# Hoarders on A&E



## ChristyACB (Apr 10, 2008)

I'm watching that new show, Hoarders, on A&E and it totally freaks me out.

At the beginning it said that more than 3 million people in the US are Obsessive Hoarders..not just hoarders, but Obsessive Hoarders. ARGH.

As a prepper, one of my biggest fears is that my prepping is some subconcious excuse for hoarding in some way. I'm so paranoid about it that I probably throw out too much stuff and I'm constantly asking my sister to check my house to be sure it looks "normal". 

I know, that is weird, but there is a genetic component to it and my grandmother is a bit of a hoarder (nothing like this show, more like won't throw away pictures or any dishes that don't make sets anymore..that kind of thing.)

Watching this show just makes me be more critical and worried. I know it's stupid, but when I open the pantry and see the list and the labeled boxes, I worry. Since I know I have a storage room that is also racked and stacked, that also makes me worry. 

Does anyone else ever worry that they'll become like that?


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## Jim-mi (May 15, 2002)

Could it be that watching that kind tellyvision is bad for your health and well being........??

I clicked on this thread because of the A&E . . . .is that a tv channel ??
No thats not a stupid question because there are many of us who don't watch the idiot box.

Yet we are quite happy with whats in the pantry and are not going to worry about someone else questioning our "collection"


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## ChristyACB (Apr 10, 2008)

Yes, that is a channel. It's a brand new show, with the first one on today. 

I've always been worried about it though, having heard lots about it and occassionally seeing a report on the news but this is the first time I'm seeing it in the whole ugly display of full color.

I wish I didn't watch the idiot box...but I LOVE movies  and anything Star Trek. Heck, anything scifi or nature. Okay..that's a lot


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## Pink_Carnation (Apr 21, 2006)

Is it hoarding to happen to have 3 or more of almost any kind of tool? What if you can find it in 10 min or less to loan it to someone?

Some might think so when they see the garage full of them but to me hoarding is keeping so much worthless junk that you can't function in your house normally. Is there room to sit comfortably? Can you find your table and clear it if you need it?

The last hoarding case I remember around here (in the news anyway) was when a woman was missing and the police found her smothered under her stuff. They had to walk on it bent over to avoid hitting their heads on the ceiling.


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## dirty (Oct 14, 2005)

no TV reception here.

as far as hoarding in prepping.

i would think prepping would become hoarding when you lose control of it on an organizational level.

a prime example would be losing control of your food rotation. 

or if you have everything you need for a bug-out-bag, but it is spread throughout the house. i would consider that hoarding. 

prepping involves some type of planning not just the purchase of piles of stuff.

hoarders will be caches for the zombies come TEOTWAWKI.


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## Spinner (Jul 19, 2003)

I thought hoarding was keeping things you don't need and will never use. As long as you are prepping/rotating/using the things you store, then it's not hoarding, it's being prepared for lean times that are coming our way. 

I've read horror stories about people who have saved every newspaper, magazine, scrap of paper, clothing, and much more things. some of them had their homes so full that they barely had a tiny path to walk thru. some rooms couldn't even be entered. That's hoarding, it's hoarding to the extreme.


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## no hurry (Mar 16, 2008)

I have six small dogs. Mostly old, all rescues. Some fool actually asked me if I was one of those animal hoarders. I about lost it on him. An animal hoarder has more pets than they can possibly provide reasonable care for. I think that applies to other stuff as well. If you have more "stuff" than you can reasonable manage or utilize and the stuff is in shambles because you have lost control of the amount of stuff, then you are a hoarder. If you are consciously selecting items to bring home and keep organized for a specific purpose (preparedness) then youre not a crazy hoarder 

my 2 cents...


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

I think the term 'idiot box' is used by folks who have never experienced the variety available on the satellite.

True, there are channels for idiots... game show channels, soap opera's, the usual brain dead fare..... but there are also several dedicated history channels, nature, wildlife, pets, military, how-to's, cooking, building, shooting, weather, news, politics. Even a handful of artsyfartsy high brow channels.

I've always wondered why anyone that might have 'hoarding' genes gave a rat's patootie what some a**l retentive neat freak thought. 

And, I respectfully must demand a strict definition of hoarding. If I buy a thousand pounds of sugar tomorrow, while the world is a awash in sugar, it's not hoarding. If I buy the last ten pounds of sugar tomorrow, after hearing on the morning news that sugar supplies are non-existent, then yes, that IS hoarding.

I collect stuff. Usually stuff that I'll need... but I never know what I might need, so I don't discriminate... in my collecting...

I will try and catch the show on my 'genius box'... I can never recall watching a show on quantum mechanics on over-the-air idiot box channels... but it's standard fare on my box.

Just the other day GF was on my case for watching a show on the history channel about Thermopylae. She said you know that isn't live, right? I said yes, but, this was a key point in the history of the West, and if the battle had went bad, we might not exist....


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## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

That show is on tonight at 11, I'll have to watch it.

I think some preppers can turn into hoarders. Mom and dad were both veterans of WW2, when they left the military they became homesteading preppers so having grown up that way I've lived the prepper life for nigh on 60 years but I don't think I'm a hoarder. Dad stayed a prepper but over the years by the time dad was dead and mom was an old woman she had turned into a hoarder, collecting things that would never have done any good in a SHTF scenario. 

As a life skills instructor my work takes me into the homes of a lot of seniors or handicapped people who have turned into hoarders. They'll never have use of any of the stuff they collect but to even think about getting rid of it can cause mental instability, extreme depression, even hysteria. The junk they collect gives them a false sense of security because they're often disassociated from the rest of the real world.

Hoarders are the people who collect useless junk but think it will have a use _'some day'_, but nothing is organized and their properties are so cluttered they can't find want they want. They collect food but don't recycle it. Their homes can become hazardous firetraps, dirty, full of germs, mold, insects, vermin. They keep old tools but don't maintain them and they go rusty and fall apart.

The most dangerous house I saw was one of my clients, an irrascible old hermit who used to collect hand guns which he kept loaded. His house was littered with them but they were out of sight. He kept them hidden inside plastic bleach bottles that were scattered about in every single room. He'd cut the top off the bottom bleach bottle and the bottom off another bottle, put the loaded gun inside the bottom bottle and slip the top bottle over top of it. If he felt threatened (even loud noises threatened him) he'd grab a bottle by the handle, give it a sharp jerk and the bottom would fall out and he'd grab the gun out of it. Problem for him was all the guns were so corroded and rusty from collecting condensation inside the bottles none of them would ever have been useful. He didn't care, just having them made him feel safe, didn't matter if they were a hazard.


