I Blame A&E
Remember that wonderful era when you could flip to A&E and see a nun walk around talking about the meaning to some famous old painting and it was safe and wonderful and you felt all smartipants about that one painting? Oh my friends those days are long gone (but not the nun, you can stream her videos on Netflix - hooray!) anywho, now when you flip through to the channel you are in danger of landing on an episode of Hoarders. Have you seen it? It makes you clean your house.
Two nights ago I did just that. I was stitching away happily on a sweater that is due for a magazine next week and I wasn't ready for bed but I didn't want to commit to watching a movie so flippity flip and there I was, watching Hoarders.
And believe you me I am not making light of the disorder that these people have. The inability to throw away what many would consider literal trash is very real and watching the show just hurts my heart. Especially when I see the adult children fleeing the situation and leaving their mom or dad (or both) to rot in their own filth. It also makes my head itch. And usually leads to scrubbing the bathrooms no matter how recently I had just done so.
Last night I was emptying the various trash cans around the house and wondered how much unwanted stuff was around, just lurking, taking up residence when it really didn't need to be in my life anymore. At the beginning of the year I tickled with the notion that perhaps I have hoarding tendencies but through several months of contemplation (and watching many episodes of this darned show) I've realized that I'm really just lazy. You see, nothing would make me happier than for someone to come in when I'm not home and clean the house top to bottom - for a hoarder that would be the end of the world.
And that's what led me to getting out a very large trash can, starting in the bathroom and moving in a clockwise fashion (I shop that direction too, sometimes even starting in the bathroom) and found one thing in every single room that could/should be thrown away. I had this grand notion that I would separate out "donatables" (is too a word) and what I quickly found was that in every room there was at least one tired, worn out thingamajig that really should be tossed. A pair of slippers that were holey and ripped, a shave kit in the same condition, etc. And within about twenty minutes I was standing in my garage with a trash can overflowing with junk.
The scary part of it all is that when that junk was spread out around the house I didn't even see it. It blended in like background noise or wallpaper. I don't know how often I will do this little exercise in purging, but I can say that by going through the entire house and just finding one thing per room made it a LOT quicker, a LOT easier, and even fun. Kind of like a junky treasure hunt!
PS: Even gifts were on the chopping block, so if you gave me that pair of slippers for my birthday a few years ago, they are gone. I'm just saying.
Cleo and Chandler did NOT help much, but they do love the new tiles:
I am so glad that the show has come on! My husband is a hoarder I could be especially when it comes to yarn and patterns
Cora
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I too have been attempting to purge unnecessary stuff over the last year or so. While I don't think I'd qualify as a hoarder, I am a bit of a pack rat. Getting rid of things can be tough, but after they've been gone for a day or so I find that I don't miss (or often even remember) the junk but value the reclaimed space.
I'd never really thought about it before, but replaying all my recent shopping trips, I shop clockwise as well. Strange.
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I need to do exactly what you did. I don't think I'm as bad as those folks, but I definitely have stuff that should head out the door. In fact, I have a TRASH CAN that has been sitting by the door waiting to be thrown out! LOL Not enough energy for the job.
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Drew, you're so funny and clever. Enjoyed the post.
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Hello
I have no idea how to store my yarn and projects. I leave them in the bags that come from the store until I make them, but have never seen anyones organized yarn area. Any suggestions? Pictures, ideas?
thanks
peggy
pegschr@yahoo.com
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Peggy: I wait untl WalMart or Target puts their three drawer plastic Sterilite carts on sale (I never put the wheels on though). I find you can put quite a few skeins in each draw and since they are semi-clear you can get a general idea of what they contain. If you don't have room for these, plastic bins stored in the closet, under the bed or stacked in a convenient corner work too and keep your things from getting wet and dusty. Hope this helps. Laura H.
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My parents (though mostly my mother) are hoarders. They filled their house and I helped them build on an addition. That filled up and they started building storage sheds. Seven sheds later, they bought the land behind their house and built an enormous garage.
It is exhausting to visit them and my attempts to help them purge are just met with arguments and resistance. I simply can't invest any longer.
Thankfully, I now live on the other side of the country from them. I visited last September and it was just so difficult to try and move around in their house, I found myself getting really annoyed with it all. My grandmother was the same way and they don't see it. She had boxes upon boxes upon piles and stacks and coffee cans and bags and crates and bins and so on. After she died, the cleaning took months. If it doesn't bother them, I'm fine to stay in New York City and leave them out on the prairie to deal with their own self-created hell.
I love my clean house.
And my medicated sanity.
It's not ALWAYS hereditary
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Such a relief not to be a hoarder, but the whole clock-wise thing? A&E just might be interested in that programming idea.
Good luck!
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I am a hoarder, and I'm so happy to see that you didn't totally rip us apart.
I have been in stage 4+ squalor/hoarding (http://www.squalorsurvivors.com/squalor/measuring.shtml). Right now, I'm at a low level 1, mainly because I'm trying to clean out a storage room and there's nowhere for some of this stuff to go!
Just for anyone out there reading...there IS help!
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I too have become a viewer of Hoarders recently. And like you, I am motivated each week to roam about my house, removing clutter, after each viewing.
The most surprising thing for me, two weeks ago, was seeing MY FRIEND (Cheryl Sherell) on the show. I met her at the storage facility she works at several years ago. I needed storage for some of my "stuff". We've been friends ever since. Anywho, this show has made a HUGE difference in my friends life, I'm happy to say.
