Re: Hoarding - so interesting! Kathy

[Guest guest]

Kathy, hoarding is my biggest ocd symptom along with

some sensory issues reguarding smells and textures. I

did tell you about the dr I had been referred to

didn't I? It was a really bad appointment and I have

asked for a new referral. I am on the hoarding and

clutter list. It is great. Good luck with your " stuff "

I am right there with you. Funny I think of this move

as exciting as I will have a basement for all mine!!!

Oh no!! hugs Teela

_______________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Hi Teela, I am not a hoarder and can't key into that need to keep stuff. I

feel suffocated by stuff and don't know where to start, such as when facing

a move and we end up boxing up all kinds of things that we just don't need,

paying to have them taken to the new place. Our last move was years ago,

and after a year of no one opening much less unpacking several boxes, I just

threw them away and felt great! (Behind my hoarder husband's back BTW.)

Like I'd lost 10 pounds! This was long before I knew anything about OCD or

hoarding as a symptom.

My Mom kept lots of things which she blamed on 1. her own Mom's example and

how it was shameful and wasteful to throw out perfectly good things and 2.

having lived through the war when the entire nation was encouraged to

basically hoard things like gum foil, etc. for the effort, also a lot of

things weren't available so there was a real " make do " mentality.

Apparently you need a lot of junk around for all this making do. She was a

happy camper whenever someone needed some offbeat thing and she just

happened to have one on hand--somewhere. :-) After she died my Dad bagged

all her stuff in lawn and leaf bags (several pickup loads' worth) and

dropped them in my driveway!!! A non-hoarder's nightmare, what to do with

all that stuff. For awhile there I was the proud owner of my own baby shoes

and rubber training pants.

Well anyway good luck with your move. Surely one of nature's punishments

for hoarders is all those trips up and down the basement stairs it will take

to move your things to their new home! :-)

Take care,

Kathy R. in Indiana

----- Original Message -----

From: " Teela Blue " <teelablue@...>

> Kathy, hoarding is my biggest ocd symptom along with

> some sensory issues reguarding smells and textures. I

> did tell you about the dr I had been referred to

> didn't I? It was a really bad appointment and I have

> asked for a new referral. I am on the hoarding and

> clutter list. It is great. Good luck with your " stuff "

> I am right there with you. Funny I think of this move

> as exciting as I will have a basement for all mine!!!

> Oh no!! hugs Teela

[Guest guest]

Seems like we can all relate to hoarding in one way or another. We

were at my Mom's in December looking for something in her garage, all

along the wall were boxes.(yes, all that make do stuff!) We had to

chuckle when we found 3 boxes of pine cones, because in OUR garage I

have 2 boxes of pine cones! Lets not take any bets as to when they

will be used. Maybe someday I will have 5 boxes of pine cones!

Vivian in wa. st.

> Hi Teela, I am not a hoarder and can't key into that need to keep

stuff. I

> feel suffocated by stuff and don't know where to start, such as

when facing

> a move and we end up boxing up all kinds of things that we just

don't need,

> paying to have them taken to the new place. Our last move was

years ago,

> and after a year of no one opening much less unpacking several

boxes, I just

> threw them away and felt great! (Behind my hoarder husband's back

BTW.)

> Like I'd lost 10 pounds! This was long before I knew anything

about OCD or

> hoarding as a symptom.

>

> My Mom kept lots of things which she blamed on 1. her own Mom's

example and

> how it was shameful and wasteful to throw out perfectly good things

and 2.

> having lived through the war when the entire nation was encouraged

to

> basically hoard things like gum foil, etc. for the effort, also a

lot of

> things weren't available so there was a real " make do " mentality.

> Apparently you need a lot of junk around for all this making do.

She was a

> happy camper whenever someone needed some offbeat thing and she just

> happened to have one on hand--somewhere. :-) After she died my

Dad bagged

> all her stuff in lawn and leaf bags (several pickup loads' worth)

and

> dropped them in my driveway!!! A non-hoarder's nightmare, what to

do with

> all that stuff. For awhile there I was the proud owner of my own

baby shoes

> and rubber training pants.

>

> Well anyway good luck with your move. Surely one of nature's

punishments

> for hoarders is all those trips up and down the basement stairs it

will take

> to move your things to their new home! :-)

>

> Take care,

> Kathy R. in Indiana

>

>

> ----- Original Message -----

> From: " Teela Blue " <teelablue@y...>

>

> > Kathy, hoarding is my biggest ocd symptom along with

> > some sensory issues reguarding smells and textures. I

> > did tell you about the dr I had been referred to

> > didn't I? It was a really bad appointment and I have

> > asked for a new referral. I am on the hoarding and

> > clutter list. It is great. Good luck with your " stuff "

> > I am right there with you. Funny I think of this move

> > as exciting as I will have a basement for all mine!!!

> > Oh no!! hugs Teela

[Guest guest]

Oh hoarding is a real big issue for me and I see

summer starting to develope these tendencies also.

that would be frightening if we have two die hard

hoarders in the house. I had no idea that hoarding was

a compulsion until recently and now it is all starting

to come together for me. I moved a lot when I was a

child and attended 30 schools so I always attributed

my hoarding as a way of holding on to some sort of

stability. hugs Teela

_______________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

I have to throw my 2 cents in on the hoarding theme. My mother is a hoarder, and it started during the Depression. Even though her family was not poor (my grandfather was in the RCAF), I remember hearing "cute" stories about her saving things. Then I think it was suppressed several years, and while she was married to my father, and while she had kids living at home, we could somewhat keep it under control, though she would get very upset if we cleaned the table off or the kitchen counters. Now she lives alone and you can't find her kitchen counters, or her table. Or any chair to sit on. She had plastic bags, containers of all sizes and shapes, bits of bread in bread bags, coupons, newspapers, letters (opened and unopened), junk mail, even boxes and bags of groceries that she leaves on the floor because the cupboards are stuffed full of the exact same stuff she just bought. One time I found groceries in the garage that had never been brought in the house!

