in a way it's soothing to see people with way worse cleaning problems...

[ratcreature]

I've been watching some episodes of that Hoarders reality tv show after I came across clips from it somewhere that piqued my curiosity, and I'm really baffled. Not so much by the mindsets that lead to keeping all kinds of stuff including junk, and letting your living space deteriorate, as that I don't understand how many of them could have had the

Comments

[marag]

::nods:: I've also wondered how they can afford things. I definitely understand hoarding tendencies, as I find having my books around me very comforting.

[ratcreature]

Yeah. The hoarding I get. Even what seems a bit weird at first like keeping something broken. For example I took a big coffee cup as memento from my grandparents after they were both dead, because I didn't have any large cups, and I liked its bright orange. So that was still reasonable enough, even though objectively it was somewhat worse for wear, with slight cracks in the glazing. But then some years later the saucer broke. Okay, so I still had the usable cup, but no saucer, only I felt it really hard to throw the even broken saucer away, and tried to find some rationalization to keep that broken saucer for something, or maybe try to glue it later, even though the break wasn't promising for glue, etc. I think I threw it away eventually when I cleaned out some drawers where I stashed it for a while, so at some point rationality still mostly prevails, but the pattern, that is crossing the line into bizarro land, is definitely there, and would lead to problems if it wasn't one broken saucer, but a whole pile of broken crockery on top

[madripoor_rose]

From the ones I've seen, some of them can't really afford it, and that's part of the problem. Plus....it's been going on for years if not decades, and that's how it piles up.

[ratcreature]

Yeah, sometimes they mention financial problems, like that life savings are gone, or a couple they showed who paid mortgages for two houses, because they tried to move to escape the clutter, but in the process ended up with two houses filled with things instead.

[lilacsigil]

I'm not a hoarder, but I think you're looking at it from the perspective of "tendency to hoard" not "severe mental illness that prioritises hoarding over everything else". One hoarder in my town lived on a pension (which is not very much here), but constantly bought things at the op shop (maximum price $5) or took things from people's rubbish bins and eventually had to be rescued from her house when she fell over in the dark and was trapped by her hoarding. She hoarded rather than pay her power bill or eat or get her medication. She also hoarded cats and didn't feed them, but they seemed to do okay on the mice, as she lived behind a dairy.

[ratcreature]

I think in spectrum of people they show, I'm actually less baffled by the really extreme cases, where like in your example much came from rubbish bins, but by the ones who on the outside are still functional, have a family and a job, but not one which I imagine would pay for constant shopping. I suppose some just have really bad financial problem, like one had a couple who actually paid mortgages for two houses, because they tried to move to escape the clutter, but in the process ended up with two houses filled with things.

[akktri]

Four words. Massive credit card debt.

[ratcreature]

I always forget that from everything I hear it's easier to get people to lend you money in the US than here.