Last night Buffy, Pop and Dill came over to hang out with The Bee and me. Upon entering the house Buffy ranted about the temperature* for longer than was warranted, played with my cat and proceeded to bitch about the cat’s attack on her yarn and then she started a diatribe about my house, the stuff I have everywhere**, how I am a hoarder in training and a score of other things that simultaneously embarrassed, empowered and frustrated me. After she had left and The Bee fell asleep in that instant way which always scares me, I took a look around and tried to see my surroundings through her eyes:
Cat…check
Collections of random crap…check.
Piles of things that ‘I’m going to get to’..check
Inexplicable attachment to stuff…check.
Holey Hockey Mom!
I may be a hoarder!
Not the extreme ‘dead-cats-rabbits-in-walls-droppings-that-create-a-layer-on-the-floor-piles-of-old-garbage type of hoarder that seem to be sensationally presented on A&E but the fun kind that is often presented on the Style channel’s Clean House (anyone who wants to do a makeover can come on over!).
There are a plethora of Hoarding shows available to watch:
The original (for me at least) A&E’s Hoarders, the one that causes my Twitter timeline to blow up with people ewwing and illing at the nastiness uncovered in American homes.
TLC’s Hoarding…Buried Alive. Not quite as sensationalized but eww worthy nonetheless.
Style channel’s Clean House which rewards the disorganized folks with new home furnishings after the subject is guilted into giving up possessions.
Animal Hoarding. I’ve never watched but feel that I can properly tell from the title that animals may or may not be hoarded.
Extreme Couponing in which people are so busy chasing the high from saving that one person had enough toilet paper for three years!
And Oprah even has a very polite version with Peter Walsh.
Watching the show I always feel better about myself, especially when I am indulging in a game of “At least I” as in, yes I may have piles of books stacked up but at least I am reading them. I have a cat but at least you can’t smell her. The show can be repulsive at times. Watching I am frustrated and sympathetic towards the subjects. These people have an unnatural attachment to stuff…old food, bits of papers and mail, other ridiculous attachments that seem to make no sense. They are so protective of their belongings that I get frustrated with the attachments that they have and their insistence to keep things, the desire to demand people respect ten year piles of moldy paper although I draw the line at the attachment these people have over bug infested boxes or toys covered in layers of mouse droppings. Yet as my sister grabbed a bag and deemed a perched precariously pile of papers trash I got defensive. Who did she think she was to take my things and throw them out?
In the light of the day I have been able to take another look at things. There isn’t trash piled in heaps, I HAVE thinned the piles of books*** and I’ve been really good about not bringing stuff in. (Lie, I did jack Effin Guy of a sweater last week but I look good in it if I say so myself!). I am not a Hoarder per se but the tendencies may be there.
Since one of my resolutions speak to this very subject I am pleased to report that I have gathered all of my reusable shopping totes to be repurposed at work, the books that I have been ‘meaning to go through’ will be used for a program at work and my library bag (not be confused with my work bag) is packed and ready.
As I type I’m watching Hoarders, I need the visual to keep me motivated. I feel like I should have taken a before and after picture. Next time I suppose.
Wish me luck and holla at me if you see me bringing home extra crap.
Purging and filing and repurposing,
-r
*a shock as I am always the one who is cold
** Guilty as charged! I do have to cop to having crap everywhere.
***Some books I sent home with Pop. Buffy you and all of your talk can suck it!
I discovered ‘Hoarders’ and ‘Hoarding: Buried Alive’ recently when I was stuck home sick, and all I could think was Oh. My. God.
I have to admit, ‘Hoarders’ is way entertaining for the sure ick factor, and definitely is much more sensationalized. But in a way, ‘Hoarding: Buried Alive’ ended up being more interesting to me. It still has a big ick factor of its own, of course, but it does one thing so much better than ‘Hoarders’ – it takes more time to actually look at the people, why they do what they do, and how they cope with the cleaning out process.
But I don’t even want to think about what it could be like to be hoarding animals…
I loved this post! I have had family that would come in and go through my house and rearange and clean out. I remember one specific time my MONSTER IN LAW came to stay right after I had surgery, and no kidding, she emptied our entire basement! She was sent home the following week!
Anna, The Pilot’s Wife
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I discovered ‘Hoarders’ and ‘Hoarding: Buried Alive’ recently when I was stuck home sick, and all I could think was Oh. My. God.
I have to admit, ‘Hoarders’ is way entertaining for the sure ick factor, and definitely is much more sensationalized. But in a way, ‘Hoarding: Buried Alive’ ended up being more interesting to me. It still has a big ick factor of its own, of course, but it does one thing so much better than ‘Hoarders’ – it takes more time to actually look at the people, why they do what they do, and how they cope with the cleaning out process.
But I don’t even want to think about what it could be like to be hoarding animals…