Comments on: Hoarding danger in Massachusetts

By: quench

quench — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 04:57:02 +0000

Isn’t the range between #1 and #2 a lot more varied than they suggest. To me, they don’t look close at all. #1 is much too neat to describe my place, but #2 is waaay too messy.

By: Arielle

Arielle — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 04:54:44 +0000

I recently wrote this blog due to your influencing post, maybe it can be useful to you in an upcoming post: http://joemamaknows.wordpress.com/2007/09/26/rule-8-if-this-is-your-first-night-at-fight-club-you-have-to-fight/ P.S. The rooms in my house were #2s/ 3s at their worst... but after a long two weekends they are all proudly #1s

By: Joel

Joel — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 03:37:43 +0000

My friend works for his dad’s cleaning company and #4 and #5 represent my friend’s apartment.
I’m crashing here for a week and I’ve been slowly throwing stuff into trashbags to expand the path from the door to the couch into more of a double-path and soon we might find the kitchen table.

By: Swistle

Swistle — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 13:45:39 +0000

Hi–I’m new to this blog and really enjoying it.

I’m so relieved to see, in these photos, that there are worse cluttery messes than I have. It makes me feel as if there is HOPE!

By: Jen

Jen — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 23:32:40 +0000

I’m a 1, but both my parents are hoarders, so it is probably in reaction to that. Their home looks like the pictures in the Crazy Mom article.

By: KT

KT — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 22:59:37 +0000

I’ve helped people like the guy with the crazy mom (Schizohedron, above) to unclutter, and let me tell you, it is hard as heck. You have to get them to stay out of the house completely for a few days, and haul every bit of trash/junk with you daily or it is put back into the house. Once you’re about 75% finished, they get with the plan and start helping, and start figuring out what they need to do…they have to first see that it’s possible and that the world didn’t end when their junk went away.

OTOH, I’m fighting a clutter battle in my own home at the moment, since I bought a fixer with no storage, then got married and inherited all his stuff, then had a friend who needed a place to live move in…OY VAY! All I can say is I’d be dead meat without Freecycle.

Oh, and my declutter tip: Paper clutter is my biggest enemy. I now scan everything that I need to save records of, and make PDFs that go on CDs. For receipts and tax records, I use NeatReceipts. I’m down from six full paper boxes to a notebook full of CDs. Yippee!

By: pril

pril — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 17:22:13 +0000

okay i’m not as bad as i thought but my poor dad!!! but it’s true he doest want things to go to waste.. so he keeps them someone will need it one day!! I just figure i can go buy one and that has helped me.. my dad is a number 5-8 allthought one room is a 9 he has a pole barn that looks like 8-9 and when i meet him at 18 i seen this and didn’t want to grow up that way!
In my life I have went from 4-7.. now i’m 2-4 with ibn 5 years so improvment can happen! YIPPY!!!

By: Schizohedron

Schizohedron — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 03:12:05 +0000

Check out this series of photos for what might be a 10 (many pix, so dialup users may experience a delay): This Guy Has a Crazy Mom.

By: Melissa A.

Melissa A. — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 02:03:49 +0000

Wow. Those pictures were intense. I’m happy to say my home usually looks like the first picture.

By: susan

susan — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 18:43:37 +0000

My ex boss’s office falls somewhere between 5 and 7. His keyboard is perched on a least 6 inches of clutter. He told me one day that there might be some thing useful on one of these pieces of paper. All I could think is that he would never be able to find it.

Funny story. He asked me about a cat I had adopted from the local animal shelter. I told him the cat I adopted came out of an animal hoarder’s house. He asked me what that was and I answered that it was one of those people that had house over run with animals. He looked at me funny and said that his wife had 7 indoor cats when they were dating. I back pedeled quickly and replied that 7 cats were not THAT many. I can imagine what their house looks like!

By: Jenny

Jenny — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 15:40:06 +0000

This title in my bookmarks bar looked like a call to arms. I thought we were going to assemble and drop into Massachusetts to declutter the state.

By: STL Mom

STL Mom — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 00:46:48 +0000

Thank goodness they showed a bedroom. I never leave anything on the bed, so I can confidently point to number one.
Now, if they showed a desk piled up I’d be looking at some higher numbers…

By: verily

verily — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 00:05:31 +0000

I fit somewhere between Image 1 and 2.

I knew someone who comes from a family that maintains their home at around Image 4/5. It’s dreadful, and they definitely have a hoarder mentality.

By: Liz

Liz — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 20:09:30 +0000

GAHHHHH I’m a 1, when I am lounging around it can become a 1.2 or so. I’ll admit that those photos gave me the shudders. I’ve been in an elderly hoarding home or two. My parents manage to have an absurd refusal to ever get rid of anything AND be generally tidy. They’re an exception.

By: Anne

Anne — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 19:50:20 +0000

I like that beginning at picture 2 they tilted the picture on the wall, as if an uneven picture makes a room more cluttered (v. makes it *seem* more cluttered).

By: Spike

Spike — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 18:19:00 +0000

This looks quite clever. Lol at #9 though, I’m trying to imagine someone sleeping on top of that. I’d probably be between 1 and 2, there needs to be a 1.5 option
SpiKe
Organize IT

By: three day blog

three day blog — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 17:58:47 +0000

My pendulum swings back and forth between image one and image two. I am not eligible for any hoarding studies…yet.

By: Mrs. Micah

Mrs. Micah — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 16:35:06 +0000

Image 2 for me. Now I don’t feel bad at all.

By: christie

christie — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 16:09:02 +0000

I can say with 100% certainty… I am in no way shape or form a hoarder. Is is bad that I found image one too cluttered? LOL

By: lesliet

lesliet — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 15:39:02 +0000

I have a friend who is on the verge of becomming a hoarder. His rooms are piled high with stuff - we haven’t seen the top of his dining room table for years. I and another friend have frequently offered to help him clean up, but he is just not interested. He doesn’t see that there’s anything wrong. So I don’t know what to do. But I do fear he will become one of those elderly people with houses you can’t walk through.