Hoarders marathon on TV now

[spinbaby]

I can sort of understand the compulsive shoppers, I can even sort of understand how animal hoarders get to where they are, but I completely don’t understand people who fail to throw away trash and live in a pile of food wrappers.

[True Blue American]

1. What station!

I usually watch a couple, then get up and throw out things! I have come a long way in that regard. A clean person but inclined to collect.

I have cleaned out my garage. The builder of my second story sun deck to replace a sun room took two truck loads. Boy Scouts and Veteran Charities love me. Closets, small collections, most gone.

In pretty good shape now but have to wonder what causes them to live in filth!

[spinbaby]

3. A&E

Until 11:30. I’m getting ready to clean like a maniac.

[True Blue American]

12. LOL!

I found it, but right now I do not feel like cleaning.

I have one closet to go, but hey I found a bag full of Kennedy half dollars and Eisenhower Dollars.

They have already been confiscated to see if they are worth anything.

[mercuryblues]

2. It is a mental disorder

Usually occurring after an emotional trauma or abuse. That is why hoarders will go right back to the same behavior once their home is cleaned out, if the underlying issue is not dealt with.

[spinbaby]

7. I understand it's a mental disorder

I have a couple of hoarders in the family—one is a compulsive shopper, another has a sentimental attachment to everything. I at least understand what their motivation is. What I can’t imagine is being in such a dark place that I can’t throw out a pizza box.

[True Blue American]

13. Been there, but

I can not tolerate filth. A reaction to filling up the hole left in their life.

[hlthe2b]

4. Admittedly I have never watched the show, am fully aware of the issues, but I have to ask...

WHY do people watch a show about it? It would seem to me depressing unless it somehow motivated watchers to declutter and organize... Seriously... Why do you watch?

[Ron Obvious]

5. Reality shows are the modern equivalent of the old freak shows

Point and laugh at the mentally ill, the super-obese, the weird etc to feel better about yourself.

I don't want to watch any of them.

[spinbaby]

6. Two reasons I watch it

First reason is that I have hoarders in my family and I struggle to understand them. Second reason is that the show motivates me to clean like a maniac.

[True Blue American]

15. Boredom usually

Or, maybe trying to understand how they can live.

[Phentex]

19. I watch every once in a while...

because I have a hoarder friend and I want to try and understand. Also, it motivates me to clean something. But I have to be in the right frame of mind or it's just too sad to watch.

[MissB]

23. I can't help it

My mother is a serious hoarder. She has pathways and rooms that she can’t get into. Her bedrooms are crammed full with stuff to the point where you can’t get in. She sleeps in a camper in the back yard. She can sit in one spot in the living room and kitchen.

I’ve never been to her house. My brother has shared pictures. I just can’t.

I find that by watching the show now and then, I can sort of understand my mother a bit more.

[Cirque du So-What]

8. As is the case with mental disorders

it is impossible to 'understand' the motivations and actions of those afflicted. Imposing values and using thought processes from the larger society doesn't work.

I find 'reality shows' focused on the mentally ill offensive and exploitative. Aside from money-grubbing producers, who benefits from open-air interventions that expose every humiliation for public sport?

[chia]

11. I too find the programs offensive and exploitative,

and would feel like I was personally joining in the exploitation by watching them. I would hope that these individuals would benefit from therapeutic intervention, but as with other disorders, they may not feel like they need an intervention, nor would one necessarily be successful.

[lark]

9. I can't watch this show, it makes me feel itchy inside.

I can stand some clutter, I have clothes that are ancient and my husband probably has 200 t shirts, but both of us basically like a clean house. I just can't stand filth and clutter and can't stand to see how bad most of these folks are at managing "stuff". Maybe because my sister is a hoarder and I've seen how it's narrowed her once vibrant life that this makes me so ill? She wasn't always like this, it picked up big time after her 2nd divorce. She's always been a kind of "cluttery" person, but at least she is very clean. But after divorcing her 2nd husband, she couldn't seem to get rid of anything else. So I definitely think there's some kind of loss avoidance involved. I can't explain the hoarders who are also food and waste hoarders and those are obviously far worse off and often filthy.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. I've watched it off and on, and it always makes me want to clean up.

I'm not a hoarder - I have no problem with throwing things away if I don't need them - but I'm lazy, so stuff doesn't get sorted out and put away as it should. Right now I have a bunch of boxes in the living room that contain miscellaneous office supplies, business documents and the like and I haven't dealt with them. I'm stuck at home and this would be the perfect time to deal with that crap. I guess I should watch "Hoarders" for inspiration. I do kind of get being a packrat but not throwing away garbage is just bizarre.

[True Blue American]

17. Not lazy

Just do not have the time to keep up!

A funny here. My Son has to go through things, so I usually just call and get rid of them. Many of the things he wants has to do with his Dad. Dad was a Volunteer Fireman so he wanted his red light off his car. A memento.

After several years as he was cleaning out his own house he hooked the light up to his riding mower. His wife remarked,” Now, you have fixed another useless thing, get rid of it!”

But he builds beautiful furniture.

[Phoenix61]

14. My neighbor across the alleyway from me

is a hoarder. It’s unbelievable how much stuff he has accumulated. It’s spreading onto an empty lot next-door to him.

[hlthe2b]

16. I had a neighbor once (when I lived in a high rise condo while finishing a grad degree) who was a

shopaholic. She ordered from QVC and all the half dozen or more competitors apparently every day. I never entered her condo, but never saw evidence of her returning much of it--nor stacks of boxes in the trash area. So, I always wondered where on earth all that stuff went...

Not my business of course, but...

[True Blue American]

18. My Trump loving neighbor

Must have gotten the Trump checks he blamed Nancy was holding up. 2 Fed Ex Trucks left half a driveway full of boxes last week!

[jimfields33]

20. I hate this show

Basically they have a problem and the show exploits it.

[Iggo]

21. We're on our second weekend (of what's looking to be four) of Spring Cleaning.

I actually think Spring might be over before we're done. If I watch the show you're watching. I'll think I'm the one with the mental illness. Seriously. I had to buy a shredder to get rid of boxes correspondence (opened and unopened) from all the way back to 1996. I overheated it twice...lol. Now I'm going through "notes and musings" also from all the way back to the mid-nineties.

It's like going through a dead person's stuff.

[LakeArenal]

22. I watched a dear friend in abad marriage devolve into hoarding.

Even to the point she wouldn’t let me in anymore. Cat poop all over the basement. It was a very sad time. She originally was meticulous.

She had to leave the house just full of stuff Some of it valuable. Just left it. Eloped with an old friend after her husband passed away.

No longer a hoarder.

“All the lonely people, where do they all come from?
All the lonely people, where do they all belong?”🎶

[Laffy Kat]

24. I think I'll just watch this instead of cleaning up my house.

It will seem clean in comparison.