"It Runs In the Family."

My Grandfather was a horder and we did not know it untill after he died. He lived in a trailor and always insisted to drive over the mountains to my parents home north of Seattle for any holiday occation. He was a 5 hour drive away so it was much nicer for him to come visit in a large clean home and little did we know his trailor that I had visited when I was a kid and was once plesant would one day be completely packed waist deep in mail, books, newspapers, garbage going back 10 years not thrown out, and we are talking the entire trailor. You could not even get the door open with out pulling some of the garbage out first.



When he passed away I flew out to help with the clean up effort that took an entire year with a visit one to two times a months to sort it out and get it sold for less then the rent and utilities we continued to pay on it just to find the most important items. We would bag up atleast 25 to 30 giant trash bags at a time. I wished I had known he needed the help so badly. He died alone in his mess and that breaks my heart.



He was a very well educated man and was the head of the school psychology department for the state of Washington at one point. Something you could not imagine of him if you knew him. I have to sometimes remind myself of this when I look around and see I am holding on to things I do not need and relize that the apple does not fall to far from the tree and I too could easily fall into this bad habit if I do not curb it.

I can relate about the couch! My roommate piled his crap on top of everything for 20+ years. It took me about 2 weeks to dig DOWN to find a full sized couch, a table from a restaurant, and a living room chair! I started trying to excavate my belongings from underneath his during xmas break from college (I'm 50, starting my career very late). It has taken me nearly 2 months to get my stuff out where I can relocate it. But to do that, I have to inch everything else over a little at a time and move/drag it all in increments! I finally saw the floor in the back "junk room" this last week! And I have been pretty steady working on the project. By myself of course. The couch belongs to him and all his stuff has gone right back on it, and up the walls. It's as if he cannot bear to see a straight backed chair available for SITTING; it MUST be covered with STUFF. Just crazy.

Ugh, hoarders just disgust me--especially after seeing Confessions of a Hoarder. I think nothing healthy or sanitary comes out of being with one. I'm a packrat--not a hoarder. That means, I know when to stop and what's worth keeping. But sometimes I suspect I could have easily turned in to a hoarder if my mom hadn't provoked the clean-freak side of me to come out.



I think hoarders need to stop using the excuse of "being sentimental". Also, for sure they are materialistic, preferring to keep their things / junk / stuff to their own people who want them to have normal lives. Idiots.

Have started taking some of my trash down to cash converters to hawk. They will take anything.

Oh Yuk!



I MUST start to declutter



I am nothing like your examples .. but I do live in a library!