seems to be stunted in childhood with relation to her speech and other mannerisms.

Penserosa, I also noticed the Vaseline and didn't think much of it but.....yeah....ew. They annoyed me. This show was about hoarding not relationships, dammit! I was more interested in Melodee.

The whole Melody thing is interesting. I didn't quite know what to make of her, in that a lot of it seemed like a put-on - not that she's not clearly got problems, but like it seemed as if she enjoyed the attention and the having the problem just a little too much, as if the problem was her identity lacking anything else for reasons that weren't explained really.

Does anyone know what happened happened? Whomever above who saw her on the 'celebrity hoarder' thing, for lack of a better term, maybe there are updates now? Though I dunno how current this was, filming-wise.

I did see the vaseline - I thought it was for her lips... It was just a wee jar...

Melodie was interesting. She clearly had real problems, beyond just being a bit eccentric, but she also seemed a little too quick to justify her hoarding. Even after the professional organizer worked with her, she only sorted a very small area because she said it was all she could do. There was no real willingness on her part to work hard to overcome the issue, even to just move the things that were blocking her fire escape so she could avoid eviction. She also mentioned that she wasn't able to get adequate help for her condition because she had no means to pay for private treatment, but she was shown in a counselling session and had obviously managed to retain the organizer to help her out too. I did feel sorry for her, but at the same time I think she needed to make some more effort.

I agree that she might have been helped by having a focus to her day, rather than wandering the streets and trawling through trash. She seemed like a gentle sort of person - I thought that even if she couldn't hold down a job, maybe she could benefit from volunteering, perhaps with elderly people, like a companion. Maybe her obsession with helping "things" could be transferred to helping people, to some extent anyway.

The other couple - it was hard to find as much sympathy for them since they seemed to just be stuck in a rut. How funny that the wife is an interior designer and helps others to de-clutter, when her own home is hiding several rooms that are unsuable due to the piles of junk! I was impressed at how much the hypnotherapy seemed to help them. I wonder if they had more than one session, or if that session was enough to kick-start their tidying. Had to feel sorry for the teenaged son though - first of all he can't bring his friend round in case they see the mess, then his parents go on national tv talking about their deep dark secret and the state of their marriage! Not to mention that jar of Vaseline on the bedside table - didn't look like a lip balm-sized jar to me either...

I knew Melodie lived in San Francisco the second I saw her. There are a billion folks who look/act like her here! There must be something in the water.

I'm sorry for her; she's clearly got major mental health issues. She must be receiving disability payments. Although if she had lived in that apartment for many years, it's possible she's paying dirt-cheap rent and is squeaking by with savings? She was sweet as pie!

The organizer woman sent to help her has the patience of a saint. I can't imagine working that slowly and accomplishing nearly nada.

Drumkit, are you me? If not, then you sound exactly like me. I fear clutter, but love books.(I try to only keep the ones I know I'll read again, but that's most of them.) I have recurring anxiety dreams at night of owning homes full of clutter that I don't know how to sort out. I agree with the other posters that it seems to have some connection to control, or lack of, in our lives. But my response is to be an anti-hoarder.

I'm so sad I missed this show, because the topic fascinates me, but I'll watch it if it reruns. I've know some serious hoarders in my life, and their homes have appalled/fascinated me. I once spent a week clearing out most of the apartment of a person who was a major hoarder. They just seemed anxious about the "help" and when I returned for a visit a year later, all the empty space had been filled with new "stuff." I do think it's an illness.

Don Aslett is my hero. I read his books years ago, and have been a dedicated dejunker ever since. I should write and thank him.

I think Oprah had a show on hoarders several years ago, and the person who really stood out in my mind was a fairly young woman, whose teenage daughter finally left home because their home was like a garbage dump. She had to sleep on a couch in the only cleared area of the living room, because her bedroom was so full of her mother's stuff. I vividly remember the woman showing the crew around the place, and showing them a piece of bagel she'd saved, saying she just couldn't throw it out because it was so beautiful. Definitely a mental illness!

I googled for more information on Melodie, the San Francisco hoarder. She apparently suffers from a traumatic brain injury, that information was not disclosed in this documentary. I would like to know how she is doing now. She so reminds me of my college roommate who wasn't a hoarder but was OCD from San Fransisco but was also very sweet and eccentric.

There are so many great routes to giving away things these days. I use Freecycle first, then Goodwill, but there are plenty of items that Goodwill cannot or will not take, and loads of people who give them things that are unuseable, so the cost of disposal is left up to them, which can quickly add up over hundreds and thousands of people, cleaning out their closests.

