Hoarders - General Discussion

[auntieminem]

15 minutes ago, LittleIggy said:

At least Corpse Kenny Rogers was involved in aftercare. I hate that he probably hastened his mother’s death by ruining her clean home. BTW, where would the funds come from to make that place livable? I wonder if John couldn’t get more than $65K by razing the place and selling the lot?

Was he the only one who followed up with the aftercare?  I was thinking he was but I believe I missed one.  The season sure had some hopeless situations and mostly unlikable hoarders. 

[CoyoteBlue]

Stop putting John's wellbeing on Janet. She is not his emotional support animal. If I were her, I would never move into that place - I mean, that's pure "cleanse with fire" territory there. He would have to keep the place that clean from now on just to allow him to touch me again after seeing the filth he lived in.

[enoughcats]

11 hours ago, CoyoteBlue said:

Stop putting John's wellbeing on Janet.

Forest Gump's mother called out, "Run, Janet, run." off in the distance.

That's Hanta Virus country and I can't imagine why masks weren't required full time.

In Janet's very limited commentary, she did say she wondered because of the clutter in every one of his cars AND that when they were at his house, and she needed to use the toilet, she had to go to the Filing Station around the corner. She knew something wasn't right and probably hadn't been right for years.  That she worked two jobs tells me she was concerned for her future and had never invited him to live with her.

That didn't stop the "janet is our pressure release valve" from coming up in conversations-without any affirmative from her.  Late in the show, one of the daughters said something like "He'd die if she wasn't in his life" and I thought- not fair.  

Earlier there was a several paragraph long description of Janet and how important she was to him.  But Janet never ascribed that 'importance' to herself.  

And at the very end, I'll bet Janet decided to keep working rather than become caretaker to a Hoarder who never elevated her to a status above "girlfriend". 

 

Edited September 15, 2020 by enoughcats

[JudyObscure]

9 hours ago, enoughcats said:

And at the very end, I'll bet Janet decided to keep working rather than become caretaker to a Hoarder who never elevated her to a status above "girlfriend". 

 

Exactly.  He wouldn't be the first old guy who guarded his "freedom" like gold during his attractive years and then wanted to get married after his health started to fail and he saw the advantages of  someone to drive him to his medical appointments and provide free practical nursing. 

The daughters would love to have Janet in place to care for him so they don't have to and I don't blame them one bit, but  I really don't see that anyone owes that to him.  He says his hoarding didn't start until after his mother died but he was hoarding her house and tracking up her white carpet as soon as he moved in with her.  Poor woman.  I could cry for her, watching her clean house become ruined. The four women should band together, insist he sell up for $65,000, buy a tiny, used mobile home with the money, stick John and his planters and short's collection in it and walk away.

[ThatGreyCat]

11 hours ago, auntjess said:

I think the episodes are 2 hours because of covid, but the people have mostly been way too unlikable to bear for 2 hours.

When covid restrictions are over, the viewers DESERVE a show, where the whole damn city shows up, and everything is removed while the hoarder is protesting that food dates are just suggestions.
WE  the viewers, have earned this.
As the camera pans away, the hoarder is sitting on the curb of an empty house in a vacant yard.
Yes, I'm a bitch.

 

I like the cut of your jib.  

[FormerMod-a1]

The episodes are not 2 hours because of covid.  They were 2 hours last season as well.  "Beginning with the season nine finale, episodes were expanded to two hours and focused on a single hoarder."  Wiki

[AZChristian]

11 hours ago, auntjess said:

When covid restrictions are over, the viewers DESERVE a show, where the whole damn city shows up, and everything is removed while the hoarder is protesting that food dates are just suggestions.
WE  the viewers, have earned this.
As the camera pans away, the hoarder is sitting on the curb of an empty house in a vacant yard.

Let's be sure to get a picture of all the neighbors exchanging high fives that the visual and olfactory blight on their community has been eliminated.  THEY have earned that.

