I watched Hoarders with Katie when we were in Milwaukee and now i've been lost in the TWoP forums about them and a bunch of hoarding links
( Read more... )
I am a professional in the field of hoarding; that is a very good way to describe it. I am trained at cleaning out places, and I am pretty good at it. I go to people's houses and help them clean. And, the stuff they throw out I get to keep. Then I sell it.
I recently met one woman whose house actually managed to shock me -- and I am fairly unshockable. I thought we were in a hallway, but we were in her kitchen. She is somewhat skinnier than I am, so my hips were knocking things off of the piles, which were stacked floor to ceiling. She had furniture (antique, good furniture) stored in her yard, as there was nowhere else to put it. She had it under tarps, and it was still in fairly decent shape -- and it had been there for several years! Aza helped her move all of that to storage.
My mom's house was very bad, but this woman's house is much worse. Another time I helped a woman her kitchen counters could not be found, the piles were that high and big. The piles were from the counter top up to stuffed in under the cupboards. I think there were three bags of potatoes, of various ages, on the one counter.
My house looks bad, too. My living room is almost always full of stuff, but it changes. Earlier this week I finally got a huge pile of stuff priced, and then I brought home a full car load -- with more to come home this weekend. This weekend I am helping a woman whose mother just died unexpectedly and sadly. Yes, it is a business, but it is also lots of stuff always in our psychic space. I find keeping it organized helps.
Anyways, yes, clutter and hoarding are very interesting subjects. Thanks for the blog link.
Yeah, I think there are a lot of hoarders out there.
Not just the ones with giant piles of crap hidden, but a bunch of people who have that same emotional response to stuff and manage not to let it take over, but are fighting it all the time - kind of like the world's full of dry drunks and people who would really like to beat people up but don't do it.
I recently met one woman whose house actually managed to shock me -- and I am fairly unshockable. I thought we were in a hallway, but we were in her kitchen. She is somewhat skinnier than I am, so my hips were knocking things off of the piles, which were stacked floor to ceiling. She had furniture (antique, good furniture) stored in her yard, as there was nowhere else to put it. She had it under tarps, and it was still in fairly decent shape -- and it had been there for several years! Aza helped her move all of that to storage.
My mom's house was very bad, but this woman's house is much worse. Another time I helped a woman her kitchen counters could not be found, the piles were that high and big. The piles were from the counter top up to stuffed in under the cupboards. I think there were three bags of potatoes, of various ages, on the one counter.
My house looks bad, too. My living room is almost always full of stuff, but it changes. Earlier this week I finally got a huge pile of stuff priced, and then I brought home a full car load -- with more to come home this weekend. This weekend I am helping a woman whose mother just died unexpectedly and sadly. Yes, it is a business, but it is also lots of stuff always in our psychic space. I find keeping it organized helps.
Anyways, yes, clutter and hoarding are very interesting subjects. Thanks for the blog link.
Reply
Not just the ones with giant piles of crap hidden, but a bunch of people who have that same emotional response to stuff and manage not to let it take over, but are fighting it all the time - kind of like the world's full of dry drunks and people who would really like to beat people up but don't do it.
Reply
Leave a comment