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## wyld thang (Nov 16, 2005)

without seeing the inside of your house...you're probably not 

I saw the first few minutes and that was enough, the worst part was watching the babies wander around on top of all that junk.

I'm saving Dorito bags--is that hoarding? ha, they are washed, and I'm taping them to this basement window to see if they hold a bit of heat this winter(they are mylar). They do work good to keep the hot OUT! I could go buy mylar...but it's funnerer eating DOritoes--two fer one!


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## radiofish (Mar 30, 2007)

Well at least I can see the floors inside of my home!!!!!!! That and I do not have to have a Haz-Mat crew come here, to clean up my items...... Dishes are washed, floors are cleaned, and my cat is well taken care of.. 

My lady freind a city gal - calls my interior decor "bachelor style", but she is not afraid to come and visit.. Even with my "Gun Happy Marine" arsenal of weapons.. My weapons are well cared for (I am a Marine Corps Veteran) and are in top functioning capability, for those things that go 'bump in the night'!!!!!

Plus she likes the idea of my having lots of properly stored dry goods, and other items on hand for sustaining myself over a long period of time.. It is almost an hour round trip driving just to get to town at the bottom of the hill..

I do not shop - to get a rush out of it!!! Instead, I look for bargains for items that are actually useful up here... I know that I beat the rush and increased prices of ammunition, by stocking up with lots of ammo over the last two decades....

I may have cases and cases of stuff, but hey it is properly stored and I can find something if needed... It does get rotated and used, with little to no spoilage. That and I do not fear the County Health Department knocking on my door...

One never can tell when that pile of scrap metal behind the equipment shed, may come in handy for making repairs or fabricatng a new project up here!!!!!


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## Pearl B (Sep 27, 2008)

I have a hard time with the word hoarder. 
Who defines that term?
My parents grew up in the depression, & their parents knew the value of stocking up on basic food stuffs. They survived others didn't.
I haven't seen the show, yet when that kind of subject comes up I question the reason behind it. What is the message?
In this day & age, if you don't lay in enough food supplies, like past the recommended 3 weeks & the shtf, & the stores are closed,or out of food, what are you supposed to do?
wait for fema?
I think most of us know how well that idea will work out.

I have no doubt that if things go real bad, some of my neighbors will take by force what supplies I have..

Im really thinking of getting a rental storage place, stock it with dryed food, keeping my eye on the news, & if things get too bad go camping, by a river.

I am a bit of a pack rat, & the place does look messed up, yet we have enough tools & supplies to build a house, if need be.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

If you can ask yourself the question "am I a hoader?" then no you likely aren't. Hoarders don't, usually, know they are....they think it's normal. Like all things with the human mind....there are always exceptions.


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## unregistered29228 (Jan 9, 2008)

I think I'm more afraid that some government type will think I'm a hoarder, and come "help me" by cleaning out my house. I think I do have a slight touch of hoarding mentality, because it gives me great joy to stand and admire the hundreds of cans of food on my pantry shelves. All useful stuff, destined to feed us a great meal, but I'm sure the man who has newspaper stacked to the ceiling thinks it's useful too.

Christy, I don't think you should worry. You're multi-faceted and intelligent and curious on this board and I think you're pretty neat.  Not a hint of hoarding issues.


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## Calico Katie (Sep 12, 2003)

I didn't watch the show but I saw a preview of it and that didn't look like hoarding to me. Just from the commercial it looked like the parents were seriously depressed and overwhelmed by life to the point that they weren't functioning. 

I don't think preppers are going to have their things strewn across the floor to be walked on. We're all very aware of how much it costs to stock up like this so our storage items are going to be used and not wasted. It's why we talk so much about where to put things, under beds and end tables, top of closets, etc.

What caught my attention about the show was the title, Hoarders. I thought it sounded like fingerpointing at the neighbors. A sign of things to come?


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## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

Well, I think my children think my sewing supplies are almost hording. I have a lot, but I do share and when someone needs something I can usually pull it out and provide it. (also for my HT quilt block swap family).

And I can still walk in the room, but it does need weeding out. Or stored elsewhere.

Angie


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## bee (May 12, 2002)

I saw a recent article on a womans death. She was a perfectly normal woman with outside friends and interests, then she kinda withdrew and stopped having friends to her house. Over a period of time she was seen less and less. Then not at all. Her last most constant contact finally called the police to check on her. They had to search the house 3 times and once with dogs before they found her it was so packed with stuff. The article even had a before pic of her in her house and the caption that she had been a very house proud person, everything neat and in it's place. The theory about her was that she developed a mental illness and those around her did not pickup on it as the withdrawal was so gradual and she lived alone. In her case it was "stuff"--- lots brand new and still in boxes and bags; things she never could have used in more than one lifetime.

On another note, there is at least one enterprising man who runs a business cleaning up hoards for people. The most unusual hoarded item I saw in his artice was a complete car door hoarded by a man in an apartment in NY city..he did not even own a car much less one the door would fit. The business man has crews and makes a lot of money cleaning these messes...he sends in his people in hazmat suits and respirators because of rotting food, molds and vermin. The people he works for have to sign an agreement to let him "clean" and leave while the work is going on.

Like a previous poster, I can not think you could be considered a hoarder if you can question if you might be. Hoarders appear to be compulsive and unaware it is a problem. I know a woman whose sister had this problem..things were so bad she and her kids slept on the floor because the beds were covered and the kitchen table was overflowing to the floor with rotting food and dishes.The rest of the house was in a like state. Her children were removed and after a time returned to her last I heard.


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## Cindy in NY (May 10, 2002)

Trinity3 said:


> I have a hard time with the word hoarder.
> Who defines that term?


From the viewpoint of this show, hoarding was defined by the fact that these folks were living in dangerous situations because of the mass of their "possessions". The couple had young children climbing up on furniture to get around a room, cereal spilled all over the floor that was left there because the dog didn't like Cheerios, and the mother climbing over piles of dirty laundry while trying to make it down the basement stairs to the washer.

The other woman collected food - esp food that was on sale. There was rotting food everywhere, an abundance of flies hanging from flystrips, no where to prepare food, and no clean dishes.

I don't think prudently preparing for SHTF situations could be considered hoarding in this sense unless it is interferring with your ability to safely live in your home. It was good to see that all these folks were seeking treatment after their homes were cleaned out.


