Hoarders - General Discussion

[JudyObscure]

3 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

 I think the lukewarm welcome in the ending scenes was because he didn't care if the daughters or granddaughters visited.  

I noticed that, too.  I wish the therapists and organizers would quit pushing the "so your family can visit," motivator on people who clearly don't care about that. The only words that got through to David was the threat of losing his house and all his precious stuff.  I'll bet he was scared to death that one of those cute grandchildren was going to break something.

They were both so nasty to that nice therapist I don't understand how she managed to maintain a professional demeanor.

Wouldn't it have been nice to see the bank take possession of the house and contents, sell it "as is," and let David and Elisabeth watch the new owners throw all those lamps and purses in a dumpster?

[CrazyInAlabama]

"Lori" new to U.S., part of the Canadian season.   Lori and son Tajko (he's 17) live in   Kugluktuk, Nunavut in the  Canadian arctic.    If the house is so isolated, how did she hoard the house full?   

According to her older sister, the parents were 'collectors', so it's a generational issue.    She had Tajko with her former boyfriend, Keith.   He left because of the hoarding.    Sarah is the psychotherapist on this episode, we saw her last season (Darlene?)  

Because of the remote location, they have a team of all volunteers.  In return for the massive help from the community, the organizer will help Lori do a free donation event locally. 

Lori is keeping a lot more than she's letting go and is resisting every effort to discard anything.  I know the house is big, with four bedrooms, but the amount of stuff that's being taken out of the house is huge.  Lori keeps walking away, and stopping progress. Lori comes back and claims she wants to continue.  

They've made great progress with the clean out.  The donation event is a huge success.  Lori seems happy at the donation event, but has Tajko left. Lori seems fine with cleaning out, but her son just can't cope with it.  The cleaning crew has a massive job, and they're all local volunteers. The son realizes he has a hoarding mindset.  He's worried his mother will go back to hoarding, and he is worried about his mother's mental state. The house looks totally clean. 

Epilogue: Loriis working with aftercare therapists and organizing help.  Tajko is looking at his future, and having friends over. 

(My biggest issue is with the huge shipping container of 'keep' items Lori still had.   I'm hoping she doesn't rehoard the house. I hope she has a long, happy life in that wonderful community. ) 

(Lori posted on another message board, and she's doing fanstastic.  Still in her beautiful little town.  Tajko is doing very well.   The house is still beautiful.  I'm so happy for both of them.) 

Edited March 11 by CrazyInAlabama

[JudyObscure]

I thought this was a great episode.  One of the main reasons I watch this show is for the look inside other lives and Kugluktuk, Nunavut was about as "other" as it can get.  Such a cold, miserable looking place and yet it contained the nicest people ever.

I would never have believed a huge hoarder house could be cleared, cleaned and repaired by a group of friends and neighbors only.  When I compared this little group with the big muscular, professional groups with Matt or Corey leading, I just didn't think it would get done.

The mother/son dynamic always gets me tearful because I'm divorced with one son and we are very close.  What a fine boy Tajko is!

Lastly, I just have to say, in the all important November election, I'm going to vote for anyone who promises to appoint a cabinet of engineers who will design a really good, supportive bra for all us overweight American women.

[BradandJanet]

I enjoyed this episode. All the people, even the hoarder, seem nice, and the remote location was fascinating. I was impressed that Lori's sister and her ex both flew in for the clean out and stayed rather than giving up halfway, as is often the case. There was an amazing amount of stuff in that house. 

Lori, an elementary school teacher, had organized a buy nothing group when she first arrived in Nunavut, so the townspeople probably recognized some of their former donations in the mass of Lori's cleared out items. Lori also did online shopping, which doesn't seem consistent with a buy nothing lifestyle. 

I felt bad for Tajko, who wanted to move on with his life but felt he had to stay because of his mother's fragile mental health. (Maybe a place with five months of total darkness isn't the best choice for her.) I hope he is able to separate and move on with his life. 

[Twiz44]

I can’t even imagine living anywhere so remote and with such extreme weather conditions. The isolation must be so difficult and I would expect that many may suffer from mental illness given the isolation. On the other hand, the sense of “community” was extraordinary. Given that, perhaps it’s a very peaceful lifestyle.
 

I had to check it out on Google maps. There was no Google “Street view”.

[Mollywolly555]

Tajko was wise for his years... his statements were thoughtful and well spoken. Wonder why he can't live with Dad part of the year.  

I hate when kids take care of parents.  