[sempervivum]

Am I the only one whose jaw dropped when the middle daughter (white hair) was complaining about her 2 1/2 year ordeal caregiving Daddy Hoarder, and then the other 2 chimed in 'yeah, but I had him for 5 years', 'I had him for years before that'?? What nerve! Did she actually think they would just let her claim martyr status unchallenged?

That said, good thing there was a new (to me) episode of 'Botched' on at the same time, because John was way too boring to watch for 2 hours.

Edited September 15, 2020 by sempervivum
correction

[CrazyInAlabama]

4 hours ago, AZChristian said:

Let's be sure to get a picture of all the neighbors exchanging high fives that the visual and olfactory blight on their community has been eliminated.  THEY have earned that.

I think it would be the neighbor's high fives interrupted by hordes (Fixed it ) of running rats, and the neighbors running like hell.  

Edited September 15, 2020 by CrazyInAlabama

[AZChristian]

51 minutes ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I think it would be the neighbor's high fives interrupted by hoards of running rats, and the neighbors running like hell.  

The rats would be running from the hoard, but they would be hordes of rats.  

[CrazyInAlabama]

Oops!   Hordes, not hoards.  

[Ligeia]

9 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

He says his hoarding didn't start until after his mother died but he was hoarding her house and tracking up her white carpet as soon as he moved in with her.

NEVER believe a hoarder when he tells you when the hoarding started, lol 😆

[AZChristian]

Just now, Ligeia said:

NEVER believe a hoarder when he tells you when the hoarding started, lol 😆

You can't believe anything most of them say.  It usually starts out with "I like pretty things, so I collect them.  I'm not a hoarder."

[RobustRutabaga]

12 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

You can't believe anything most of them say.  It usually starts out with "I like pretty things, so I collect them.  I'm not a hoarder."

I love how the show plays that up with the editing, usually in the intro tease before the "title credits". You'll have that hoarder saying, just like you say, "I collect a few things..." or "Tee-hee...I guess everyone around my town calls me a bit of a packrat!" or "I love a good thrift store bargain!" and then they'll be a harsh cut-away to footage of piled-up hallways that are virtually impassable, dirty dishes sky-high, roaches crawling everywhere, maybe even a yellow "Condemned By Order of the City" notice taped to the outside of the front door, etc.   

In contrast though, I do like the hoarders who fairly immediately say "It's out of control..." or "I don't know how it got this bad..." or "I do have too much stuff, yes."   There are many layers to self-denial or this disease, but I feel those that are freely admitting it are a bit mentally further along in dealing with it than some of the others. What's interesting is those episodes that start with a hoarder admitting a problem don't often go that much better or easier for dealing with it throughout the course of the clean-up effort.

[auntjess]

6 hours ago, aquarian1 said:

The episodes are not 2 hours because of covid.  They were 2 hours last season as well.  "Beginning with the season nine finale, episodes were expanded to two hours and focused on a single hoarder."  Wiki

I guess I missed this because I had other options before covid.  New 600lbers and pimples to pop.

[CrazyInAlabama]

I love how many say they are "overwhelmed".        Or the ones who say "I only started hoarding two years ago", but then the kids say they grew up in a hoard.     

Almost all have had other clean outs, or in the case of the twin sisters (not sure which show they were on) that had had a previous house or two condemned, and bulldozed, then lived in the one inside the city limits that they finally abandoned.   Their solution was to move to a new place to hoard, outside the city limits.    

[Cherpumple]

I REALLY wanted to see what those 42-year-old crackers looked like!

[sempervivum]

2 minutes ago, Cherpumple said:

I REALLY wanted to see what those 42-year-old crackers looked like!

There's a show called 'Eating History', I think on Discovery or maybe History channel, where 2 guys...well, eat old stuff that viewers have sent them. Too bad nobody suggested sending those crackers!