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## huzzyjr (Apr 21, 2005)

I have a sister-in-law like this. She has one chair she can get to in her living room. She has 2 or 3 of everything, microwaves, tv's, you name it. I wish we could get her some help but, she also has a deep stubborn streak as in NO ONE is going to tell her what to do. I guess thats part of the hoarding problem.


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## ChristyACB (Apr 10, 2008)

Great responses! Glad to know how other preppers feel on the subject.

Naturelover sort of hit the nail on the head. Most of the people that have really crazy hoarding issues tend to be older and maybe were prepared types when younger but somehow lose it as they age. Perhaps that creeping mentality is more what I fear than any problem now. Intellectually, I know I don't have it now; my home is very nice, but I'd rather die young than wind up at 60 with a house like that food hoarding woman on the show.

That fact that she ate some of that food really freaked me out.

Glad to know I'm not the only one who considers this too!


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

Hoarding..in the insanity sense, is a wee bit of a trait in my family. It is a mental illness.
It is not the collecting of stuff as much as it is the inability to let go and throw things out. It is also mixed with a lack of desire to clean and organize. It is a form of OCD type behavior.
I DO NOT have this problem..yet.. but because I am aware that it is there I make sure I keep on top.
One of my great aunts had it. She was a Depression survivor. Bags of old panty hose, ruined clothes, everymagazine she ever got, 13 gal. trash bags of soap ends etc...
and one of my cousins (in her late50's) has it.
Before she got a new house you could walk a path through her place and there wasn't a polace to sit. The couch next to her seat was head high with stacks of stuff. One wrong move and you could cause and avalanche that was darn near deadly.
It wasn't important stuff, just trash, but she couldn't/wouldn't toss it out where it belonged. She even had an old water heater in her living room !!!
That house still sits and is still full to the rim with all of that stuff.
I purge every 6 months.
If I haven't worn it or touched it in that amount of time..it is OUT!


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## Guest (Aug 18, 2009)

If there are any "occupational hazards" that we preppers can possibly fall prey to then obsessive hoarding (and/or paranoid delusions) would be it.

But except for the genuinely mentally ill none of us are hoarders in that meaning of the word. I've worked with or have seen some folks who really were that way and there was no doubt that those folks had gone badly wrong in the head. Literally floor to ceiling stuff piled up in every room with only narrow pathways to walk. One place got so bad that the health department condemned the house due to the enormous number of rats that were breeding and getting into the neighboring houses and a stench that made me gag fifty feet away on the sidewalk. 

When it comes to obsessive hoarding like that you'll know it when you see it.

.....Alan.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

No, I don't worry about it at all. We keep our heads on straight - look to a bright future - and don't let the worries decide for us what we will do next. Our supplies are just a savings acct.


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## TurnerHill (Jun 8, 2009)

One good indicator that you are hoarding is if you are uncomfortable being parted from your stuff even temporarily.

If you get sweaty leaving your stores behind to go on vacation, or even for a shopping trip, you might consider investigating further.

I buy and renovate houses for living, and have had to call in the dumpsters for some now-departed hoarder's junk a number of times. It is not uncommon for them not only to fill their homes with newspapers and other trash, but to refuse to leave those homes so as not to be parted from the newspapers. So if the goods you have stored to ensure a decent life for yourself no matter what happens are interfering with with living a decent life, you may have a problem.

Also, not all hoarders hoard junk. So just because your stuff isn't junk doesn't mean you're not a hoarder.

I'm on my town's volunteer fire department. Firefighters speak of Collyer Mansions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collyer_brothers


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## salmonslayer (Jan 4, 2009)

My parents grew up during the depression and they see my wifes and my desire to stockpile food as strange and wasteful. The fact that we have chosen a rural and basically self sufficient lifestyle is equally puzzeling to them as they see it as going backwards. My moms attitude is that now that we have all these stores with so much food, why would you want to can or store food when you can zip to the store everyday?

I must confess though that I also cant throw out anything mechanical without mining it for anything remotely useful; motors, screws, nuts and bolts, my garage over floweth!! I also usually have about 4 or 5 projects going in the garage at any one time. I dont consider it hoarding and it gives me great pleasure to be able to re-use or re-purpose something...heck, on a rainy day I can spend an entire afternoon just sorting scres or bolts.....uh oh, I might have an issue there...


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## Michael Kawalek (Jun 21, 2007)

By the way, no-one here has mentioned that the word "hoarding" does not apply to guns, power tools, and beer.

You ladies might want to add shoes, purses, and cosmetics.


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## wyld thang (Nov 16, 2005)

aw salmonslayer, you're not weird at all, all those nuts n bolts n metal stuff is just your mechanical pantry!!! tinker away!


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## cheryl-tx (Jan 3, 2005)

I wanted to watch that when I saw the previews. I tried to watch but fell asleep. But what little I did see made me breathe a sigh of relief, nope, I'm not THAT bad, LOL!
I'll just keep stocking up as usual. It was kinda sad though, reminds me of that show on the BBC called 'how clean is your house', I think some of those people are really in need of medical help.


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## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

rose2005 said:


> Here is a short clip from the program...and I have to say that I find it terribly sad.
> http://www.tressugar.com/3314440
> 
> Rose


After watching this clip, I'd have to say the show is about people who have some kind of mental illness. It's not about those of us who are into preparedness.


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## mamajohnson (Nov 27, 2002)

Cindy in NY said:


> From the viewpoint of this show, hoarding was defined by the fact that these folks were living in dangerous situations because of the mass of their "possessions". The couple had young children climbing up on furniture to get around a room, cereal spilled all over the floor that was left there because the dog didn't like Cheerios, and the mother climbing over piles of dirty laundry while trying to make it down the basement stairs to the washer.
> 
> The other woman collected food - esp food that was on sale. There was rotting food everywhere, an abundance of flies hanging from flystrips, no where to prepare food, and no clean dishes.



This just sounds like a huge case of lazy with a little dash of insanity.


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## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

years ago I owned a Pizza place, we had a family that ordered from us 3 times a week - good customers, always tipped the drivers. My drivers kept telling me how filthy the house was, so finally one day I delivered to them myself just to see it. There was not a surface inside the house that didn't have at least 6 inches of junk covering it and some had a lot more), junk including newspapers, magazines, plastic garbage bags full of something and even our empty pizza boxes, They literally had to walk on stuff to get to the door. There was about a 3 foot area big enough for the door to open in the entry that was clear.
This was a middle aged couple with a teenage boy. I imagine they ordered delivery because they couldn't get into the kitchen and cook.


