Topic : 07/01 A Secret Inside: Extreme Hoarding

Sure, anytime.  Here or email me.

My grandson called tonight all upset.  "Gram!  Mom just spent over 200.00 on jewlery but wouldn't buy me a 15.00 watch that I NEED!"  I told him to buy his own watch with the money he earns from me every month.  I get paid on the 3rd so it should still be on sale.  I told him it will mean more to him if he buys it himself.  I also said mom does not HAVE to buy him things like that even if she IS spending on herself.

Saturday she spent 508.00 on a television.  I'm sure her income tax is gone (or near gone) by now.

This drives me insane!  I've read the books and gone on the websites to learn everything I can about this disorder.  I was horrified to learn there is actually an abnormality in their brains!  Plus the deficits in their decision making.  They are not lazy or stupid or anything else one would think....this is a SICKNESS!  But I can't let my grandson live in that filthy mess!  She risks loosing her job if the AF finds out!  That's one of the reasons she won't go to a therapist!

Go on the web...there are thousands of hoarders!  It's sick and SAD!

Sunny 

Interesting point of view about nurses and caregivers.

I do know a couple of nurses and they are not anything like this....but, that doesn't mean your post isn't correct.....I just don't know.

This show literally turned my stomach upside down. This lady lives with her boyfriend, 3 kids, and 7 cats and she has piles on top of piles of JUNK and TRASH that she refuses to throw out!!!! That's disgusting.

On camera she's all smiling and lighting her face up like she's showing off some glorious mansion and not some trash filled dump that used to be her home.

I couldn't believe that she actually lives with rotting food inside of her refridgerators (YES MORE THAN ONE!!!). What are her kids eating? I bet you she grocery shops everyday too just to have more food to pack away. Imagine in a country where there are still people going days without eating because they dont have money this lady doesn't even have to the heart to donate her money and food to charity.

How can she get away with keeping her house like that? The police have done nothing? I find that unbelievable. What if one of her kids twisted or broke an ankle or something major stepping on something that fell from one of her piles, how would she the ambulance into her house?

She won't even let her kids clean up! She won't let them use clean cups! God, I dont even want to imagine what their bathrooms must look like!! I'm going to have nightmares.

I work at a Wal-Mart Supercenter and I can guarantee you that this lady most likely shops their for all her hoarding needs. I see it all the time. Someone comes in with 3 grocery carts filled with just food and another with useless house items and you wonder, "how can they eat so much?" and "are they really going to use that" and the fact is THEY DON'T!

It's all about control. If this lady can spend $500.00 a day on stuff she "needs" from the stores I bet she's happier than a lark. When her boyfriend puts his foot down I bet she goes on a tirade of terror.

Normal people DO NOT live like this! The lady had at least one friend who had the good sense to get her some help, but then the hoarder turned on her and had security called on her at the hotel when Dr. Phil was having them stay at cuz she started a screaming match. How freaking ungrateful!

Then Lowe's is redecorating their kitchen AND throwing in a new fridge. Wait, where is my new FREE fridge? I'm not a pack rat, but I bet you I'd appreciate it more. They should make the lady pay for it if she decides to start packing it again.

My friend's dad is a pack rat and it's only gotten worse since her brother was murderd in 2000. Now her dad saves everything from broken glass bottles to baby cribs no one uses. He even has a whole acre dedicated to junked cars (and there's more than 6 out there I can tell you that!). Her mom refuses to let her dad bring his madness inside their house so it's contained to the backyard which has to be a major pain for the neighbors to look at.

I feel so bad for pack rats, but this lady didn't win my sympathy. She drives drunk with her kids in the car and she wants everyone to throw her a pity party. So aggravating. If I had $500.00 to waste I sure would put it to good use. My goodness.

I agree!  My daughter does not seem to think it's 'so bad' for her son...especially since I redid his room.  But even when I point out the rest of the house...she just rolls her eyes and calls me a "minimalist", a "perfectionist", a "neat freak", all kinds of names.  I don't care what she calls me...face the facts!  I have threatened her again.  I hate to see my grandson yanked from his home and put in foster care (some of those homes aren't so great either!) but it's her son or hoarding...can't have both.  She seems to be trying but talk about SLOW!  All she does is churn the piles!  I'm gonna have to get in there and force her to deal with it properly or call CPS again.  She won't go to therapy because of her job in the Air Force.  Talk about a rock and a hard place!

Sunny 

This is best show I have seen in 4 yrs!

Thank you Dr Phil for making real situations worthwhile !!

None of you get this. It's NOT awful. I know more people than you realize who live like this. Do they like it? NO! But, many times, no help for it. Not one of you mentioned priorities. If you only have 16-18 hrs a day to complete all you have to do, you have to prioritize. Do I do my dishes today, or water my lawn? No time to do both. Typing this treatise is taking away the time I should be using to feed my invalid husband, who by the way, is sleeping in a hospital bed in the middle of my living room. The furniture it pushed out is on the back porch in the weather and in my office, which has reduced me to the "clear path rule". All 3 bedrooms are maxed out, and the mail has piled up for months. Blame I.D. theft for that. You can't throw away junk mail any more unless you open it first to remove the shreddable stuff.  I had to buy a second shredder. I confess to being a product of the depression, when you HAD to save everything, so plastic silverware and cups get washed and reused.  I totally sympathize with the guest, inasmuch as I too, can't bear to throw away plastic containers. Solved that by not buying anything that isn't cardboard. (Cardboard  and styrofoam I can pitch.) When Dr. Phil told her he had a truck pulled up to her house, I was the one who almost had the heart attack.  My kids have threatened that...so, I won't go out of town, in case they follow up on their threats. Now, as I said in the beginning, I'm not alone. I apologized to a service person recently about the condition of my house, and he replied that mine was nothing compared to some he'd seen. One of these days, when I no longer have to work to eat, I can retire and spend time cleaning my house. In the meantime, I guess it will continue to be low on the priority list. By the way, I also drink and drive.

I was married to a pack rat....though it was never as bad as what was on the show....but that is probably only because I threw such fits when it got out of hand and absolutely refused to allow him to junk up our home.  He just couldn't help it...it's a mental illness. We did battle every day over the crap he'd fill his van with and drag home. He'd drag it home, I'd throw it out. He'd drag more home...and on and on and on.

He got a skin disease from the filth in dumpsters he used to rifle through! (This was years after we'd divorced.) He wound up living in his van...and piling it high with dumpster trash...and there was only a small space where he could sit...and sleep sitting up.

He finally lost even the van, and ended up on the streets. He died homeless; it was terribly sad because even way after we were divorced I tried to help him..so did our kids..but it was no use. We all had to withdraw from the situation because we could not help; neither could professionals.

Sad, sad sad!