I caught perhaps half the documentary, and was sorry I missed the first half. I'm disappointed that Melodie's traumatic brain injury wasn't disclosed, and at the lack of concrete information about her life. I agree with most of you that Melodie needs some sort of structure to her day/life. I hope she does well.

That said:



Unfortunately, canes count as "medical devices" and most thrift stores cannot or will not take them, for that reason. They aren't licensed to sell/dispense medical devices, and there's no standard way of recycling them. I ran into this while cleaning out a relative's house after she passed away: we have several perfectly good, stable, orthopedic canes to give away - strong handles, the four little feet on the ground for a superstable platform, certainly expensive at any orthopedic supply store. I tried the Salvation Army, St. Vincent De Paul Society, Goodwill, the local senior center, two area nursing homes, the local hospital, but no one would take the orthopedic canes I had. It was very frustrating.

This doesn't apply to all communities, but I used to volunteer as an EMT for my local ambulance company, and they would take donations of crutches, canes, wheelchairs, lift chairs, walker, etc. Then if a resident needed use of any for a while, they could just check it out by writing their name in the book and keep it for as long as they needed.

Was a great service, since many people only need these devices temporarily.

Regarding canes and crutches, my parents church has on "old folks" group that stashes things like that in a closet. Then when some body in the group, or a friend or relative, needs one they just dig them out. When it is no longer needed, it is put back for the next person. Or you might just wonder into your nearest senior center or retirement community and "forget" the canes in the lobby.

Maybe the next documentary needs to explore places that you can donate your stuff to, and what is and isn't needed/usable.

It's a relief to know I'm not the only one fascinated by these kinds of things!! I don't know why but I can't seem to NOT watch stuff like "Clean Sweep", or "How Clean is Your House" on BBC America. I've known a couple of hoarders but was only allowed into one house and that was when I was a kid. They had narrow trails through their mounds of stuff. Very amazing to me! Even though they had piles and piles of newspapers, magazines, etc...it wasn't mounds of rotting garbage. The house didn't smell or anything. Basically pretty much like Melodie's only not so organized.

I wonder what happened to Melodie?? I sincerely hope she didn't end up on the street.

Drumkit wrote:


That sounds like me too. We have moved quite bit in the last 10 years, moved ourselves I should say not hired any help, and my worst nightmare is moving stuff that really didn't need to come with us. I try to purge stuff every so often but we always seem to accumulate more. It would drive me crazy having to live in a house just filled with unneeded stuff.

Chelseabelle wrote:


You got that right!! If it was me, I'd would have started grabbing stuff and just shoving it in a garbage bag!!

Here's another sad story....

http://www.seethrough-films.com/mmg/trailer.html

2manyfish, thanks for the link. That was severe. I liked that it showed another side of hoarding, how it affects the children or other relatives. How are they supposed to cope with this?

I thought that the cane thing looked totally staged. What are the odds of just happening to open the one garbage toter that contained several clean, new looking canes neatly bunched and a nice orthopedic cane, but apparently no garbage of any kind. It seems like when she laid the canes back down into the toter there was a clunk sound like it was totally empty otherwise.

To me, the couple was a waste of time. I think they're fronting as OCD hoarders to get air time and free organizational help and hypnotherapy. More than anything, they just seemed like lazy procrastinators who never got around to throwing out things or putting anything away.

Evidence? Other than their messy bedroom and guest room (and, if one has the luxury of an extra bedroom, who doesn't just toss stuff in there to "figure out later" and it's out of sight, out of mind), the rest of the place looked pretty straight. The kitchen counters were relatively uncluttered, their living room was clean and even their garage was pretty empty. And I think that kitchen counters and garages are pretty hot spots even for people who aren't packrats. True hoarders wouldn't be able to contain themselves to a junk room and a bedroom full of shopping bags and piles of laundry.

I wasn't paying a lot of attention to the couple's segments since they weren't mental enough to hold my interest, so I could be wrong about some of my impressions of their house, but I remember my surprise at seeing their pretty tidy garage.

2manyfish that was interesting.

Thanks

Can't find any updates on Melodie.

They re-aired this last night--I was fascinated. I would really like to know what happened to Melodie--any updates?

As far as someone outside "helping" a hoarder by just rolling a dumpster over or just shoving stuff in garbage bags... no. Just no.

It doesn't work that way. I was never a full-blown hoarder like the people on the show, but I used to hold on to all my receipts, atm slips, magazines, and paper bags. I don't know why I did, but I just did. There was no real reason... Early on, I would put the receipts in order by date. After awhile, I ended up stuffing them in a file "to be sorted later." I wasn't preoccupied with them, didn't think much of it, but if someone would have thrown them away on me, I would have been furious. And I'm not even a "true" hoarder - once I actually read about hoarders and OCD type issues, I cleaned out all those receipts. Yay me.