[EtheltoTillie]

1 hour ago, sempervivum said:

There's a show called 'Eating History', I think on Discovery or maybe History channel, where 2 guys...well, eat old stuff that viewers have sent them. Too bad nobody suggested sending those crackers!

Crossover opportunity missed!  

[GIA]

I think Carol felt a tremendous amount of shame and guilt that's why she is very defensive and controlling on top of being a top of the spectrum narcissist....

[mamadrama]

On 9/14/2020 at 9:50 PM, GussieK said:

John was seriously depressed, as it was noted at the beginning. Maybe suffering from dementia. How was he going to have a relationship?  Saddest episode I may have seen. And maybe the worst hoarding damage I can recall, esp since it been going on so many years. 

It was hard for me to watch this episode. Comparing John today to the Kenny Rogers John of the past was sad. I also suspect dementia. I don't think he can take care of himself.

[mamadrama]

15 hours ago, Cherpumple said:

I REALLY wanted to see what those 42-year-old crackers looked like!

So the other day the kids and I got our a package of Saltines that we've had here for a year, maybe 2. Box had never been open, nor had the individual packages. They LOOKED fine, felt fine, but when we bit into them...*gag* They'd gone totally rancid. I knew Saltines could go bad, but not like that. 

[readheaded]

On 9/14/2020 at 10:39 PM, QuinnInND said:

Well since she was with him when he was married, she needed to reevaluate her relationship anyway. They said they had been together for 15 years, which would be 2004, as this was filmed last year. He got divorced in 2008. 

The most satisfying thing was watching that forklift destroy that camper. John should have taken the $65,000. Maybe he could buy a boat for that motor he kept. It was cool that his dad cleaned Lucille Balls pool.  

Had he been separated from his wife?  My own grandparents were separated for many years before they finally divorced and my grandfather seriously dated another woman during that time, but no one considered it an infidelity on my grandfather's part because he and my grandmother were most definitely not together.  

[QuinnInND]

2 minutes ago, readheaded said:

Had he been separated from his wife?  My own grandparents were separated for many years before they finally divorced and my grandfather seriously dated another woman during that time, but no one considered it an infidelity on my grandfather's part because he and my grandmother were most definitely not together.  

They didn't say. That's possible. Legally, it's still infidelity if they're not divorced.  I wondered if they got divorced because of his hoarding or what. 

[AZChristian]

5 minutes ago, QuinnInND said:

They didn't say. That's possible. Legally, it's still infidelity if they're not divorced.  I wondered if they got divorced because of his hoarding or what. 

I don't wonder at all.  Not many spouses would live in an environment where someone has to keep a BB revolver next to the bed to shoot mice.

[EtheltoTillie]

There was so much left out--how did he separate or divorce from first wife?  What was his relationship with Janet really like?  How did he go from Cute Kenny Rogers to Corpse Kenny Rogers (TM @LittleIggy)?  How old was John?  What did he do for work?  Was he living on Social Security only?  

(If anyone has any answers to this that I may have missed, please chime in.)

And most of all how were they going to pay for fixing up that house?  And why?  It was a shell with gigantic rat holes.  I hate poor editing like that, where you have a two-hour episode and you walk away with gigantic questions.  This always smacks of producer shenanigans--they choose not to present information that is uncomfortable.  

Edited September 16, 2020 by GussieK

[lovesnark]

On 9/14/2020 at 7:38 PM, auntjess said:

I think the episodes are 2 hours because of covid, but the people have mostly been way too unlikable to bear for 2 hours.

When covid restrictions are over, the viewers DESERVE a show, where the whole damn city shows up, and everything is removed while the hoarder is protesting that food dates are just suggestions.
WE  the viewers, have earned this.
As the camera pans away, the hoarder is sitting on the curb of an empty house in a vacant yard.
Yes, I'm a bitch.

 

This is the BEST idea I've ever read on this forum. It's time for all of us to bombard the producers with this idea. Hell, I'd pay over and above my ridiculously high cable bill to watch it!