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## Sweetsurrender (Jan 14, 2009)

I just watched the entire episode online. I found it odd how they treated the subject of the lady that hoards food...I can understand not being able to afford much food and going overboard when money is plentiful; but her problems was not just food although that is what they made it sound like. Also it was not just the hoarding of food, it was also not recognizing that food does go bad at some point. I'll never look at a house with a crowded porch the same way ever again.

I really don't think preppers = hoarders.


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## NCLee (Aug 4, 2009)

This sounds like another "reality" show. (sigh) 

If anyone is interested the next episode is on Monday, 24th, at 10 pm. I don't plan to watch it, as I've seen a few other shows that featured "hoarding". These people have mental or health problems and the shows I've seen tend to exploit the problems of these people. Maybe the only good thing about these shows is the money the people possibly get that will help them with their problems. 

Quote: I really don't think preppers = hoarders

IMHO that sums it up nicely. Preppers are just using common sense to help with their own security. Every prepper is one less person standing in line when FEMA hands out a bottle of water and a peanut butter sandwich. 

Just keep on doing what you're doing and be proud of yourself for making the effort to be self-sufficient for yourself and your family. Don't let it worry you if anyone else claims you're hoarding. Especially when they don't have enough food in the house to last for a weekend. 

And don't let it worry you, if your home doesn't look like a motel room. Some TV shows of the home impovement/decorating type seem to strive for that rather than a house being a HOME. I stopped watching them as I don't want to live in a 5 star hotel room devoid of anything that makes a house a home. 

Just my 2-cents. I'd better shut up before I get on a rant about some of this. :soap:
Lee


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## Guest (Aug 18, 2009)

I hoard food, toiletries, and coupons.

But at least I throw out what I don't use. I periodically go through the house with garbage bags and start throwing away the STUFF that accumulates.


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## radiofish (Mar 30, 2007)

Michael Kawalek said:


> By the way, no-one here has mentioned that the word "hoarding" does not apply to guns, power tools, and beer.
> 
> You ladies might want to add shoes, purses, and cosmetics.



Michael - I referred to firearms and ammunition on post #12..... Just not the beer, since I do not drink alcohol. Maybe I should add my collection of Ham Radios as being exempt. I do use those on a regular basis, and they serve a purpose during emergencies..

Are my coin and stamp collections that I have had since I was a kid, a result of hoarding????

I had also mentioned the woman on the show that was shopping just to make her feel good about herself. The UPS truck shows up with lots of big cardboard boxes, and she feels happy for a few moments from the rush of "new items"

Even when I lived at the old place - a 13 room, two story, 114 year old Victorian house, I had my all of prep items, yet I was asked, "how I kept the place so clean all of the time.." Even after my divorce, as if a bachelor doesn't know how to use a mop or vacuum or take out the trash..

The show makes me think of the Shel Silverstein song -"Sara Sylvia Cynthia Stout - Would Not Take The Garbage Out!! 

I am very suprised, that it is not the show's theme song..

SARAH CYNTHIA SYLVIA STOUT WOULD NOT TAKE THE GARBAGE OUT 
(Silverstein)
Shel Silverstein - 1969


*Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout
Would not take the garbage out!
She'd scour the pots and scrape the pans,
Candy the yams and spice the hams,
And though her daddy would scream and shout,
She simply would not take the garbage out.
And so it piled up to the ceilings:
Coffee grounds, potato peelings,
Brown bananas, rotten peas,
Chunks of sour cottage cheese.
It filled the can, it covered the floor,
It cracked the window and blocked the door
With bacon rinds and chicken bones,
Drippy ends of ice cream cones,
Prune pits, peach pits, orange peel,
Gloopy glumps of cold oatmeal,
Pizza crusts and withered greens,
Soggy beans and tangerines,
Crusts of black burned buttered toast,
Gristly bits of beefy roasts...
The garbage rolled on down the hall,
It raised the roof, it broke the wall...
Greasy napkins, cookie crumbs,
Globs of gooey bubble gum,
Cellophane from green baloney,
Rubbery blubbery macaroni,
Peanut butter, caked and dry,
Curdled milk and crusts of pie,
Moldy melons, dried-up mustard,
Eggshells mixed with lemon custard,
Cold French fries and rancid meat,
Yellow lumps of Cream of Wheat.
At last the garbage reached so high
That finally it touched the sky.
And all the neighbors moved away,
And none of her friends would come to play.
And finally Sarah Cynthia Stout said,
"OK, I'll take the garbage out!"
But then, of course, it was too late...
The garbage reached across the state,
From New York to the Golden Gate.
And there, in the garbage she did hate,
Poor Sarah met an awful fate,
That I cannot right now relate
Because the hour is much too late.
But children, remember Sarah Stout
And always take the garbage out! *


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## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

The above poem is a very apt description of the state of the food hoarder's house on that show last night.

.


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## Whisperwindkat (May 28, 2009)

You probably are not a hoarder, especially if you are worried about it. Most hoarders don't realize that they hoard. My MIL was a hoarder and when she died we almost could not get in the house for all the boxes of stuff. The garage was full of boxes with a small empty section next to the back door of the house and washer/dryer. Then two of the bedrooms were so full of boxes that you could only open the door enough to squeeze through and the boxes were stacked to the ceiling. The rest of the house was floor to ceiling boxes with the exception of a small path that wound through the house. The windows were totally blocked by stacks of boxes. Unfortunately, she passed this gene on to my daughter who is a paper hoarder. Twice a year I have to send her to my mother's so that I can get rid of all the paper in her room. It takes me about a week and dozens of trash bags to get rid of the paper. She is getting better and does now throw some out on her own, but it is a difficult road.


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## olivehill (Aug 17, 2009)

I think there are levels of severity when it comes to hoarding; organized, well-planned prepping falls under none of those. 

I do think however that whatever gene or mentality it is that makes someone more prone to be "into" preparedness probably also has something to do with hoarding. And I think because of that preppers tend to be -- generally speaking -- more aware of the tendency. Probably because many know a hoarder somewhere in their family. 

To me the difference between hoarding and prepping boils down to two very simple things 1) the end goal and 2) the means by which you get there. Preppers in my experience are just that, preparing. They have an end goal in mind and they know what they're accumulating things for -- and more importantly, they accumulate accordingly. I think this also applies to people that save things specific to a specific hobby/task. My husband likes to have a supply of bolts, scrap wood, metal, etc. But he's a mechanic and he likes building things and tinkering on engines. All of the things he saves he has a general idea of usefulness for. And he has them organized. Hoarders keep things -- all things -- because they might someday be useful for something. They don't have an end goal in mind other than to have stuff, stuff, stuff. There is no organization, no logic. 