I try to keep my "hoarding tendencies" in check. As an Artist/Crafter/Teacher I seem to have more supplies than projects, most days.
Still, I manage to make something (mostly crocheted items) once a day.
So now I'm starting a "Christmas count down" project. I will make handmade items, one or two small items daily, until a week before Christmas. I hope to use up my surplus of supplies and bits a bobs by then.
At which time I shall donate my stash of handmade toys, etc to several charitable organizations, for the holidays.
So, that's my plan!
OH, and what keeps me motivated daily, to keep my house clean: The Flylady!
Google her site. It's a great motivation!
Cheers,
Bairbre Aine
Shocked me right out of my chair!!!
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My problem is finding time to clean when the kids aren't around. They want to keep EVERYTHING.
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I sooo know what you mean..I made it a rule not to watch realty TV..And one day flipping through saw that show, and like a car accident...could not look away...So very sad..Anywho..Im the opposite, I throw a lot away.. Bad habbit..Have thrown checks away..The only thing I wont throw away is my yarn..LOL Love reading your blog. have so for years. But I dont say much. Thanks for all you do.. Neicee
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Yea Drew! I try to do the '15 Minute Fling' at least once of month if not more often and I always feel so much better afterwards - lighter, freer. Reading decluttering forums and blogs helps keep me motivated (there are a ton of them out there), though I tend to be a bit of a 'purger' anyway. (that's what I call the opposite of hoarding) Having too much unused or useless stuff laying about makes me rather anxious so I love having some open space around me.
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First I loved your post and the witty/honest way you recounted your experience after watching the Hoarders show...truth is I have done the SAME thing after watching the show!! Come from a family of private hoarders who keep lovely public spaces but in garages/basements/spare rooms well, it's out of control. 2 years ago I looked around and "saw" my space with a new vision and purged more than 30 huge trash bags full of fabrics, trims etc... and more extra furniture and household stuff that I thought I needed. Oh my gosh, it feels so much better now that I have faced the slippery slope I was sliding down and now I'm free...I found you and your great work via the Craftsanity podcast you did a while back. I wish you all the best
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I can so identify with this post. I watch hoarders sometimes. Not really sure 'why' because like you, I don't really find it to be 'entertaining' because it IS serious. However, I think I have just enough OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) to identify with something in these people? At any rate, I DID have to chuckle when you said "it makes my head itch" because my sister and I have made that same comparison when going through thrift shops for years now! lol Thanks for encouraging me (and others) to avoid falling prey to 'things'. I wish for all that finding happiness with people and life will trump falling in love with 'stuff' any day!
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So pleased to live in one of the towns Michael's has chosen to stock with your new products! You're living my dream~supporting yourself (& two adorable felines!) with your creativity. Carry on Drew!
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I have never watched the show but I do know hoarders. An in-law of mine grew up poor and cannot throw anything out. I myself am a pack rat but I have cleaning spells in which things are throw out, sent to goodwill and given to second hand shops. One big problem is my adult children want me to store their stuff for them and it's hard for me to say no. I think my husband may be slightly hoardish. Tools, household glassware and dinnerware are his fetish. Not so bad really. And now for myself! I do love my yarn and its tools thereof. And I do have 4 sewing machines and their related items. At the same time I hate having unused stuff lurking around. One day I filled two large black garbage bags with yarn and gave it to my LYS. They take donations and bring it to a prison and teach the men to knit. I think that is so cool!
To top this I always feel such a heavy feeling of responsibility to keep as much as possible out of our garbage dumps. But at the same time it angers me how we are pushed to buy buy buy. I really like the idea to recycle and reuse. And so I am a conflicted pack rat glad I don't have the strong urge to hoard.
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I liked this entry. It is so real. I hate watching that show, because it makes me look at my own house. Lol. I agree....they could come clean my house, and I would be cool with that. I am glad to have found your blog.
Please check my blog out, should you wish to do so.
www.theyarnproject.blogspot.com
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Thank you so much for your posts, and thank you to the other commenters, too. Through you I discovered squalorsurvivors.com and childrenofhoarders.com, and they have helped me immensely in understanding how hoarding behaviors have affected people I love. They also helped push me to reduce my own accumulations of "stuff."
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I have to confess that when I need to make a good cleaning (throwing away stuff) I just have to put Hoarders on tv. It's enough to get me off my lazy butt. Read my latest blog entry "Fabric infatuation and other crafting illnesses" and I'll bet that you have a couple of them. BTW can you believe I didn't bought ANY wool in Denali (Alaska). I'm so kicking myself for that.
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My mother in law is a hoarder. Nobody is allowed in her house. She lives less than a mile from us. From the road the house looks lovely but all the windows are covered up with curtains so nobody can see in. QVC shopper. At least a hundred thousand of dollars of unopened packages. She spent all her inheritance money. Rooms that are inaccessible. No clear paths. No clear surfaces. Imagine the worst. She dresses impecibly and drives a Mercedes but the women is not right. Sad part is that the family is now fragmented. Family dinners are at restaurants and I have an autistic son who can't sit through them so we don't attend. Adds to our isolation. But of course she'll say it's our fault. The grandchildren are not growing up with the memories that children should have. And she's super critical of what everyone else does. She also does not go to the doctor. Ever. It's a disaster waiting to happen. And it's happening right before our eyes. There are cats involved
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