My sister has been a hoarder from a very early age. We shared a room as kids and her side of the room was always chaos. We are, and have always been, polar opposites in that respect. I find it hard to breathe when there's clutter and she finds it comforting.
When she married her hoarding didn't stop. Until just recently, they lived in a single wide trailer. It was so packed that there were 'goat' trails in it to get through from one room to another. She had anmials, too, and the smell was horrendous! Once, she got very angry at a repair man who told her that her home was a health hazard.
Our parents died within two yearsof each other and she inherited the house we grew up in. It is substantially larger than her trailer,and has a basement. She's 56 now, and I'm 49. We live over 2000 miles apart, but I know she still hoards. While they've been moving their things into the house, her husband has suggested it would be a perfect time to go through stuff and get rid of things. She balks and says that if she threw stuff out he would no doubt come to find out HE needed it and get mad a her.
She takes no responsibility for her actions and doesn't see a problem at all.
Our parents were always worried about her hoarding, too. But she is very defensive about it and they would never bring it up to her. Same goes for me. I would so like to know why she hoards. We had some lean times as kids, but we never had to go without. Why does she do it?