So I imagine that if someone who hoards to that extent were forced to get rid of everything or came home to a clean house, it would be devastating.

One thing I could not stand was when they showed the hoarders at home, the background music had a slight hokey/goofy feel to it, with high pitched "zips" and "dawdles" (obviously I have no background in music, so I don't know the proper terms!). The hoarders aren't doofuses or clowns - that music shouldn't have been in the piece.

One of the psychological factors mentioned was a sense of security -- so it would be horribly traumatic to have everything suddenly gone. I think it would make the desire to hoard that much worse.

I was fascinated by the show -- I know I have a difficult time getting rid of things, but not to the point of needing consultants and therapists.

I felt terrible for Melody -- she seemed so sweet. I would like to know how things worked out for her. She said she wasn't afraid of being homeless, which seems to be a contradiction to the hoarding.

Melodie has a website: www.helpmelodie.com.

According to the site, she is homeless now, and her stuff is spread among three storage units. There's not a lot on the site, but she is asking people to write to Oprah Winfrey in the hopes that Oprah will help Melodie.

I felt sorry for Melodie, but I sort of couldn't get past the fact that we saw her in the same outfit over what had to be several days, even sleeping in it. That apartment of hers was a real Collyer brothers situation waiting to happen. I kept thinking the best thing for her would be a group home, where she could have some independence but also some supervision and support.

I thought it was weird that "Help! I'm a Hoarder" never mentioned her brain injury; when I read about that, it made a lot of things she had said make more sense.

I don't think I could work with people like Melodie, even though I do have sympathy for her. I think my patience would run out in about ten minutes, tops.

My friend's mother is that way. I was only in their home twice... once in their very small house (which was full) and then once after they moved to a house twice the size (which was also full... narrow alleyways between rows and rows of shoulder-high packing cartons full of God-only-knows-what). She still goes to yard sales and buys stuff all the time; I see her on a regular basis around town on Saturday mornings, filling up the ol' station wagon yet again.

The vaseline jar seriously bothered me. Not just because I was wondering what it's purpose was but also why could she put the freakin' cap back on the jar? The vaseline is going to get dusty and gross.....if it isn't already.

I felt bad for Melodie but if I had to listen to her voice any longer - I would have gone nuts.

I have a very hard time understanding a hoarder. I think I have the opposite problem. I love to throw things away. I think it feels liberating to part with useless things. Of course, that depends on one's interpretation of "useless". I recently went through my closet and actually followed the rule of "if you haven't worn it in a year - get rid of it". I have more room in my closet and I don't miss a single thing I've gotten rid of.

I think TLC could have chosen more compelling hoarders than the husband and wife.

Obviously there are degrees. It's kind of interesting. I guess my family all qualify as hoarders, somewhere in the middle range. My dad (recently died) actually was a child of the depression and on top of that was a former IRS agent so all the tax stuff is saved since basically ever. But there is a kind of organization.

We're all worst about books and magazines.

Dad did have trouble getting rid of stuff though. A box of ties that came from a closet I needed went... into the attic. i was like, who in the attic is going to wear them?? And things like broken electronics would go down into the basement... but partly because they have to be taken to the dump and can't just be thrown out.

My brother's apartment is the worst; you literally can't walk around in it for all the stuff. he really needs to MOVE-- he has a one-bedroom in NYC, so that's part of it.

What complicates some of the hoarding issues is that at times things you save really ARE needed. I HAVE gone back to notes and drafts from grad school, for example. And I DO treasure the old photographs and journals.

We don't "hoard" newspapers and junk mail...

Re the family which just had a few unlivable spaces, isn't the real issue here that they don't have a basement or attic? I wasn't sure they really qualified.

I agree about the clothes, too. I definitely go through clothes twice a year and cull.

But my parents' home, that is full of so much stuff, is really sort of fun and cozy. Then again, it's not as if the chairs and tables are covered or the floor isn't mostly free.

I guess I'm concerned that the show doesn't distinguish between clutter and hoarding, which clearly in some cases is literally a mental illness. Clutter, at least for my mother and for me, has more to do with a certain amount of laziness and moving on to the next thing. Hoarding is actively keeping things and saving them, not just forgetting to throw stuff away or contact goodwill regularly, yes?

Freecat said:



Yeah, that's the way I see it. My house is (somewhat, not terribly) cluttered: I could tidy it up in a few hours. I have more stuff than I need, but I'm very willing to get rid of stuff and in fact do so at least a couple of times a year. I do tend to buy certain kinds of things more than I need to: clothes, purses, pajamas, DVDs, video games and CDs, and of course books. But I don't find it difficult to part with things I don't need.

