All morning I've been walking to my kitchen to glance out the window at a crew of guys who are pulling piles of rubbish out from the hoarders windows (two house down from mine). Someone is standing at the hoarder's backdoor literally shoveling this man's belongings out the rear of his home. He's filled it to the brim with his collection. There have been items trying to squeeze their way out from virtually every window in his house for months now.
I'm glad someone is dealing with the mess. It needs to be dealt with. The city is talking of condemning the home. At the same time I see a pirate, a conqueror who spends his every waking hour sailing the seven seas of concrete on his bicycle collecting treasures a plenty. His secret hide out has been infiltrated (by a relative of his) and every last precious gem (or at least everything he's been able to pack into his kitchen) is being thrown haphazardly into an ENORMOUS dumpster that was dropped off onto his driveway yesterday. The dumpster is just about full now after a morning of hard work by a now dirty crew of guys in dust masks. And I don't think the kitchen is completely emptied.
I know it's a disease. I know there's something in the brain that needs to acquire, that needs to keep, that needs to possess. I know that hoarders, like my neighbor have a problem. This is a problem that reaches a little too close to home for me. I'm not a hoarder. Like me, I think most American's have hoarding tendencies hidden deep within but aren't actually hoarders. We're constantly being sold something. We're constantly being told we need something else or something newer or something bigger. We place an awful lot of self worth and identity in our things. We find joy and jubilation through the acquisition of stuff. We might not ride around on bicycles collecting discarded items on street corners but rather use our debit cards and credit cards to purchase shiny new treasures.
Watching the scene unfolding two doors down is a terrific motivating factor for me in my desires to live more simply. If someone came into my home and discarded all of my belongings where would that leave me?
I think this is a double edged sword. I understand it is not healthy for the hoarder, or for the neighbors of a hoarder, but I understand that without the proper help he/she may never feel "right" about life. I can get rid of items easily without feeling a loss but I tend to replace some things also. Like you said we are being fed info that we "need" things, lots of things.
ReplyDeleteIt's close to me because I grew up in a semi-hoarder home. I say semi because it's still hard for me to actually call it that but by all appearances that's exactly what it was. I didn't even remember until yesterday when I was talking with my husband that I once rented a dumpster all on my own with my own money to clear out much of the hoard in my childhood home.
DeleteI'd been watching the crew of guys fill up the dumpster two doors down all morning and feeling SOOOOO sad for my neighbor and then a sort of relief at the same time in at least knowing he'd be able to walk through one of the rooms in his home and I hadn't even remembered that I cleared out some of my mom's hoard into a dumpster once myself. Like I said. This hits REALLY close to home for me. It's weird watching it go down two doors down. His hoard is much worse then my mom's (and right now she is not hoarding or living in a hoarding home) but I can remember vividly how gross it was and how tremendously it affected my entire life.
So true..clutter seems like the early precurser to hoarding. I think frugality helps with this. Even though I need a huge purge, I'm not adding much in trying to be more simple and minimal. Goal today is two garbage bags worth, donate and or true trash, but out the door either way. Good post and I hope he gets help and you have a fresh neighborhood.i
ReplyDeleteI think frugality helps with hoarding a lot. Or can at least. It can also lend to it because if you're really frugal and tend to "collect" things for when you'll need them or because they were really inexpensive then frugality can lead to hoarding. Minimalism on the other hand is much the opposite and so I appreciate and tend to lean towards a minimialist lifestyle. And while a simplistic lifestyle isn't even the same thing and minimalist I am in love with simplicity. It's such a funny word though because a really simple, or plain lifestyle, for example how the Amish live, is almost the exact opposite of how our culture views simple. Like cutting and stacking wood, then building a fire in your wood stove to bake an apple pie that you grew and harvested apples for, made a home made crust for, ect; THAT is anything but simple in this day and age but that is truly what a simplistic lifestyle is all about and I LOVE it!
DeleteI had hoarders next door to me. They never invited anyone into their house, but it was easy to see the stacks of boxes through the front windows. They moved (thank you, God) to a house that's more handicapped friendly (the woman is ill and prone to falls). They took most of the stuff with them. When the house was almost completely empty, the realtor showed me the interior. Well, I didn't go very far. Then man who was coming out had walked through the entire house and was trying to get rid of the fleas that had landed on him. He said they must have kept birds because one room was full of feathers and bird poop. Seeing the mold on the walls and ceiling frightened me away. A man bought the house and gutted it. Everything has been redone, including a new roof. I hope I get some clean neighbors.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
I know it all too well. It's such a sad situation, always.
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