[Elizzikra]

27 minutes ago, Mollywolly555 said:

Tajko was wise for his years... his statements were thoughtful and well spoken. Wonder why he can't live with Dad part of the year.  

I hate when kids take care of parents.  

Dad kind of pissed me off. He left, which I sort of get but then never went back to see how his son was living? Never suggested his son come live with him? I don’t think you get to have righteous indignation about how your kid grows up when you are an absentee dad, video calls notwithstanding.

[Tango64]

20 hours ago, Elizzikra said:

Dad kind of pissed me off. He left, which I sort of get but then never went back to see how his son was living? Never suggested his son come live with him? I don’t think you get to have righteous indignation about how your kid grows up when you are an absentee dad, video calls notwithstanding.

Amen. I have very little sympathy for people who let their children live in absolute filth -- which I distinguish from mere "hoarding" of too much stuff. Living in a hoarding home is bad enough, but children living in filth because you're too lazy to throw out the trash is inexcusable.

The father gets no leniency from me. He left and saved himself but didn't care about his child enough to even know how he was living, much less rescue him.

[Mojeaux]

I skipped the "where are they now" (and associated discussion) and went to David and Elizabeth, and, halfway through the episode, I am commenting blind because I'm in a blind rage.

David is possibly the most vile human being ever to grace the landfills of Hoarders. I do not care in the least bit about Elizabeth's fault in this. He is just too repulsive for me to care about her "fault" in it.

"She was on the plain side." No, she wasn't, you motherfucker. She was adorable.

"I'd do it for [the stranger] before I'd do it for [my daughter]." We can extrapolate how he feels about doing it for his wife.

Okay, I got that off my chest. Back to the episode.

[JudyObscure]

7 hours ago, Mojeaux said:

David is possibly the most vile human being ever to grace the landfills of Hoarders.

LOL😃 I sure hope he reads this.  We know he watches TV all day because he didn't always have TV growing up 😕 but I'll bet he surfs the net a little while he's  "'doing financial business."

[Elizzikra]

David and Odette... yeesh. I don't even know where to start. First - David needs a paramedic during every stressful conversation yet he somehow thinks he's going to haul gravel and landscape his entire property???

[CrazyInAlabama]

New, "David and Odette", another Canadian edition episode.  I love seeing the different parts of Canada. 

From The Blue Mountains, Ontario  . David is in poor health from the hoard and vermin, and Odette, his wife, is sick of the hoard.   What a lovely house it was supposed to be, never completed, and falling apart.  He's been divorced before, and Odette is ready to leave.  He only can get into the house by using a step ladder into the kitchen.   Odette says she's leaving if the house isn't cleaned out.  David's daughter and Odette's son used to be married, and David and Odette have grandchildren in common.   

When Odette moved in most of her stuff wouldn't fit in the house, so it's outside rotting.  They had a furnace go boom, and 17,000 vinyl records worth about $100,000 were destroyed.   David claims Odette discovered online auctions, and wasted $100,000 of thei income.    David was much younger than his older broterh, and Tony was the mother's favorite.  He was molested repeatedly by his brother's partner.     He never told his parents. 

His first marriage collapsed from him being a workaholic, and he divorced again.  He has two kids with the first wife.  Samantha is his daughter. David never had time for his children.   She refuses to bring her four children to see David, and she says she doesn't think her brother's children even know who David is.  

The house is piled high with junk.   When David cut an artery in his leg, the paramedics couldn't get into the house, and Odette had to go outside to meet paramedics in the middle of a heart issue. David and Odette both have heart issues.   David also has fainting spells.  The stairs to the upper story are temporary construction stairs, and totally unsafe.  He hasn't used his design studio for 10 years.  

Psychologist is Sarah Ahmed.     Mike is David's friend, and Samantha, his daughter, will both be at the clean up.   

David collapses from dizziness, and has to be helped outside.  He's blaming the crafting materials Odette brought with her, for the front entrance blockade.  He says Odette has been adding to the hoard from her online auction purchases.Piles of tools and auto parts fill the driveway and yard.  David almost collapses again.  Samantha is touring the house with the organizer.  

My question is why Odette even set foot in the house when she married David? I'm so proud of Samantha for picking her children's safety over letting them be exposed to the hoard.  Later, Samantha brings two of her kids to the cleanup, so another adult child sacrificing her kids' wellbeing to suck up to a parent who will never care about them.    Why is Effy the organizer catering to David and Odette? I'm sure Sarah the psychologist will be doing that too.  The organizers and helpers should be wearing good respirators. 

