Crazy Consumerism - From Ebay - Site

[Avalon Sparks]

Here's a link to a site where either a college age son or daughter has taken pictures of the inside/outside of their Mother's house.

The Mother is from the lower middle class (according to the commentary) and is obsessive crazy about Ebay purchases. She's turned their house into a pack rat haven on steroids and the webpage is loaded full of startling photographs and commentary.

I posted it in General Discussion because we talk often here of the compulsion of Americans to purchase thing after thing - and although this massive consumerism doesn't appear to be fueled toward corporations - and it's probably more of a obsessive compulsive online Ebay purchasing disorder - it disturbed me to see this and I thought it would make an interesting general discussion topic - as in why would anyone keep so much shit???

Here's the site:

http://www.randomthink.net/misc/ebay/

[lectrobyte]

1. holy shit... that lady needs serious psychological help...

[knowbody0]

2. whew, i got lost in there. what a journey!

[lectrobyte]

3. just thinking about living like that gives me a headache. the dust...

the clutter... oh the humanity!

[jojo54]

4. WOW!!

All I can say is, I think it's time for a very large yard sale.

[Craig3410]

5. I've seen it before;

hell of a "so, you think your parents are weird?" type site.

[BiggJawn]

6. Well...

At least I don't have bicycles in bed and the shower....

Yet!

[derby378]

7. And I thought *I* was bad about clutter...!!

I tend to accumulate stuff of my own, mostly books and journals - philosophy, spacecraft, anthropology, etc. And they can definitely take up space.

But this woman gives me hope! Perhaps I'm not so bad after all!

[mitchum]

8. My mother has the same problem, and my parents' house looks...

much like that. However, she would NEVER use eBay, Home Shopping Network, etc... She must be able to physically touch the objects at the moment of purchase in order to attain the high.
My dad does not mind the expense, but the actual physical difficulty of maneuvering around all of the loot is starting to get to him.

[The Jacobin]

11. My mom is the same in one way.

She has quilted for as long as I can remember.

I knew she was buying more and more fabric as her income increased and expenses decreased (after my brother and I moved out). But I just recently saw her stash. A small walk-in closet is filled and there are five or six boxes in the garage.

I thought it was silly to have enough fabric to outfit a small army, but she looks downright frugal next to that mom.

[SharonAnn]

9. This type of hoarding may show serious mental illness. Truly.

She could probably benefit from an assessment, if you could ever get her to go.

[The Jacobin]

10. Maybe I won't go buy that extra bookcase after all.

I was going to go buy another bookcase (making five 6 foot by 2 foot cases) because I have books stacked up on the floor next to them.

Maybe I'll go sell some of them out at Half-Price Books instead.

:silly:

[Avalon Sparks]

13. I have a hard time parting with books and clothes....

I'm someone of a pack rat too, but I don't buy too much stuff - mainly books and clothes which unfortunately I don't like to throw/give away.

I did manage to get rid of at least half of my paperback books to a charity book sale and now I basically only check books out of the library. I don't buy many magazines, newspapers, CD's, DVD's ect or kitchen stuff.

I keep far too many bills, receipts, cards, ect that I need to go through....

I can't imagine buying all that stuff on Ebay - and in some cases she never even opened the package after she bought it.

[LeftyMom]

12. I anxiously await the yard or estate sale

Is that sad? The focus seems to be on what a nut this person's mother is, and I'm thinking that I could probably find something cool amidst all the detritus.

I think I'm looking at my future (minus the house in Placer County, I pray.)

[Morning Dew]

14. some of the commentary is funny as hell.

I thought I was pack rat but, sheesh, I'm just an amateur.

[FemaleDemfromMass]

15. all I could think of

when I looked at these pics was what a fire hazard! Seriously, there'd be no way out. I think it is a mental illness and she needs some help.

[NMMNG]

16. OCD

Hoarding is a subtype of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).

Symptoms vary from person to person, but may include:

-Saving items seen by most people as unneeded or worthless, (i.e., not true collectibles).
-Compulsively buying or saving excessive quantities of items of any kind.
-Treating all saved items as equally valuable--whether or not the object has sentimental, financial or functional value.
-Experiencing intense anxiety or distress when attempting to discard—or even think about discarding—what most others view as useless objects.
-Engaging in saving activity to combat anxiety-provoking thoughts such as:
“What if I run out?”
“What if I need to know something and don’t have the information available?”
“What if I put it away and can’t find it?”
“What if the way I organize it isn’t the right way?”
“What if I throw it away but the day comes when I really need it?”
-Being unable to use furniture, rooms, or entire homes in standard ways due to saved items.
-Significant deterioration in housekeeping due to excessive clutter.


I'd say this woman is a textbook case.