I would say the couple on the show may have been hoarders, but it was certainly a milder case than Melodie's. (Of course, Melodie had a lot of other stuff going on, too.)

God bless anyone who has the patience to work with and help hoarders. I just wouldn't have the patience; I wanted to shake Melodie after about five minutes.

Annalisa wrote:



Word.

Another reason it bothered me is that you really shouldn't use non-water-based products for the purpose we're all sort of assuming they were using the Vaseline for ...

Ewwwww ...

I think they were hoarders that hadn't advanced to the stage of being completely overtaken by their crap in every room. But they shouldn't wait until they are at the insane point to realize they have a problem. Coming in now before it moves beyond the guest rooms & other small areas make sense. Imo, everyone on the show had varying degrees of the same problem.

This woman needed to be committed ages ago. I can only pray that her children were not raised in this level of filth. She is clearly crazy and needs medical intervention of some sort. Its so sad. As a NYer that's the last place she needs to be though if she loves going through trash. Trash is everywhere.
I agree that its difficult but imagine being the neighbor to the person who's allowed their home to go to shit - especially in areas where people live very close . In the film above this woman's home had to be an issue for the entire street, I'm sure it smelled and attracted vermin. Same thing with Melodie, she could not continue to endanger everyone around her by maintaining a fire trap.

I liked this show because it did not seem to be exploitive of hoarders, instead it was meant to educate us. I liked how the professionals were interviewed: "Please don't show up with a dumpster. It will not help, it will only make it worse." Now having said that I can believe that Melodie is homeless. I did not find it hard to believe that her landlord kicked her out. She was a fire hazard and a safety hazard! Her landlord could care less about her problems, he just wants his property to be normal. And after she spent hours going over one tiny (and we are talking tiny) section, I knew she would not recover from her issues.

Dang! I forgot to watch for the open vaseline jar!

I had read this thread when this was aired previously. But last night was the first time I saw it. Now I wish I would have taped it. I forgot all about the discussion of the vaseline on the night table.

I finally got to see this show last night.

I could have cared less about the couple, but I really wish they would have told us what happened to Melodie.

It looks like the site someone posted above hasn't been updated in a while. I'd love an update on her. I hope she is getting the help she needs.

I just saw this show last night and agree the couple were not that interesting. Someone upthread said the person working with Melodie had the patience of a saint and -wow- no kidding! Especially when Melodie basically just moved things around a bit. I wonder if the brain injury is the reason they didn't try hypnosis with her? It seems like the help she received was much too late, there was too much to do.

I checked the helpmelodie website noted at the top of this page, and holy crap! The woman is MY age? I pegged her as much older. This quote from the website bothers me:



It sounds like people advocating for Melodie wants everything done "Melodie's way" - which obviously doesn't work - at all! I feel for Melodie, but any long term help will be hard and may even be painful for her. Even Oprah can't wave a magic wand and make it all better. The website seems to indicate that Melodie deserves to have this fixed for her, but I think Melodie needs to take some personal responsibility. Again I feel for her, but the home support providers shouldn't be blamed for "not staying long enough" when Melodie couldn't accomplish any progress at all (plus alot of them probably moved up to other jobs or moved to other places - should they stay in one place just for Melodie?)

And I don't believe what the landlord did was harrasment. He was within his rights and within the law. It's not up to him to decide what's best for Melodie. There were hoarders on Oprah that Peter Walsh helped. Peter stated that with that amount of clutter you do have mold, you do have vermin. No way around it. I'm sure the landlord's other tenants were glad for him taking care of the needs of the many.

I think I liked Melodie more before I checked out that website!

I wish I had seen this special because I do suffer from this problem. The only way I could be called a hoarder is in terms of my books and music. I have a large amount of them, I refuse to give them up. I'm trying to convince myself of the wisdom of giving the ones, I don't read. I've had people tell that I had to get rid of my stuff and that does no good. I'm also a clutter.

No, I didn't grow in the depression, I just grew up in a household where I had no control over anything, and I was sexually abused as well. So, yeah, I have problems. I'm working on them. Its does bother me more now to look at my apartment and know it could be neater, that I should be doing more, but its was way worse then before. I actually had someone come over and say they would call the DOH if I didn't get someone to help me clean. Even at work, I don't like people touching my stuff. So, now I take really small steps and work on getting things better. I have a cleaning person come help out once a month. Its not easy because I can slide back pretty quickly, but I'm sick of having CHAOS disease, and I want a better life. I want my friends and family to be able to come over and not be some hermit.

Catgirl, I wish you the best. I've sent you some links in a PM. I hope thye help.