Odette didn't show up for Day One, she's in the house.   Effy says they can only work with David's possessions, not Odette's or mutual items.  Odette is refusing to talk to anyone about removing the hoard. Odette says she's leaving David right now. After a 4-hour delay, Odette gives permission to clear the front doorway.   Front door area is clear, and they move on to empty the living room.  Odette finally comes out to join the clean-up to look at her stuff. 

Samantha tells David that if Odette is really leaving, she has to take her stuff with her.   In the middle of David's chest pains, Odette is going to confront him.  Then, the dresser stays.  The house is on a 2.5 acre lot, and it's full. David wants an auctioneer to evaluate the hoard. The outside hoard includes a sailboat, vehicles, camper trailers, tractor, utility trailer, which would sell for enough to landscape the yard area.   David claims his rusted out Bronco is worth as much as one that sold at auction for $187,000.   Odette is wanting to get rid of virtually everything, and David is refusing.   Samantha is a s$&% stirrer, and I'm all for it, anything to clean the hoard out is fine by me.  (From what I can find, this was filmed in 2021). 

Day Two-Odette claims to be leaving again, dog is sick, and Odette's with the dog.  The kitchen is being emptied, and it's full of dead rodents.   Samantha brought two of her kids to help.  Poor Mike, they find a funeral card for his late wife.  Odette's friend Edy is urging her to ditch stuff, but Odette's getting meaner, and keeping stuff.  The grandson's more mature than David is. 

A lot of stuff was donated.  The 'keep' pile is huge.  The three donation places only accepted 5% of what was on the donation truck. Then, David says trash everything, but he's only talking about the rejected donations.   Odette claims her pile of stuff are the only things she wants to keep. 

Day Three goal is to clear the catwalk, drafting room, and upstairs.  The catwalk railing on one side has caution tape on it.  Odette says everything in the garage and basement is David's.  David's now keeping almost everything, including outdated software. 

Samantha still expects her father to choose her and her children over the hoard, and he never will.   Odette is still whining at David. David and Odette are trashing a lot now. 

Day Four-David admits he went through the dumpsters during the night. Today is the cleaners working on the house, and put 'keep' junk back inside.  Sorry, that house is not fit to live in, no matter how clean they claim it is. David and Odette claim to love the cleaned out house.  There's still too much junk. There are piles of boxes, and you can see stacks of outdated electronics behind David. David and Odette claim they want aftercare.  I'm not buying the David and Odette happy scene at the end.   

Epilogue-They're still married, and working on the house. 

(A word of warning, anyone who has been exposed to vermin the way David & Odette, and the entire crew have been, make sure if you get sick you tell the medical personnel you've been exposed to rodents). 

(Next week is another Canadian Hoarders episode, Coral). 

Edited March 12 by CrazyInAlabama

[JudyObscure]

David and Odette sure did live in a beautiful place. Blue Mountain Ontario helps to make up for the cold misery of last week's Artic Ocean coastal village.

 Odette may or may not be a hoarder but I heartily disliked her.  Anyone who can sit and pout for four hours while 20 people wait outside for her is a spoiled brat in my eyes.  When David was crying over his dead wife and she walked up and said, "But now you have me!"  I wanted him to say it was a real down grade.

I thought they should have let David keep his software.  It wouldn't take up a lot of space and it was what he was used to working on, so who cares if it's outdated? Trying to tell him that his old self (well respected designer) was dead now and all he was, was a grandfather, seemed cruel and untrue to me.  Our talents don't quit existing when we retire.

  David's self esteem was taking hit after hit, his wife telling him she was leaving him, and  Goodwill telling him all his valued things were too trashy and useless for them, all had to hurt.  I think the kindest thing for the team to do would have been to go straight from the donation center to the landfill and not mention it to David.

That final reveal was so disappointing. This is what happens when men design houses.  Furniture placement never enters their heads and you end up with no wall space and all the furniture floating around in the middle in each other's way.

[CrazyInAlabama]

David was crying over his friend Mike's late wife.  That's why friend Mike looked so teary-eyed.  The friend's wife sounds like a lovely person, who was very kind to the two children that David didn't give a hoot about.       David's two exes were apparently still around. 

I couldn't believe David and Odette clinging to each other at the end.  Or that either one will get rid of anything more, or stop online shopping.   I feel sorry for the kids and grandkids who want either of them to love them. 

When the 22 year age difference with David's brother was mentioned, I had to wonder if that was his brother or his father, and the parents raised David without telling him the truth.   It wouldn't be the first case I heard of where that happened. 