The second, the means by which you get to that goal makes a big difference too, imo. Hoarders have no system. They don't organize. They don't have a reasonable way to care for the things they accumulate. Preppers generally have organization, they have logic, they have a reasonable means to get to that goal. 

All that said, I know how you feel. My mom is a hoarder though not quite to the extent that the people featured on TV are. With her I think it's more a loss of control. I think life in general has overwhelmed her and she's lost control over everything. The experience of observing her over the years is always in the back of my mind. It will always be something that I worry over even if it's just to a very small extent. In a lot of ways I think it has spurred me to be very much the opposite in many areas of my life. Pack-Ratting really strikes a chord with me. Things must be reasonable and WELL organized and presentable or I can't stand it. Clutter is not something I deal with well at all. I can't handle visual clutter in my own home at all.

And just one question since I'm a newbie -- what does SHTF stand for?


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## Guest (Aug 18, 2009)

olivehill said:


> I think there are levels of severity when it comes to hoarding; organized, well-planned prepping falls under none of those.


I'm semi-organized and semi-well planned. What does that make me? :baby04:


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## olivehill (Aug 17, 2009)

ladycat said:


> I'm semi-organized and semi-well planned. What does that make me? :baby04:


Hehe. I don't know do you have an end goal in your accumulating? 

My MIL would be one that I would consider a low-level hoarder. Her house is in no way whatsoever under piles of things or dirty. The woman mops more in a week than I have in a year.  BUT she also keeps a LOT of STUFF with nothing more than "it may be useful for something sometime" in mind. Much of the accumulation has no end goal in mind. I guess she'd be a pack rat, one step below a hoarder. How about that? She stores it in a way that's clean. Her house isn't completely overtaken (though to ME it's cluttered. I can only handle just so long inside -- but then I have those visual clutter issues, too LOL!) So she's not a full-blown hoarder, but she's definitely hoarding stuff to a certain extent. Pack rat!


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## Slats (Jul 17, 2008)

olivehill said:


> And just one question since I'm a newbie -- what does SHTF stand for?


It stands for "stuff (or, insert a different s word) hits the fan".


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## Ode (Sep 20, 2006)

My grandmother was a hoarder, it was pretty sad. When my grandparents moved from California to Missouri, my grandma had a fit because my grandpa refused to pay for an extra moving truck that would have been needed for her newspapers and magazines. No one knew it was an actual illness, we all thought it was due to being very poor in her younger years (not that she was really ever well off in her later years), and going through the depression. My grandpa kept the worst of it in check while he was alive, because every so often he would gather up old mail, newspapers, and magazines and burn them. Even so there was a definite 'goat path' through their place, and the spare rooms were stacked to the ceiling with boxes.

When my grandpa passed, the problem became more obvious. She eventually decided to move back to California, so the house had to be cleaned out for the sale. But she couldn't bear to have anything thrown away or put into storage, so the house went unsold for a long time. Finally she moved and just left the house for my aunt to take care of and get sold. My aunt said there were numerous dumpster loads of just trash...old mail, newspapers, and magazines, empty egg cartons, and styrofoam trays that come in packages of meat. It took her weeks to get the house in shape. My grandma insisted all her stuff was important, and expected it to be shipped to her, but there was no way my aunt was going to do that. Grandma was furious with my aunt for quite awhile for that.

When my grandma passed, my aunt went to California to clean out her place. It was just as bad as it had been in Missouri. I wish we had known there was an actual name for her mental illness, maybe she could have been helped instead of ridiculed for it.


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## ovsfarm (Jan 14, 2003)

My MIL slipped briefly into what we would call hoarding. She just sort of snapped one day and went from appologising if she had not vaccuumed before your visit to having no clean surface in the entire house and only small paths to get around. Then almost as suddenly as it came, she reformed quite a bit about a year and a half later. She was always a fairly frugal person and when she realized that she had lost a prepaid store "credit" card worth about $300 somewhere in her house, she just changed back. She isn't 100% like before, but at least 75%. Now that she is older and not as strong, she is able to realize when the mess is getting out of control and she hires a lady to come in and help her clean. She won't let family do it, since she fears that we would throw some of her stuff out (so I still think she has some of the underlying problem).

I agree that one of the first identifiers of a hoarder is that they are unaware of the problem. I heard a neurologist speak once about how things can go wrong in the brain and certain connection pathways get "broken". I wonder if hoarders can even see and comprehend what their surrounding have come to. I have heard that the animal hoarders often have trouble determining when something is sick or dead. I wondered if MIL would have been able to look at photos of her place and realized how bad it was even though she couldn't see the problem if she was looking at it directly, but didn't have the courage to confront her with it and possibly send her over the edge. If it had reached the point of being just a bit more dangerous, we might have had to try that to get her to go into a nursing home or assisted living facility, but thank God we didn't have to go that route.


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## no hurry (Mar 16, 2008)

Has the show talked about medical/psychological treatment for the condition?


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## rileyjo (Feb 14, 2005)

I work as a behaviourist and hoarding is something I deal with every day.

The definition of hoarding is not the collecting of something or many things - it's the Anxiety produced by that item. If you make choices that affect your quality of life - spend money on preps to the point that you can't pay the mortgage or can't leave home because something might happen to your preps, thats Hoarding.

From what I've seen from reading this forum, we are careful and prepared but we are not true hoarders. No Tv so I didnt see the show but I can guess....


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## raybait1 (Sep 30, 2006)

Hi my name is Ray and I am a hoarder.

I have a hard time throwing certain things away. My fishing mags, empty monofiliment spools, cds, computer parts and cables. the list is quite long. I also like to write everything down. I have notebooks filled with thoughts and opinions and crap that would interest only me. Am I mentally ill? And at what point does it become obvious that I need someones "help".


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## GingerN (Apr 24, 2007)

wyld thang said:


> without seeing the inside of your house...you're probably not
> 
> I saw the first few minutes and that was enough, the worst part was watching the babies wander around on top of all that junk.
> 
> I'm saving Dorito bags--is that hoarding? ha, they are washed, and I'm taping them to this basement window to see if they hold a bit of heat this winter(they are mylar). They do work good to keep the hot OUT! I could go buy mylar...but it's funnerer eating DOritoes--two fer one!


They can also block cell phone signals. Someone on here I believe (though I may be mistaken) put one in a chip bag, and had someone else call that phone. The phone in the bag never rang despite having service prior to the experiment.


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## Sweetsurrender (Jan 14, 2009)

rileyjo said:


> The definition of hoarding is not the collecting of something or many things - it's the Anxiety produced by that item.


