My Grandma is a hoarder/pack rat

[MissEve]

I've been trying to explain her house to KC for years and I finally got some pics. Its very sad but she refuses treatment or help. My grandfather is still married to her but moved out because he couldnt stand it. She started out as a beautiful woman and this is what her life has come to:





The rest are here: http://www.monkeylinks.com/grandma/

[Trev]

Whoa!!!


How the hell does she get from one side of the room to the other


I bet she's always losing her car keys lol

[MissEve]

Originally posted by Trev@Apr 17 2005, 03:29 AM
Whoa!!!


How the hell does she get from one side of the room to the other


I bet she's always losing her car keys lol

She has very narrow pathways, I didnt do a very good job documenting those! I have NO idea how she finds anything or gets through the day. She can no longer sleep on the beds so she sleeps in that shitty recliner. If you look at the pics of the recliner she has her reading glasses and remote which I thought was nuts since I lose the remote in my fairly clean house all the time

[Trev]

Man thats crazy

What is it with old people and hoarding? Toni's grandmother is the same, not a window ledge that isn't piled full of junk. Plus she goes into thrift shops looking for bargains... like she needs anymore junk

[Peaches]

OMG, I have just seen my future! I am the same way. I save EVERYTHING. My parents are the same too. They have a huge garage filled with stuff as well as a master bedroom that can't be used for anything but storage. I asked my Dad once if I should spend time going through it all when he died: "No, just toss it all.". I had to get a storage room a few years ago because I ran out of room in the house.

Many things are dishes, sheets, appliances, etc. that I was saving for John when he got a place of his own. I will be making a LOT of trips to the local charity store in the next year.

[Dravyk]

My Aunt Ann was exactly the same way. Tons of stuff everywhere and narrow paths! Couldn't sit anywhere in her house. Plus she had five cats!

People like this need help, unfortunately they are also the most stubborn people on earth. As in can't dynamite them out of the house stubborn. Mention seeing a doctor or going to a hospital, and they will fight it tooth and nail. And win. Because they feel something will happen to their "stuff" if they're not there to protect it (and they're usually right about that too!)

Why do they do this? I haven't read up on any of this, but from my old experiences with my now departed aunt for many many years, I've come up with something .... My personal theory is that they think the more they possess that it will stop them from dying. No, seriously, like the more earthly possessions they have, it's more of an anchor of some sort. Or the more stuff they have, the more they are connected "here" and can't "go away".

[Peaches]

I keep everything because of the few (and I do mean FEW) instances where I've needed something and I knew I had it in a box somewhere.

Case in point: 10+ years ago I bought an apple peeler/corer. Used it once or twice and put it in a box. Now that I make apple pies several times a year during apple season, it would come in VERY handy.....if only I could figure out what box it's in.....

[Dravyk]

Peaches, gotta admit, I have to fight that instinct as well. Having seen how much my stepfather Dave had, the house is still filled with crap he never got rid of, no matter how much throwing-out has been done in the years since he died.

But seeing the stuff he's kept, Mom has kept, how my aunt was ... it's just not worth it. I think the same way, or used to. Hey, never know when I might need XYZ, better keep it. Either you don't ever need it, or, like the apple corer, yeah, eventually you do ... think is, that's one item out of probably a few hundred things kept. Easier to just buy a new one ten years down the road and not keep everything else.

My stepdad kept everything. If a blender broke, he'd not just replace it, he'd keep the old one with the thinking "if the new one breaks, I can take pieces off the old one" to fix it. What would actually happen is, eventually the new one would break, the latest "new" one becomes the "newest old one", and he'd have five old broken blenders in the basement.

I must suffer from OCD because I just can't stand for anything to be out of place.

I just couldn't go in to your Grandmothers house because I would freak out and start cleaning up and throwing things out

[Peaches]

I guess this would be a bad time to admit I still have shoes and clothes from when I was in HS - and that was a LOOOOONG time ago.

My grandmother on my Dad's side was a packrat too, especially books. They had one entire wall of their garage, top to bottom, with each shelf 2-3 deep in books. Plus even more in the rest of the house. At least I know I come by it honestly

[VooMan]

My family calls me the "Anti Stuff." I can't stand clutter... They're always looking to get rid of their "stuff" by asking me if I want it. heh... nope.

[sarettah]

If you can live without it for 3 days, you don't need it (Scott Nearing)

I tend to save stuff up throughout the year but at least once a year I go back through and chuck anything that I haven't touched for a while (with the exception of thos sentimental items like the kids art work from when they were little)

[Vick]

If you notice this often happens with people who were children during the depression or their children.
While my grandparent's house isn't near that bad (I had to stop after 15 pics) it seems the children of the depression are more prone to never throw anything away for fear they may near it some day


this pop psychology babble has been brought to you by today's second cup of espresso

[Winetalk.com]

you can laugh your hearts out, but this woman will survive:
next Y2K bug,
Tsunami,
nuclear war,
etc,
etc,
etc...

May I have her address just in case?


does she have a wine cellar? If she does, there are probably a few hunders thousand$ sitting there

[Trev]

Originally posted by Vick@Apr 17 2005, 03:55 PM
If you notice this often happens with people who were children during the depression or their children.
While my grandparent's house isn't near that bad (I had to stop after 15 pics) it seems the children of the depression are more prone to never throw anything away for fear they may near it some day


this pop psychology babble has been brought to you by today's second cup of espresso

Hoard so you never have to go without again, I can see how that works

[Nickatilynx]

My double garage is full to the rafters with , old kids clothes , old clothes of mine (I might one day have a 30in waist again and fit in them , can't throw them out.)..etc etc

But DAMN was she hot as a young woman.

Errr betcha KC is a little nervous LOL

[MissEve]

Originally posted by Dravyk@Apr 17 2005, 08:20 AM
My Aunt Ann was exactly the same way. Tons of stuff everywhere and narrow paths! Couldn't sit anywhere in her house. Plus she had five cats!

People like this need help, unfortunately they are also the most stubborn people on earth. As in can't dynamite them out of the house stubborn. Mention seeing a doctor or going to a hospital, and they will fight it tooth and nail. And win. Because they feel something will happen to their "stuff" if they're not there to protect it (and they're usually right about that too!)

Why do they do this? I haven't read up on any of this, but from my old experiences with my now departed aunt for many many years, I've come up with something .... My personal theory is that they think the more they possess that it will stop them from dying. No, seriously, like the more earthly possessions they have, it's more of an anchor of some sort. Or the more stuff they have, the more they are connected "here" and can't "go away".

She is incredibly stubborn. The whole family has tried to convince her to get help but she never will. If you try and throw stuff away she will have a screaming fit like a wounded animal. If you throw stuff away while she is gone she will just fill it back up again in no time.

Hoarders respond well to drug therapy but she would never do it. My grandfather was a very handsome, famous pilot in Alaska and a complete womanizer and egomaniac. They had four kids and she was left at home while he slept with stewerdesses all over the world. I think she slowly went crazy and for whatever reason feels comforted by surrounding herself with junk.

She also stashes cash all over the house in books, cereal boxes etc. It will be a nightmare going through all that stuff when she dies.

[Trev]

Originally posted by MissEve+Apr 17 2005, 08:36 PM-->