[JudyObscure]

12 hours ago, GussieK said:

 most of all how were they going to pay for fixing up that house?  And why?  It was a shell with gigantic rat holes.  I hate poor editing like that, where you have a two-hour episode and you walk away with gigantic questions.  This always smacks of producer shenanigans--they choose not to present information that is uncomfortable.  

That lack of closing detail is particularly irksome when we've been through two entire hours with the same person.  They could easily cut out five minutes of the first hour, which is usually nothing much but family members talking about how bad it all is. 

My biggest complaint, and it's really starting to get to me, is that after 37 hours of hard labor by 15 people removing 18  tons of rubbish in 12 full trucks -- they show us a final reveal with nice furniture set down in a room that still has trash scattered here and there.  John said his living room looked like when he had first moved in and I thought, "Really? Had you and your wife emptied waste baskets into the corners and up against the china cabinet?" If they can work 37 hours, can't they work 37 hours and ten minutes and sweep out all the remaining trash?

[mamadrama]

Did they ever explain why Janet didn't help with the clean out? It didn't surprise me that she'd never been inside. Both of my parents are hoarders to different degrees. My mom's the clean hoarder, but she's also the bigger one and Stage 4. My dad's the dirty hoarder. He dated his girlfriend (2 years older than me) for 10 years and she never went inside his house. He always traveled to her (out of town). They can be very sneaky. 

My mom's house is huge. It's around 4500 sq ft. It's beautifully decorated and one of the nicest nicest houses in our county. You wouldn't see the hoard by going in. But that's because she hides it: a full basement, 3-car garage, 4000sq ft barn, and 7 (that I'm aware of, but she lies) full-size storage units. Some of which haven't been opened in 10-15 years. I know this sounds terrible, but I dread her death because of the clean out. 

[ThatGreyCat]

Seasons 1 and 2 are on Amazon Prime (I'm in Canada, those in the US probably have more seasons available) and I have been rewatching.  It's funny how subdued the first season is compared to what we see now.  Then the 2nd season starts with the odious Augustine and it is more of what we are used to now.  

Watching it brings back so many memories of the TWOP boards and the comments I remember reading about these old episodes make me LOL.  I was watching Dennis and Nadine ("Can you get me a pickle?"  "I'm IN A PICKLE!!!") and there is a part when Dr. Zazio (The Zaz) finds Nadine on the front porch and says in a saccharine voice "Here's the lady of the house!" and Nadine looks ready to deck her.  It brought me back to the comments when the show first aired and it made my week.

I'm so sad I'm just finding this forum now that the season is over!  I have found my people!

[CrazyInAlabama]

To get a storage unit cleaned out the cheap way is to notify the storage facilities that the owner is no longer with us, and there will be no payment or further action on them.   Then they cut the lock, and sell the contents to someone, and it becomes their problem.   

To clean everything out, sell As Is, and let the new owner clean it out.    Depending on where a house is located, many places sell for tear downs, so it all gets bulldozed by the new owner.     Sadly, hiring a junk company, or a crew to just toss everything in rented dumpsters will cost the estate many thousands of dollars.    

Edited September 17, 2020 by CrazyInAlabama

[AZChristian]

14 minutes ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

To get a storage unit cleaned out the cheap way is to notify the storage facilities that the owner is no longer with us, and there will be no payment or further action on them.   Then they cut the lock, and sell the contents to someone, and it becomes their problem.   

Wouldn't you have to provide proof of death?  If not, couldn't anyone just call and report someone else as dead?

[CrazyInAlabama]

Since storage units are local, just drop by, tell them what happened, show a death certificate, and they can go from there.  Also in the case of storage units, the office personnel can tell you how many storage units they have, and maybe how to find out if there are others (many here are owned by the same company, I think there were a lot of buy outs over the years).   So there are only so many storage unit companies here, and many have the same computer system.     When someone dies, and you're handling their affairs, make sure you notify anything that gets autopay too, or the billing might not stop.  