The only anxiety I saw on the show was when they were trying to make them part from the items. The food hoarding lady seemed quite comfortable cooking in a kitchen with rotting food, and almost no room to cook. I was sitting at home cringing watching this.



rileyjo said:


> If you make choices that affect your quality of life - spend money on preps to the point that you can't pay the mortgage


That is a whole other issue and compulsion.


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## Sweetsurrender (Jan 14, 2009)

no hurry said:


> Has the show talked about medical/psychological treatment for the condition?


They did at the end of the show, saying each party was in therapy.


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## Madame (Jan 1, 2003)

Michael Kawalek said:


> By the way, no-one here has mentioned that the word "hoarding" does not apply to guns, power tools, and beer.
> 
> You ladies might want to add shoes, purses, and cosmetics.


Nor to books!


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## Guest (Aug 20, 2009)

Michael Kawalek said:


> By the way, no-one here has mentioned that the word "hoarding" does not apply to guns, power tools, and beer.
> 
> You ladies might want to add shoes, purses, and cosmetics.


You're stereotyping. :duel:

I don't use a purse, the only cosmetics I have is what I get free at CVS and I'm saving those up to give to my nieces at Christmas, and as far as shoes goes, if I had my druthers, I wouldn't wear any at all, but since I don't have a choice, I get whatever is cheap and comfortable.


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## ihedrick (May 15, 2005)

two pair of boots here (everyday ones and rubber ones for mud & snow), no purses, no make up.


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

But lots of BOOKS!!!


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## rileyjo (Feb 14, 2005)

The topic is whether preppers are hoarders, so I used preps as a reference.

I would have no anxiety about cleaning my kitchen before cooking in it, but I bet the food lady would. 

I work with someone who becomes violently anxious when exposed to paper. Hoarders have specific triggers. In some cases, it is merely the texture that sets them off. There is a component of autism in serious hoarding behaviours.


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## Mid Tn Mama (May 11, 2002)

I have a dear old (not older) friend who sadly lost her home because of hoarding and associated depression that caused her not to pay her mortgage and home owner fees. What started the house of cards falling was that she did not make home improvements demanded by the homeowners assn. She had the money, but emotionally could not allow workers into or around her home (I surmise this last sentence as she, as mentioned earlier, cannot talk about it). She lost most of her belongings and now lives in a small rented place. 

When anything about this or about cleaning and organizing is brought up, you can feel the agitation in her voice and she quickly changes the subject. She cannot even listen to my talking about cleaning or organizing MY home.

For about ten years, I suspected why she didn't invite me to her home. But there was no way to know for sure. I thought it was also possible, as she contacted me less and less, that she had moved on and did not value our friendship anymore.

(SORRY ABOUT THE LENGTH)

After several years of NO contact, I located her again, and found out she had gone through some rough years before losing her home. She had been in a deep depression and I suspect suffered a stroke (speech delay). She will not take medications for mental illness. I call regularly and try to bring her spirits up by reminding her of the very good times we shared many years ago.I tell her each time that I love her like a sister.

-------
I didn't see this program, but I wish it was told in a helpful way to alert others to this disease. I hope they did not hold people up to ridicule because they suffered mental illness.


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## 7.62mmFMJ (Nov 19, 2008)

Sounds like prepping to me.

hoard (hÃ´rd, hrd)
n.
A hidden fund or supply stored for future use; a cache.
v. hoardÂ·ed, hoardÂ·ing, hoards
v.intr.
To gather or accumulate a hoard.
v.tr.
1. To accumulate a hoard of.
2. To keep hidden or private.

I believe that "hoarding" became a pejorative term to describe preppers by the unprepared.


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## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

rileyjo said:


> There is a component of autism in serious hoarding behaviours.


I would definitely agree with that. Most of the autistics I've worked with have had some pretty serious hoarding issues, even the children.

.


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## no hurry (Mar 16, 2008)

I finally watched it. I am sure I am not a hoarder. OMG, that was atrocious!!


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## ChristyACB (Apr 10, 2008)

raybait1 said:


> Hi my name is Ray and I am a hoarder.
> 
> I have a hard time throwing certain things away. My fishing mags, empty monofiliment spools, cds, computer parts and cables. the list is quite long. I also like to write everything down. I have notebooks filled with thoughts and opinions and crap that would interest only me. Am I mentally ill? And at what point does it become obvious that I need someones "help".


If you're being serious, then you sort of just answered your own question. If even you can say you're keeping things that have no reasonable use anymore, then you're probably at the 'pack rat' stage. That is when you take control and ditch it. If you can't, call a family member or friend and let them know you need a sorter. Let them sort and determine the trash from the treasure.

I think a lot of hoarders probably simply didn't have someone to recognize and confront the problem when it was still manageable, like the one poster said about his Gran.

Best of luck to you!


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## Welshmom (Sep 7, 2008)

I deal with hoarders very frequently in my job as well. There are way, way WAY more of these folks than most of you may imagine. It is really common, once your eyes are open to it and you see it. Just drive through any neighborhood and look for the windows either shuttered by stained, ripped curtains or blocked by boxes, filled porches, overgrown lawn/bushes/trees, etc. You'll soon start to see them. 

I have to say I disagree that most of these people are really not out-there crazy. Most of the hoarders I've dealt with can carry on conversations, and many actually hold normal jobs. There is a typical profile of the single middle-aged woman, but this syndrome crosses all the borders of age, sex, and economic profiles. More than one hoarder I knew was employed in the health care field, just for an example.

Preppers are not necessarily hoarders. Some preppers are hoarders, I'm sure. I'm sure there are hoarders who may use prepping as an excuse, just as I believe the story of a hoarder growing up in the Depression is an excuse. Depression or no, it was not helpful to have to walk through tiny trails in your house, or to not be able to use the shower at all. 

It all depends on whether you really have a grip on what is useful, and what is being used, and an ability to organize and clean and remove items that are of no more actual use or are more of a work/financial burden than an asset. This includes animals. There seems to be the lack of any kind of a boundary that the rest of us would use to determine whether we really needed or could take on that extra thing - cat, box of laundry detergent, stack of magazines, fishing spool, broken lawnmower, etc. In the hoarders (or "collecters", we used to call them), they seem to not ever be able to say NO, I don't want that thing, when it fits into their category of what they hoard. 