Her counter tops are piled high with stuff. There are rooms in her house you can't even enter because the trash overflows out of the rooms. She denies she is a hoarder! She gets very upset if I touch anything, even to move something to sit on a chair. She accuses me of "taking" things (well sometimes I do sneak trash out and take it to the dumpster). When she was visiting out of town, I went in her basement and hauled out 3 truck beds full of total crap - broken bottles, moldy books, motheaten clothes, wrapping paper, boxes, bags, etc etc. Her house is a fire trap. I have tried to talk to her, tried to offer to help, to even sort the mail from the newspapers, anything... but she gets very upset. I guess I have to wait for her anxiety to lessen to the point where she will let me help, but that doesn't seem likely in the near future. She can't use her stove, it's covered with papers, and one side of her sink (a double sink) is full of jars she has washed out, and frozen dinner trays she has washed and saved. She even tries to save other people's junk! One time she called me, and I told her i was throwing out some old coupons that had expired, and she asked me if she could have them! I said no (of course). She takes catalogs out of my trash in case she sees something she wants (really she takes the catalog home and hoards it). I wish I could get some help for her, but her hoarding seems to be bigger than all of us (me and two sisters, one of which is also a hoarder).

I have really gleaned some insights from what others have said on the subject, and so I say, keep sharing, it's really nice to know I'm not alone.

Jay (the anti-hoarder, who would rather throw out something useful than give in to the hoarding ocd monster)

[Guest guest]

Hi Teela:

The right kind of therapist to overcome hoarding is one who makes home

visits. I wish my hubby would help me discard stuff. Today I could not

find an article I wanted to send to this teacher who is responsible for the

information system for quality assurance of the school-based mental health

services in my kids' school complex. I spent two hours looking for it and

churning through my papers only to find it on the sofa in my family room

this pm. SIGH!!!!! Of course by then I had downloaded two related articles

for my " collection " to send him in its stead. Well I did spend a couple of

hours and toss out a lot of paper.

If anyone is expecting a private note from me and doesn't get one please

write again as I threw out a pile of stuff in my frustration. Sorry about

that but widespread tossing helps me stop churning more than selective

sorting.

I did ask my therapist for permission not to do my consequence for hoarding

(send $50 to the KKK) as I was going through a rough patch. He let me do

this but did tell me I needed to have some bad consequence to help with my

motivation. Watch out for that basement. Luckily we live on lava rock so

it is too expensive to have a basement here!! Still wait till next year

when my older son goes to college and I have a whole new room...... Aloha,

Kathy (h)

kathyh@...

At 10:17 PM 02/23/2001 -0500, you wrote:

>Kathy, hoarding is my biggest ocd symptom along with

>some sensory issues reguarding smells and textures. I

>did tell you about the dr I had been referred to

>didn't I? It was a really bad appointment and I have

>asked for a new referral. I am on the hoarding and

>clutter list. It is great. Good luck with your " stuff "

>I am right there with you. Funny I think of this move

>as exciting as I will have a basement for all mine!!!

>Oh no!! hugs Teela

>

[Guest guest]

HI Vivian:

Pine cones are very exotic here in Hawaii and are sold at a premium! Sorry

just couldn't resist some paradoxical stuff about your 5 boxes of pine

cones. Aloha, Kathy (h)

kathyh@...

At 06:59 AM 02/24/2001 -0000, you wrote:

>Seems like we can all relate to hoarding in one way or another. We

>were at my Mom's in December looking for something in her garage, all

>along the wall were boxes.(yes, all that make do stuff!) We had to

>chuckle when we found 3 boxes of pine cones, because in OUR garage I

>have 2 boxes of pine cones! Lets not take any bets as to when they

>will be used. Maybe someday I will have 5 boxes of pine cones!

>Vivian in wa. st.

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Kathy, my backyard is peppered with pine cones year round, I pay Kellen

and her friends a penny apiece to pick them up and toss them in the trash.

If you'd like I could box up a bunch and send them your way! :-)

Kathy R in Indiana

----- Original Message -----

From: " Kathy Hammes " <kathyh@...>

> Pine cones are very exotic here in Hawaii and are sold at a premium!

Sorry

> just couldn't resist some paradoxical stuff about your 5 boxes of pine

> cones. Aloha, Kathy (h)

[Guest guest]

Ya I understand that I need to have the therapist come

to my house but boy will that be hard to find and will

cause some extreme anxiety for me. I am still waiting

for a new referral as the last dr I saw told ocd is an

illness only affecting teens and young adults and

hoarding is not a symptom. Sha whatever!! hugs teela

_______________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

HI Kathy:

Thanks for the exposure. I will have to respectfully decline your kind

offer in the interests of keeping my shadow syndrome hoarding at bay. Take

care, aloha, Kathy (h)

kathyh@...

At 09:07 AM 02/26/2001 -0500, you wrote:

>Hi Kathy, my backyard is peppered with pine cones year round, I pay Kellen

>and her friends a penny apiece to pick them up and toss them in the trash.

>If you'd like I could box up a bunch and send them your way! :-)

>

>Kathy R in Indiana