A big issue with hoarders is that they hide so much, so even finding storage units they rented might be a problem. 

Yes, the hoarders are masters at denial, and avoidance.   When the one this week (John?) can walk into a room with furniture that probably had rodents living inside, ignores the filthy carpet, the trash strewn around, and say it looks like his late mother's house did when he moved in, then he's obviously not connected with reality.    

Edited September 17, 2020 by CrazyInAlabama

[AZChristian]

30 minutes ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

Since storage units are local, just drop by, tell them what happened, show a death certificate, and they can go from there.    When someone dies, and you're handling their affairs, make sure you notify anything that gets autopay too, or the billing might not stop.  

 

I was actually surprised that so few places required documentation of my brother's death a year ago.  Even AARP; I called them, informed them of his death, and asked whether there was any refund because he had paid three years worth of membership.  They didn't blink an eye . . . sent me a check for about $50.  I cancelled all his prescriptions (and there were LOTS of them) just by walking into the pharmacy and telling them he had died.  Same with Cox . . . one phone call, and his service was cut off.

Kind of scary to think how easy it could be to really mess up someone's life.  

[FormerMod-a1]

FYI

 

[camom]

When my mother died at age 81 we called to cancel her cell phone service.  About a week later I got a letter saying that her service would be put on hold at no charge while she was deployed.  LOL.  I assume "deceased" and "deployed" are next to each other on the computer screen and the person just hit the wrong one.  I know my mom would have laughed.  But yeah, you could really mess someone up by cancelling things on them.

 

[JudyObscure]

10 hours ago, ThatGreyCat said:

I was watching Dennis and Nadine ("Can you get me a pickle?"  "I'm IN A PICKLE!!!") and there is a part when Dr. Zazio (The Zaz) finds Nadine on the front porch and says in a saccharine voice "Here's the lady of the house!" and Nadine looks ready to deck her. 

My all time favorite episode!

[auntjess]

10 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

To get a storage unit cleaned out the cheap way is to notify the storage facilities that the owner is no longer with us, and there will be no payment or further action on them.   Then they cut the lock, and sell the contents to someone, and it becomes their problem.   

To clean everything out, sell As Is, and let the new owner clean it out.    Depending on where a house is located, many places sell for tear downs, so it all gets bulldozed by the new owner.     Sadly, hiring a junk company, or a crew to just toss everything in rented dumpsters will cost the estate many thousands of dollars.   

I haven't watched Storage Wars in years, but I wonder if they ever got a unit that was crammed full of feces-strained crap.  

[mamadrama]

I can't just have people come in and clean everything out. In addition to hoarding her own stuff, she has been known to steal mine. Amongst other things, somewhere in that mess are photo albums that contain the only pictures of my dead kid. I only got 5 scanned and uploaded before she took them. She's also been known to hoard cash. There's at least $75,000 socked away in there. Maybe more. So far in cleaning out what she's let us we've found $10,000 stuffed in various boxes. 

Mom's opened units in other people's names and there are at least 2 in other counties. It gets complicated. 

[AZChristian]

11 hours ago, auntjess said:

I haven't watched Storage Wars in years, but I wonder if they ever got a unit that was crammed full of feces-strained crap.  

I'm sure they have . . . they just don't show those on TV.  The ones pre-selected for the show always seem to have some hidden treasure.

[mamadrama]

58 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

I'm sure they have . . . they just don't show those on TV.  The ones pre-selected for the show always seem to have some hidden treasure.