I have been anxiously awaiting some real progress in the mental helath research field to really understand what is going on there, and therefore to know what are ways that might actually be effective to help these folks. I feel like we are on the verge of getting some good information, but it's frustrating talking to family members, etc., and not having any answers or helpful suggestions. I hope someday we can find some methods that are effective at treating this syndrome so we don't have to keep going back over and over.


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## ChristyACB (Apr 10, 2008)

Welshmom said:


> I have been anxiously awaiting some real progress in the mental helath research field to really understand what is going on there, and therefore to know what are ways that might actually be effective to help these folks. I feel like we are on the verge of getting some good information, but it's frustrating talking to family members, etc., and not having any answers or helpful suggestions. I hope someday we can find some methods that are effective at treating this syndrome so we don't have to keep going back over and over.


While it never really resonated with me at the time because I was a young woman who cared only for my education, there was some interesting stuff in one of my genetics and evolution classes that I really do wish they'd work on with regard to hoarding.

One of the most significant differences in us that allowed our rapid advance was our collecting impulse. By being the one who piled up more nuts or wild food in the back of our cave, our little unit of folks survived better and passed on our knack for collecting more stuff...etc.

Now the whole human race needs to collect to feel safe. It is just who we are. Just like some forms of pyromania may be related to the genetic fondness for the advantages of fire, hoarders may have a screwed up system when it comes to collecting. There is a genetic component to it and it the tendency is very much linked to heriditary factors.

The problem with that is, of course, that there are always events in human history that reinforce that the more survivable members are those that collect. Hence, preppers are nothing more than people who have a controlled but specifically directed collecting impulse.

The emotional response when viewing a large amount of organized preps is something many here can relate to, but that same thing can be measured chemically for people with any type of collection.

To me, that is what makes it such a scary disorder. It is a necessary impulse that seems to go out of control so easily. Know what I mean?


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## pickapeppa (Jan 1, 2005)

When I hear the word hoarding, it brings a visual image of a hunched up old man trying to cover his collection of belongings with his hands, watching out the corner of his eye to see if anyone can see it. In a sense, this correlates nicely with the definition 7.62 posted.

Maybe it's not so much the collection of things, but the combination of collecting and hiding them from others that defines true hoarding.

Who hides their stash?


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## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

That show is now on again. I just came across it.

Yuck.

Angie


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## radiofish (Mar 30, 2007)

rileyjo said:


> The topic is whether preppers are hoarders, so I used preps as a reference.
> 
> I work with someone who becomes violently anxious when exposed to paper. Hoarders have specific triggers. In some cases, it is merely the texture that sets them off. There is a component of autism in serious hoarding behaviours.


I was down the hill in town attending a Marine Corps Veteran's Funeral Ceremony this afternoon. I discussed with several other Marine Corps Veterans that were present in our Dress Blues, if they still had their old military issued uniforms. Each and every one of us replied, "Affirmative!!" Even though they may not fit us anymore, they are something that each one of us has an emotional attachment to.. Speaking for myself, putting on my USMC uniforms (Dress Blues or Cammies) makes me feel like I am 18 years old again, at least for a while.

I guess I could compare it to the tradition of women keeping their wedding dresses, for decades afterwards..

It could also be said, that afterwards us U.S. Marines and the majority of the other Veterans there could be called 'hoarders', when it comes to firearms and ammunition. There is a very strong almost 'Pavlovian' response when I am picking up a firearm, loading magazines, the smell of burnt gunpowder, and powder solvent along with gun oil.. That could be why I am the acting "Armorer", for our unit!!

Angie, at least my horading activies involve cleaning, and making sure my items (and myself) are squared away - before and after they are used out in public!!


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## BillHoo (Mar 16, 2005)

Hey! that's a great idea! I'll have to start doing that!

Thanks!



naturelover said:


> ......The most dangerous house I saw was one of my clients, an irrascible old hermit who used to collect hand guns which he kept loaded. His house was littered with them but they were out of sight. He kept them hidden inside plastic bleach bottles that were scattered about in every single room. He'd cut the top off the bottom bleach bottle and the bottom off another bottle, put the loaded gun inside the bottom bottle and slip the top bottle over top of it. If he felt threatened (even loud noises threatened him) he'd grab a bottle by the handle, give it a sharp jerk and the bottom would fall out and he'd grab the gun out of it. Problem for him was all the guns were so corroded and rusty from collecting condensation inside the bottles none of them would ever have been useful. He didn't care, just having them made him feel safe, didn't matter if they were a hazard.


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## Saffron (May 24, 2006)

AngieM2 said:


> That show is now on again. I just came across it.
> 
> Yuck.
> 
> Angie



:nana:

I had forgotten about it and had not mentioned it to dh until last night when he said he was watching it and was grossed out. Said some of it made him physically sick and most of it made him mad.


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## Sweetsurrender (Jan 14, 2009)

The way the show described "Jill" was something like: Jill has a problem hoarding food and faces eviction.

A better description after watching the show would be: Jill is a compulsive food shopper but she doesn't rotate her food, so food spoils in her house and fridge. Jill doesn't know how or doesn't care much about keeping a clean house, her house is disorganized and messy. 

This was just the first episode but I think this show is going to be more about lack of organization and cleaning. The couple with kids had a whole hallway full of clothes all over the floor. That's not hoarding, it's just being messy and lazy.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth.


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## Guest (Aug 23, 2009)

I was reading this thread and turned the tv on to A&E where there's an episode on now. One family had a deck in the back yard, not attached to the house. I noticed that the 'hoard-busters" made no delineation between a pile of bricks(useful) and rotten food. The other part I saw was a woman with a refrigerator full of rotten food. I would have thought "hoarders" would have a root cellar, shed, or a room filled with neatly stacked buckets of quarters, cases of food, or whatever. These people's places are just filthy looking. Is filthiness always a part of the show and/or the idea of hoarding? Is a guy with a barn full of shelves filled with buckets full of nails, boxes of jars, etc. not a hoarder because his junk is neater? I've only seen 15 minutes of this, so am confused. Is a pickle jar full of dollar bills hoarding? Or do they got to be scattered all over the place and junky looking ?


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## Spinner (Jul 19, 2003)

I recorded one of the Hoarder shows last night and watched it today. It was the one about the family with 3 children and the single woman who had a house full of rotting food.

I didn't see them as preppers at all, simply people who had emotional disorders. The wife who couldn't stop buying (some expensive and useless) things and a husband who not only kept everything but gathered useless things were a complete shock. It was so sad to see how the man would break down at the thought of letting junk be thrown away. He really went off the deep end over the fish tanks. He didn't mind letting them go as long as he knew they were going to be used instead of "wasted". They were wasted setting around his house, but he couldn't see that. That isn't prepping for anything, it's simply hoarding because of emotional problems.

