These photos are currently making the rounds on the internet. Some woman's apartment in the Houston area:
(Warning: these photos are absolutely disgusting. You may vomit a little bit in your throat after viewing them).
Show these to your wife and she'll never make a fuss again about your cleaning habits, or lack thereof.
Maybe...the woman who rented this place is sooo hot that she is out having a good time and doesn't have the time to clean up. (shudder) OK now that I made my joke, the poor woman is probably dead in there.
I don't know the name but this hoarding is a disease. I had a co=worker that had it, but it wasn't garbage and things like that, it was postcards, and collectibles. But still...
Personally I love the ironing board and iron out. She probably used them I mean she must have had to go to work. This poor soul was so sick she couldn't even flush her toilet paper.
Be Seeing You.
The first thing that struck me was that nearly all of that stuff is just garbage; mainly carryout cups. The bathroom situation is just bizarre. If all the used toilet paper is on the floor, where is the uh...uh..never mind I don't want to know.
One of my best friends is really messy like that, but all of his stuff is 'clean' if you can imagine. There's no garbage sitting around, kitchen's fine, and he has the cleanest bathroom I've ever been in (must be from his time in the Marines), but his stuff is just all over the place. I've never quite figured it out.
I suddenly feel the urge to grab a sponge and start scrubbing something!!
Rich C. : Novice baby wrangler and cat herder.
http://one-sahd-dude.blogspot.com/
http://good-eats-fan.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/onesahddude/
It's called Obsessive Compulsive Hoarding Disorder. My father-in-law probably had it but not as bad as this woman. My wife and mother-in-law tried to talk him into getting help but he never believed he had a disease. He just said that all he needed was more energy to get his stuff organized. He saved everything (newspaper articles, used paper towels, cans upon cans of small items, boxes, containers, etc...). My mother-in-law would just about go crazy trying to keep his stuff from overflowing into every room in the house. The weird thing is that he was also a "clean freak". He would spend three or four hours doing dishes or two hours sweeping one room. It took my wife and her mom about 6 months to finally throw away about half of his stuff after he died last year. He still had most of the cloths he had bought since the 1950's. It was a big house so he had plenty of room to save stuff in. It's sad that he never realized that he could have gotten treatment for it. I feel sorry for this woman since she's probably mentally ill and didn't have anyone to help.
Tim
My Mom is a Hoarder. She too doesn't think it is a problem. Her house is so bad, my Dad moved out. We NEVER took the kids there because, it quite honestly was dangerous. She threw very little away. Some of her favorites to save include:
Magazines, all mail, empty plastic containers (like cottage cheese containers), plastic planters, and anything elephants.
She also loved to take on anyone elses crap, like furniture and home decor whether she had a need or not. If it was free of cheap she couldn't turn it down, even though they made decent money.
She also compiles crap by buying anything on sale or clearence. Again, need is not a priority.
About a year ago she was seriously injured at work (she has since retired and is almost fully recovered). I took on the task of preparing the house for Sale, since it is too big for her to handle. I filled three 30 cubic foot dumpsters with crap. There is still stuff at the house one year later. I ask her why she keeps it, and she always says "I was going to get around to organize it". Also blames it on not enough energy or time. When she gets the time, she just lays around and watches TV.
Hoarding is typically a form of depression. Below is a great site I found for Children of Hoarders. Because of how I grew up, I am Mr. Anal Retentive when it comes to cleaning. When my wife saw my Mom's house she finally understood why. Anyways this site helped me realize I was not alone, and found many stories like mine. Check it out if you know a Hoarder, if you are a victim of a Hoarder, or if you are just interested in the stories.
http://www.childrenofhoarders.com/forum/index.php
This is absolutely disgusting and filthy-and good lord, let's hope there aren't any kids living at that home! But at the same time, I just feel sad for that person-clearly they need some help.
However-it surely makes me feel like Mr. Clean going around with my little bottles of enviro-friendly, orangey smelling things. :)
When my dad retired from the Navy he became a property manager for a local real estate company. I use to help him during the summers cleaning out apartments and houses that the tenants were evicted for one reasons or another. Occasionally they would leave on their own, but not often. Any house that looked like that the Sherriff’s department would only see the people out and secure the property and leave everything else to the real estate company to clean, which was me and anyone I could get to help me.
I've cleaned up a house that looked very similar except you would have to add to all that mess cat and dog feces in every room as well as urine soaked carpets. It’s too early in the day to describe the two bathrooms in that house I cleaned.
Mike Stilwell
Daddyshome, Inc.
DC Metro Dads
Joined: 2006-11-05
Dad Points: 193