I was disgusted that Samantha roped her two kids into cleaning up, and seeing the revolting behavior of their grandparents.   The children should never have been near that hoard, and it's vermin.    If Samantha is smart, she will stop trying to get her father and stepmother to care about her and her children, because David and Odette don't care about anyone but themselves.   It's a waste of time to try to get people to love you who are incapable of loving anyone. 

(Next Monday is about "Coral", another Canadian episode, and I think that's the end of the season). 

Edited March 13 by CrazyInAlabama

[Hedgehog2022]

This episode was kind of heart wrenching. David had alot of trauma...his childhood was terrible. A 22 year age difference between him and his brother is almost unbelievable...how would he and his brother ever be bonded brothers with that age difference? His parents favored his brother over him and then his brother's partner molested him? OMG! No wonder he became a hoarder...I would have recommended he get therapy ASAP. His wife was a nightmare...spoiled brat princess who gave me the vibe of being possibly an abuser. She was just awful in every way. His grandchildren shouldn't have been there...the boy seemed genuinely saddened and depressed seeing the hoard. He and his sister should not have been a part of the clean up...they are too young to process this properly.

[Mollywolly555]

Odette is MEAN,  self-centered, passive aggressive, agressive-agressive,  horrible. 

David is damaged. He has alot of hobbies, skills, and dreams, but ......limited time...24/7... like all of us, and probably less cuz of his age and health issues limiting his activity. Water and blood pressure is all the medic offered? Where were the EMTs with heart monitor, oxygen,  etc..  like in previous episodes???

Together they created a disaster.  

But I get it. Somewhat.  I  get David's goals for landscaping and designing/drawing again, because I'm retired and have several hobbies...and corresponding materials ...of which I had to limit myself on buying until I used what I had. 

Now I'm almost 70 and I know I can't do the big gardening or landscaping work/hauling anymore,  so I will need to get help AND scale back. I enjoyed the effort and results but just cannot do it.   Reality sucks. 

My point is that I don't understand why the therapist and organizer don't sit down with hoarders ahead of time and do a priority list of hobbies or plans that they love to do,  like to do,  and have to do.  Then have a reality talk about time and physicality wth them.  And remind them about their priorities as they sort. Too practical? 

Grandchildren can be at the top of the list, but with the hoarder being made aware of the legacy of stuff/junk and memories they will be leaving/burdening them with,  and developing an alternative future. A future of Christmas gatherings,  sleepovers, sharing a hobby or teaching skills, or talking about interesting family history, of course, not the abuse,  or whatever.( That said, I hated the guilt trip of using the grandson with  David... not healthy for either one ) 

Need a big poster with the info above on it to remind the hoarder as they sort. I know their hoarding/emotional issues run deeper, but it's a way of reframing the decision process. 

 

 

 

[Mojeaux]

What did Dr Tanya Hoarding do to her face?!

"Where are they now?"

CARL: I want to know how much of Carl's "new" indoors hoarding is the result of him trying to find the stuff that was packed away in boxes. They left A LOT of stuff behind. It wasn't a true "clean-out" to begin with.

ERIC: Looks MUCH better than he did the first time around. I'm impressed by his grooming. Almost a totally different dude.

DESTINY: She seems to have lost quite a bit of weight. Lots of energy. She's really put together. Good for her!

TERRI: I always felt like Kraig and Terri got married under pressure of the show. CERTAINLY, that proposal was completely staged.

JOHN: That little dark spot on Andi's upper lip looks like it could be a small melanoma. She's a sweetheart. Went from 4 storage units to 1? Wow. He made progress.

ANDY: Has pancreatic cancer. He has bigger problems than hoarding.

MERYL: That crying is fake.

JANET: Fourteen years?? I don't believe I saw her episode. *sad* But wow!

All in all, I'm just really really happy for Destiny and Janet.

[torontomeridith]

On 3/12/2024 at 2:22 PM, CrazyInAlabama said:

When the 22 year age difference with David's brother was mentioned, I had to wonder if that was his brother or his father, and the parents raised David without telling him the truth.   It wouldn't be the first case I heard of where that happened.

Same! It would still be the time when such "scandals" were covered up and the fact that the brother and his partner referred to David as their son really put the puzzle pieces together. I'd be shocked if David hadn't considered this possibility.

Additionally, maybe because David and Odette's grandson reminded me of my own kid, I felt so bad for him. He's really going through it, but his grandparents just don't see it clearly. They sing the lyrics of caring, but there's no music behind it. Just hollow sentiments.

[CrazyInAlabama]

(I think this is the season finale).   

