Have you ever gone into someone's home and were shocked to see how much of a hoarder that person really is?
@CRK109 (14558)
United States
May 29, 2017 10:02pm CST
How much would that change your opinion of that person? I visited someone who I've known for a while. She's very neat about her appearance and the way she talks about her home, I expected much the same. But when I walked in...I was really shocked!
She brought me into the foyer and went off to get something or other in another room and left me alone. I noticed she has a mail slot built into the side of her home so the mailman and slide mail right in. Or would have if she didn't have about 3 feet of mail piled up by that mail slot. Looks like not much of it has been opened, either. That was a little strange to me.
The kitchen was unorganized. I don't think she uses it much. Stuff all over the floor, all over the counters. Can't sit at the kitchen table for all the stuff there.
Why did I get invited over again? I might get forgotten about and become part of the clutter!
And let's not even think about the bathroom! I barely had room to wash my hands at the sink for all the creams and lotions everywhere Shampoos on the floor.
We found a little space to sit and visit and it was nice. But there were times when I couldn't stop looking at some of the clutter. I wanted to so badly offer to help her clear it all out! Although I'm sure she "needs" it all for something.
Have you ever????
Claudia
18 people like this
19 responses
@infatuatedbby (95001)
• United States
30 May 17
I have not. It would be a shocker especially since she looks neat. :) But looks are deceiving.
2 people like this
@infatuatedbby (95001)
• United States
30 May 17
@CRK109 Yes! She didn't mention anything like oh don't mind the mess?
2 people like this
@CRK109 (14558)
• United States
31 May 17
@infatuatedbby No, she didn't say anything. I'm not sure she realizes how bad it is, so I didn't say anything, either! lol
1 person likes this
@Courtlynn (66921)
• United States
30 May 17
My grandmother is a hoarder. We have tried to get her to stop adding stuff without getting rid of other things, but doesn't work. Thankfully though, you can at least see most of her floors and sit on the couch. Still gross to me as food is all over the kitchen and everything.
2 people like this
@just4him (305965)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
2 Jun 17
I have a good friend who is a hoarder. Whenever I visited her, there was a path to walk through from the back porch to the living room. You could sit at the kitchen table to visit, about the only place you could, even though the table was cluttered as well. The clutter did get shuffled around so the family could eat. She's a dear friend and I don't think any less of her.
I'm a pack rat myself, though not in the class of hoarders. I have gotten rid of quite a lot when I moved.
1 person likes this
@CRK109 (14558)
• United States
4 Jun 17
I don't think any less of hoarders because I know it's not of their choosing. In this case, it really surprised me because it's not something I was expecting. But I learned to ignore it. And she's invited me there again, and I'll be going because I want to see her. This was the first time I ever saw someone's home in that condition rather than seeing it on the TV show!
1 person likes this
@andriaperry (116860)
• Anniston, Alabama
30 May 17
Yes I have been in the houses of many hoarders, actually my whole life.At one time I had stuff but my home was not filth, I just had to much stuff.
I live in a super clean house now, I cannot deal with stuff anymore. I actually do a blog abut my accomplishments and how to get started.
This is a mental disorder and should be addressed as one, especially when they keep rotting food and cat/dog feces.
2 people like this
@CRK109 (14558)
• United States
31 May 17
She seems to take great care with her pets, and I don't think she cooks much at all, so the kitchen didn't smell. It's just overrun with "stuff" everywhere. You can't sit at her kitchen table because it's piled high with "stuff" (mostly papers). Even her dining room table is cluttered, although she does clear that off for Christmas Eve when she invites family over (and she picks up Chinese food).
@magnumopus (1647)
• Singapore
30 May 17
There are some people who are very untidy.
2 people like this
@CRK109 (14558)
• United States
31 May 17
yes there are, and normally we don't see it because they choose to hide it from us
@celticeagle (158958)
• Boise, Idaho
30 May 17
I watched a few episodes of a show on cable about this. People who are hoarders and how they get help. I learned from that that these people really have some issues. Of being put in a position where they had no power. So this was their power. To accumulate everything they could. I thought it strange and weird. My mom and grandmother kept a lot of stuff but I came to find out that it was because they lived through the depression.
It is very sad to see this. I think I would feel badly for these people and would want to help them. But at what point does your wanting to help become insulting to them. You want to respect them but you want to help too.
I wonder if she invited you over and inside as a cry for help.
1 person likes this
@CRK109 (14558)
• United States
31 May 17
I don't know. She's not the kind of person I'd feel comfortable bringing up this subject with. She's been to my apartment, so she knows how neat and clean I keep things. She acted like everything was perfect, so I never said a word. And the funny thing is that she does have the money to hire someone to come in and clean and tidy up occasionally, so she wouldn't even have to do it herself.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (158958)
• Boise, Idaho
1 Jun 17
@CRK109 ......She may be in a form of denial too. Hoarders don't feel that the stuff that has accumulated is trash, it is all very important to them and they just cannot part with it. That's where they need a professional to come in and help them change how they feel about it.
@lillywriter (1143)
• Lithuania
30 May 17
I like free space, I could not live in a home of many hoarders. Would start suffocate there.
1 person likes this
@CRK109 (14558)
• United States
31 May 17
I couldn't live like that, either. But I could very happily help her clear it out, if she asked!
@CRK109 (14558)
• United States
31 May 17
This was a surprise because she doesn't seem like the kind of person to have a house like that. So I guess we really never know!
@HazySue (39264)
• Gouverneur, New York
30 May 17
How sad. When I first saw the house my mother lived in after a long period of time I was horrified. It was wall to wall stuff. Not only did she gather things, something she3 did not do while I was growing up, but she had a friend move in that also had a mound of stuff. Six months later we are still trying to dig out the junk.
1 person likes this
@chrissbergstrom (10767)
• Banks, Oregon
30 May 17
Yes i have been to the houses of some hoarders, never as bad as ones on tv though.
1 person likes this
@CRK109 (14558)
• United States
31 May 17
I felt exactly the same way! I really wanted to get some boxes and carry some of that stuff out of there!
@Letranknight2015 (51499)
• Philippines
30 May 17
My Dad was a hoarder. Only when he left abroad that we were able to clean his crap. But even him being hoarder has a lot of benefits. Like now, I got myself a new tv that came from his box.
1 person likes this
@CRK109 (14558)
• United States
31 May 17
Well, it's good that you found benefits to your father living like that. All I know is how uncomfortable I felt visiting a home like that.
@PatZAnthony (14752)
• Charlotte, North Carolina
31 May 17
Yes, and sad to say we have witnessed this more than once.It happens for various reasons and often people can't change.
@shivamani10 (11038)
• Hyderabad, India
30 May 17
I do not believe it. No person will keep a house like that. I think you are adding some more to it. So far I have not seen such a thing as described.
1 person likes this
@CRK109 (14558)
• United States
31 May 17
I'm sorry that you choose not to believe me. I would never embellish a story like that about someone I respect.