I'm sure they do. Mom opened a unit in a neighboring county in 1989. She didn't open the door again until 2012. (Yeah, $35 a month times 23 years...) When she FINALLY let us in there to clean it out more than half of the boxes were either entirely empty, filled with other empty boxes, or mildewed from cat pee. My husband and I took one ton (a literal ton) to the landfill. The ONLY things of value were some old jewelry boxes filled with rings. The stones were fake, but the gold was real. He and I sold them to a pawn shop without telling her. Between that and the cash we were able to put down enough money to buy our house. Sometimes I feel bad for not telling her about the rings, but none were of sentimental value and we figured that if she hadn't missed them in 23 years...(all that money socked away and the amount she was paying in storage fees and yet I didn't have a vacation until I was 18 and the school had to pay for my glasses)

But yeah. I'm sure there are boxes full of garbage, too. Depending on the unit water and moisture can get in there if the stuff's been locked away for years.

Edited September 18, 2020 by mamadrama

[RobustRutabaga]

On 9/17/2020 at 9:36 AM, ThatGreyCat said:

...and there is a part when Dr. Zazio (The Zaz) finds Nadine...

"The Zaz", lol! 😄     

You know, after 11 seasons of us sticking with the ins-and-outs of the series, the editors owe us sneaking in once, just once, the on-screen text reading "Dr. Robin 'The Zaz' Zasio". 

 

[illinifreaks30]

On 3/27/2019 at 11:45 AM, 3girlsforus said:

 I just started watching this but wow - Donna is a grade A bitch. Sure we only see the one part but it seems like Jenny is in recovery and doing much better. Is she just trash for the rest of her life? How dare Donna talk to her like that. Jenny has admitted she made lots of mistakes and she’s gone through a lot. Guess Donna’s shit don’t stink.  Donna seems like she has a serious superiority complex while being a horrible human being.

Donna is a perfect example of a "Karen"! Even with her own family!

[CrazyInAlabama]

They showed the Patricia rerun this morning (the retired nurse who trashed three houses in Florida), and I found a short update on a bunch of hoarders.    If you follow the link on Patricia's entry, and look through the FB postings, she's still alive, but hoarding just a much as ever.

https://www.thecinemaholic.com/hoarders/

However, the updates aren't right.   The woman in Wheeling WV never cleaned up any more, and the washing machine that was donated is inaccessible because of water line issues.   She also re-hoarded the basement stairs, and I'm guessing the minimal clear space in the basement. 

Edited September 21, 2020 by CrazyInAlabama

[Twiz44]

I had a little part-time gig at a local storage facility. From my experience the easiest way to get rid of your stuff is to stop paying. When you’re late, your unit will be “over-locked” and your gate code won’t work and you won’t have access onto the property. There are several subsequent steps taken until a notice is published in the newspaper that the contents of your unit will be put up for auction (which is nothing like you see on Storage Wars). In the case of a death, or if someone has a medical condition requiring a guardian or Power of Attorney, you have to provide all the legal documents to gain access to the unit. So, if you just want to unload junk, stop paying the rent.

[Elizzikra]

On 9/18/2020 at 1:16 AM, mamadrama said:

I can't just have people come in and clean everything out. In addition to hoarding her own stuff, she has been known to steal mine. Amongst other things, somewhere in that mess are photo albums that contain the only pictures of my dead kid. I only got 5 scanned and uploaded before she took them. She's also been known to hoard cash. There's at least $75,000 socked away in there. Maybe more. So far in cleaning out what she's let us we've found $10,000 stuffed in various boxes. 

Mom's opened units in other people's names and there are at least 2 in other counties. It gets complicated. 

My grandmother had Alzheimers and liked to cash her social security check and sock away money all around the house. We found a couple hundred under the kitchen sink and at least a $20 in the pocket of every shirt/skirt/pair of pants in her closet. 

[auntjess]

On 9/20/2020 at 4:05 PM, Twiz44 said:

I had a little part-time gig at a local storage facility. From my experience the easiest way to get rid of your stuff is to stop paying. When you’re late, your unit will be “over-locked” and your gate code won’t work and you won’t have access onto the property. There are several subsequent steps taken until a notice is published in the newspaper that the contents of your unit will be put up for auction (which is nothing like you see on Storage Wars). In the case of a death, or if someone has a medical condition requiring a guardian or Power of Attorney, you have to provide all the legal documents to gain access to the unit. So, if you just want to unload junk, stop paying the rent.

