Is anyone watching Hoarders tonight?

[newcriminal]

I think I might throw up!! That poor woman needs help.

[Taverner]

1. Yeah I probably am...

Got sucked into the Trainwreck Channel a while back

[Arugula Latte]

2. I get so frustrated watching those shows.

Intellectually, I understand these people have deep-rooted issues, mental problems, OCD, other disorders, can't help themselves, etc. etc. etc. But there is a side of me, I admit, that wants to shake them and scream: JUST THROW YOUR CRAP OUT!!!

[newcriminal]

3. This woman had 10 years of shit! I mean real shit, as in human feces, in her house.

[NuttyFluffers]

4. well that wins the award for Hoarders...

i don't think it's possible to top that without having dead bodies lying around. they probably should have kept that episode for sweeps week.

(i'm just incredulous that that was the hoarded material. Hoarders usually spurs me on to clean my house, but i'm fastidiously regular about placing my feces in the toilet and flushing it towards the proper sanitizing health professionals. how... bizarre.)

[Chan790]

5. I don't watch the show, so dare I ask.

why?

[newcriminal]

8. I believe either the toilet didn't work anymore,

or there was no running water to the house. So they used plastic bags and through the bags in a room.

[gvstn]

9. I didn't watch the whole show

So I didn't realize it was human feces mixed in with the cat feces.

It is pretty common for running water to be a problem with hoarders. Something goes wrong with the plumbing and they know enough to realize that calling a plumber could get them in trouble with Health and Human Services. So they adjust and learn to do without. It is probably gradual--the kitchen sink stops working and eventually the toilet or some such scenario. It is a slow spiraling downward. That is what is so distressing about watching the shows. Being able to understand how it can happen to a normal person is rather scary to me.

What I never grasp is hanging on to trash. The plastic bags and things. Even if you were without running water and trash service couldn't you find a public trash receptacle to throw things away in? Even the poorest people around the world manage to maintain some level of sanitation in their homes no matter how modest.

[gvstn]

6. Now, I know why I am not a social worker!

I feel like grabbing and shaking the "professional organizers" and saying "forget understanding and baby steps tell them to throw their crap out!".

[carlyhippy]

7. I watched the episode with the woman and her 3 daughters

I felt really bad for those girls. It just wanted me to grab that woman thru the tv and shake her and tell her to get it together, woman, if nothing else, for her kids.

I feel really bad for these people. I can't understand their illness because I am the anti-hoarder, I HATE clutter and toss stuff out on a regular basis. My DH could very easily become a pack rat, he saves computer pieces, nuts, bolts, but he keeps it out of my sight in the garage and keeps it very neat, or I would go nuts and toss it all out.