Johanne's Journal, 05 January 2011

I watch that from time to time, and I have to admit it has made me much more willing to clean things out and throw them away! Wow. I missed tonights, but I am sure that it will be re-run later this week. 

Steph, that's one of the reasons I watch it. I'm not exactly a neat housekeeper and it tends to snap my mind back to the necessities. My son gets direct TV and TIVO for me (have I mentioned I have wonderful, generous children?) and I have it set up on my TIVO so I don't miss it. This one topped any I have seen in the past. You may not want to watch it. It was very sick and involved animals. Like I said, I watched it from between my fingers.  

I watched and I agree, those were the most insane of any of the subjects they have had on the show thus far. I'm sorry to say, that lady with the chickens belongs in an institution or something. She was not at all cognizant of what she was doing and it was awful the way she treated those animals, not to mention her own children. UGH! It honestly broke my heart the way she was screaming at her daughter. She has no idea how lucky she is. If I were her daughter, I wouldn't be anywhere near her. Toxic. That show gets me too. It strikes me as very similar to morbid obesity- there's so much denial involved. It definitely makes it easier to throw things away, not that I ever really had a problem with that anyway :) Can one be the opposite of a hoarder? If so, I'm that! 

LOL! Yes Kate, one can be the opposite of a hoarder. You're so lucky. I actually have to fight it. As for the chicken lady, I agree. She is certifiable and I don't see how she can be trusted to take care of herself, let alone other living creatures. The most horrible part of it is, it looks like her 10 (or was it 12) children are headed in the same direction, mentally. Lord, she even hoarded children, whom she obviously couldn't care for either. That show was definitely the worst. 

I don't watch it... but I have unfortunately seen it... I work as a Child Protective services worker and about 12 years ago.I had to go to a home becuase of hoarding. It was so awful!! There was animal carcasses in the home. there was old food..and no where for the kids to sleep. needless to say, the kids went into foster care. I tried to help the family, my department even purchased a dumpster for them but the mother just could NOT find it in herslef to throw anything away even with the dumpster!!!  

Amy, from the perspective of the show, hoarding, the way these people do it, falls into the OCD category. They provide a therapist and organizer and follow up care. The woman on last week's show was too sick to accept. My house is awful, but these shows put it in perspective for me, just as watching the shows about the super obese does. It lets me know where I could be with just a little nudge in the wrong direction and keeps me moving forward not to let that happen. I think the elderly can go down that slippery slope all to easily. 

OCD was my clients diagnosis!1 but it was so bad..and she too didn't want any help.. her husband wasn't any better.. they met in a psych hospital. My house is unorganized... sometimes dirty but I don't hoard so i guess that's a good thing!!  

I watched it once, that was enough for me. I feel for these people as every little thing meant something to them. I am so glad I am not attached to stuff or I could be one of them......Bren 

I think you can be the opposite of a hoarder - my grandmother-in-law used to complain that my mother-in-law was a "thrower-outter" ... and it's true that when you go to her house it's weirdly empty. And I lean towards the thrower-outter spectrum myself, so if I think it's weird, it probably is! For instance, my MIL once drove an hour and a half to our house to drop off a block (maybe 200g) of parmesan cheese that I had left at her house over a Thanksgiving weekend. She couldn't bring herself to throw it out (because she hates waste) but she literally couldn't have it in her house for more than a day or two before going bonkers about it. 

I believe that's why I'm cluttered. My mom was a compulsive house cleaner. She made your bed in the morning while you were still brushing your teeth. She grabbed your cup and washed it before you had finished the last sip. She wouldn't let me wash dishes because I didn't do it fast enough . . . WHEN I WAS SEVEN! When I left home, the only thing I knew how to do was iron because my Aunt Sissy taught me one summer when I stayed with her. I had never even turned on a washer and dryer. I had no idea how to. There is a fine balance between compulsive hoarder, compulsive cleaner and somewhere in between. I could easily slip into hoarder mode because I DO have an emotional attachment to many of my belongings and it runs in my family. Two of my aunts on my father's side were true, honest to god hoarders. Mostly though, I fall into the "poor people" mode. If you throw it out, you are sure to need it the next day and won't be able to afford to replace it. Thankfully, I kept house for my children. Now that they're all gone, I started to save, but, like my weight, I think I caught it in time. I must say, I never saved trash. I never saved cartons and bottles and cans and wrappers and real, honest to goodness trash . . . thank God! 

Interesting - because my partner is kind of a hoarder. Not obsessively, but I have to fight with him about why we still have all his high school essays in a box in the basement (for instance). Maybe because his mom threw everything out, he feels a need to protect his stuff. I never put that together til just now. Thanks! One thing that is working for us is we live in a small house with not much storage space - forces us to evaluate every 6 months or so what we should keep. One of my projects for the winter is to go through all the baby stuff and decide on a few items to keep (for sentimental reasons) and give away the rest. I kept it hoping we'd have another baby, but it's not looking likely so, I've got to let it go. Hurts a little though, I won't lie. 

Z, when I left for college, my mother gave all of my things away to the kids across the street . . . my western ranch house and town (instead of a doll house. LOL), my envelope of paper dolls that I had kept since I was very young, even my bike which was my prized possession. When I came home from my first semester, all of my belongings were gone. It was as if my room was simply a guest room. I know that is when I started holding on to things. As for the baby stuff, I saved each child's favorite blanket, one favorite outfit, one pair of shoes, their favorite rattle, their cup and baby spoon and their baby book. I found that the best way to get pregnant again is to give away all of their stuff. LOL. It happened every time. After my three natural children, I adopted a special needs baby. As she grew, I kept one of MY favorite toys for each age group, and her cradle and high chair, for my eventual grandchildren to use. (The cradle has had quite a bit of use.) I hope giving away your baby's things works the same way for you as it did for me. :-)