Great idea for families. just don't let the bills go to the hoarder.

[zillabreeze]

On 9/14/2020 at 7:50 PM, PaulaO said:

Watching John on tonight’s episode.  His girlfriend of 15 years has never been in his house.  I’d rather die alone than have a “relationship” with a toothless hoarder.

I dated a really great guy, about 3 mos. in, still excuses for my not seeing His house...   At the same time, I'm seeing a little pile of flotsam accumulating in My Garage.  "Can you believe somebody tossed/lost this!!?  I'll just put it here for now".  😱

His next move that was SO hoarder - He stopped by one day while I was Fall cleaning the garage.  Moving lumber to a nice stack, tossing paint cans, putting tools back in their spot, wiping workbenches, sweeping....he kindly offers to "help" and then sits down with a plastic organizer box that has 18-20 drawers and starts picking through every little bolt, washer and screw.😱

You don't have to beat me with the red flags!  I broke up within days - I couldn't get Hoarders out of my head🤣  Who says A&E/trash reality TeeVee isn't educational????

[Minivanessa]

12 hours ago, zillabreeze said:

I dated a really great guy, about 3 mos. in, still excuses for my not seeing His house...   At the same time, I'm seeing a little pile of flotsam accumulating in My Garage.  "Can you believe somebody tossed/lost this!!?  I'll just put it here for now".  😱

His next move that was SO hoarder - He stopped by one day while I was Fall cleaning the garage.  Moving lumber to a nice stack, tossing paint cans, putting tools back in their spot, wiping workbenches, sweeping....he kindly offers to "help" and then sits down with a plastic organizer box that has 18-20 drawers and starts picking through every little bolt, washer and screw.😱

You don't have to beat me with the red flags!  I broke up within days - I couldn't get Hoarders out of my head🤣  Who says A&E/trash reality TeeVee isn't educational????

Wow. Good call on your part. Watching this and the TLC hoarder shows opened my eyes to hoarder behavior in my own life (not by me, lol). 

About 10 years ago I was on the board of our condo complex HOA, and got a tip that a woman in one of the other buildings here was a hoarder. Yup. Lots of evidence and rule violations. Toward the end of her time here she was caught on the clubhouse security cameras not only cooking in the party room kitchen but spending the night in the clubhouse (not allowed). Obviously her unit was damn near uninhabitable by then. It was so frustrating because I could never get our HOA legal counsel to give us advice on an assertive approach to the issue - and the hoarder was canny enough to keep anybody from getting a good look through the front door into her unit so we could involve the city code enforcement in a complaint. She was a very nice intelligent person to talk with and was always dressed nicely; not a shabby-looking hoarder stereotype at all. Finally her health was failing and her kids stepped in and moved her to assisted living in the state where they live. I heard that it took several weeks to clear out her condo after they relocated her. 

Interesting bit of hoarder behavior from that lady. Once during my HOA board tenure I prepared an updated flyer on our recycling program with details of what was recyclable and what wasn't, which was distributed to all units. Although plastic beverage bottles are accepted the bottle caps aren't. So at the next board meeting, this woman actually stood up and questioned me about why the bottle caps weren't recyclable. Out of all the things she could possibly have asked or been concerned about, this woman with a stuffed-to-the gills station wagon and frequent citations for cluttering her garage parking space and her building hallways with random objects - was focused on bottle caps. The image of your friend picking through all the bolts, washers, and screws, reminded me of that. 

That said, I just haven't been into the latest season of this show. Too much serious dysfunction on display, and too drawn-out over two hours. Nope. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

I absolutely agree, the last season of the episodes from several years ago, were of people too sick to help, or watch on TV.     Last season, and this year were of people beyond help.   The one with the ill wife may keep clean for now, but once the wife goes to assisted living, or passes on, he will start hoarding again.