The woman with all the rotting food was another shock. Who sets food around the house and leaves it set until it rots and turns to mush on the floor? That's just being to lazy to use it and to lazy to toss it when it's beyond use. Why let it set there until it becomes mush and turns to liquid? That makes no sense at all. A prepper would be appalled at the waste. A prepper would have canned that food when it was in prime condition, for future use. 

I'm currently of the opinion that a hoarder wastes a lot of things while thinking they MIGHT need them someday, while a prepper preserves things for future use and uses them as part of a rotation program.

So in my opinion, if any of us is storing up things and wasting them instead of rotating them and using them, then we just might be a hoarder instead of a prepper. Now is the time to get hoarding under control and turn it into prepping. I'm taking a good look at my storage program, but so far haven't seen anything that has been wasted instead of rotated. That makes me feel good. I hope everyone else takes a look at themselves too. I think it would be easy to cross the line from prepper to hoarder by thinking, "I might need this someday" about things that will never ever be needed. 

That said... I would have liked to have some of those fish tanks... LOL Seriously, they can be used to root cuttings so a single tomato plant could become 100 tomato plants. Same with just about any plants. It would be a great way to propagate a lot of garden plants to sell every spring.


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## Jakk (Aug 14, 2008)

I just caught part of an episode today and I agree, that is NOT prepping. That is wasteful and being too lazy to clean up your mess. If I didnt do my laundry on schedule my house could easily have baskets full of dirty clothes in each corner.

My house is NOTHING like those on this show, but it did give me incentive to give my house a good cleaning today!


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## ihedrick (May 15, 2005)

I haven't seen any of these hoarding shows, but it does sound alot like a show called "Clean house". They go into people's homes where there is clutter and hoarding going on. THey sell off everything (or donate what doesn't sell at a yard sale) and redo the people's home. Some of those people have a hard time letting go of stuff. Sometimes because they think they will be able to use it sometime. Others can't find something and go out to buy a new whatever. Maybe the difference between hoarding and prepping is what your realistic intentions are and how you handle it.


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## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

the 5 minutes I saw caused me to check out a pantry type cabinet and throw out a few things I've not used in a while, and to buy some stackable shelves so I can organize that pantry better. So, some good came out of it for me.

I need to do that in a couple of more closet/pantry cabinets. I now have the measurements so I'll know what will fit.


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## laughaha (Mar 4, 2008)

I watched this last night. It was really sad. If I remember correctly it's a type of OCD. I don't think that prepping and hoarding are the same thing. Prepping is thought out and done with a purpose and future goal in mind, Hoarding is compulsive.


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## Spinner (Jul 19, 2003)

laughaha said:


> ...Prepping is thought out and done with a purpose and future goal in mind, Hoarding is compulsive.


I think that's a fairly accurate description. I think there are a few preppers who haven't thought out their purpose well enough, and their future goal might be a little fuzzy with the possibility of being a bit compulsive, but I've no doubt that hoarders are compulsive with no plan other than to hoard stuff.


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## tab (Aug 20, 2002)

Spinner has some really good thoughts as well some others. Some of the most recent research does not indicate depression is part of hoarding. Some dispute the OCD part. The research is ongoing and changes as per the "expert" consulted. Many, many hoarders do indeed know what they are doing. They hide for a reason. How do I know this? There are websites dedicated to this. My mother is a hoarder. She hoards her poops. They were on her counter, her floors, her furniture, in her cabinets and so on. My siblings wouldn't call DSS so we cleaned her up again, I think this makes five times for me, far fewer for them. She knew exactly what was wrong as she was quick to try to justify walking in her own waste. I could go on and on and on. She has always been this way. I never had a clean area in the house. There was always rotten food in the kitchen. We never could have company. She knew it and hid. She would clean like crazy if her parents came. She did know and does know. Her stuff is her Number One priority in her life. Mental illness, IMO, would mean she was blind to it but she far is from blind to it. She has always known when she had to clean. Is lazy part of it? Based on my almost five decades of dealing with her, yes. She has always managed to do what she wants. When someone intrudes on that, well it isn't pretty. 

Based on the postings here by people, no we aren't hoarders. As has been said, waste is bothersome to us. Food not being used bothers us. Many of us have slipped and beat up on ourselves for not rotating something and we learned from it. Could our tendencies go to hoarding? Maybe, I think about it often. When "stuff" starts taking place of family, then there is a real problem. Not there yet and plan on NEVER being there.


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## Guest (Aug 24, 2009)

In my experience hoarding such as we are discussing here does not stem from one root cause, but can come about several different ways at least. Some may be OCD, some may do it as a part of their expression of depression, some out of a sense of paranoia, perhaps other causes I've yet to hear of.

And I do think we preppers can be as susceptible to it as anyone else if perhaps in our own prepping ways. I have to be very careful about saving containers. If fact I have another round of "throw it OUT!" coming soon. I always wash the things, take the labels off, usually even have a place to store them out of the way. But over time they begin to accumulate to the point they really are in the way and I'm not using them enough so after I've cussed the things for the umpteenth time for getting in my way they start hitting the recycle bin. This time around may be worse though as I think I've contaminated Diana with the bug as well! I have visions of us when we're in our seventies and every room is filled with washed, label free jars and other containers that "might be useful for something." Which usually goads me into tossing the things out at least to the point they're no longer in my way. Our real preps do that enough already!

.....Alan.


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## Cindy in NY (May 10, 2002)

There's a new episode on tonight at 10 PM.


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

Oh, wow - I just watched the 1st episode on line. When they got to the crisper drawers full of nasties, I had to stop the replay to go clean out my fidge, lol! The dog and chickens will eat well tonight. It wasn't anywhere near what Jill's fridges were, but I sure would't want it to be, either. 

I have to admit that the frugal, thrifty side of me wanted them to get a Goodwill truck over to the couple's house to take away the fish tanks and playhouse, etc. I think it would have eased the dad's anxiety a little to know the stuff was going to be used, rather than go to the dump. I also cringed when I saw the deck go - I would have loved to have it brought to my house, lol. Replacing my porches is on the to-do list.


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## ChristyACB (Apr 10, 2008)

Last night's episode was unbelievable.

Yep, that is a disease for sure. And at least now I feel pretty good that I haven't got it! And even more, I know now how to keep a proper eye on not developing it!


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## Jennifer L. (May 10, 2002)

http://www.aetv.com/hoarders/

You can watch it online.

Jennifer


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