Tonight, another Canadian Hoarders episode, "Coral".    From the show site: A woman with a farmhouse filled with art, crafts, instruments, board games, herbs and spices wants to create a community resource center to pass on her expertise, but first she needs help cleaning up her property and uncluttering her life.

She's from : Port Colborne, Ontario. She's originally from South Africa.  

The psychologist is Natasha Sharma.cleaner is Julio.  They always have outdated, unusable electronics.   I find it ironic she calls her massive hoard 'congrested', and claims it's all valuable.   Another artist who never creates anything from their junk.   She only has one way out in case of emergency.   

Jade is the middle daughter and the one who moved out because of the rat infestation.  Coral is angry because the daughter didn't take anything with her when she moved out a year ago.    Michael, Coral's husband still lives in the house.   The house is huge, and on a big piece of property.   I'm sure it was once a lovely house.  Khendra, the youngest daughter still lives in the house too.  Tanya is Coral's younger sister. Tanya says Coral virtually raised her younger brother, and parented Tanya too.     Coral's parents not only parentified her, but neglected the children.   Coral left home at 16.  The husband says Coral shops second hand and garage sales, and always buys a lot of stuff.  Coral is upset that husband and daughter don't do chores any longer, but how could they?  Mara is the oldest daughter and comes to help too. 

She's blaming the daughters and husband for not cleaning up.  She's also claiming the daughters are constantly on their phones, and don't interact with her.    The washer and dryer are under huge piles of clothes, and the dryer is blocking the back door.  Leaving only the front door as an emergency exit.  The city building standards department is going to fine Coral if the house isn't cleaned out and repaired.   

The cleaning expert, Julio,  brings up a great point, they have no idea how secure the second floor is with the load of the hoard, and how many people can safely work up there without the house collapsing. 

 Julio clears the back door area too, great idea.  At least there is an separate outside exit and staircase from the second floor.  After a decent start, Coral sees stuff in the dumpster that should be recycled or donated, and the refusal to cooperate starts.  Coral wants to keeps sofas the mice and rats nest in. This is hopeless.  Everyone should pack up, and call the city to report nothing changed on their way out of town.  

Coral claims she has to keep stuff so all of the family can do crafts together, that will never happen.   The poor pest control guy Truly Nolen Pest Control has a huge job ahead of him.  Natasha, the psychologist, isn't up to Coral, and her issues.   The husband is a total enabler.  He's so passive, and spineless.   He says if Coral died tomorrow, everything would be tossed the next day. 

Julio the cleaner, is trying to speed everything up, by having the daughters go through the second floor, and get rid of furniture from the second floor. Friends and relatives keep trying to talk sense to Coral, an exercise in futility and madness.      Coral is a lost cause.  I just feel sorry for the friends and relatives that thought she would actually clean up.   I don't feel sorry for Michael, he did nothing to help his daughters get away from the hoard.  

The last day, Natasha lets Coral lead the morning meeting, and Coral shows how delusional and nasty she is.  Coral is going to blow up any second. Coral is just churning, and going through the same items over and over.  Coral is a lost cause.  

The poor cleaning crew are doing their best, but the house is full of vermin and their contaminated residue.    The house looks decent, so where is everything?   There is no way Coral let stuff go like this.  The remaining furniture is junk.  The youngest daughter thinks the house won't get rehoarded, and she's so wrong. 

Epilogue-Coral is working with an aftercare therapist, all three daughter have started new craft projects in the home, and there have been no more vermin sightings.  (Where did all of that stuff go?  I'm not believing it went away). 

Edited March 19 by CrazyInAlabama

[lu1535]

Forgive me for going back to last week's show, but I was really hoping to see the oil leak mess in the basement. Is the oil still there? Did they dispose of the contaminated stuff? I bet not and the producers missed a great shock factor by not letting us see.

[JudyObscure]

7 minutes ago, lu1535 said:

Forgive me for going back to last week's show, but I was really hoping to see the oil leak mess in the basement.

And this week I was hoping to see some rats.  Did they get the rats all out before the stuff went back in? I also wanted to see the cat who produced all the hair.  We used to always get some cat footage and a good shot of pickles.

They sure did go from piles of filthy junk to a clean house in a short jump.

I think the reason we see so many totally whipped husbands on this show is that the stronger ones would never allow their wives to wreck their homes the way the level five hoarders have done. They would have put a stop to it at about level three for their children's sake.

Many of the women are stay at home moms like Coral and  the husband not only has to let her get away with failing to do her part in the division of labor (housework) he's giving her enough money to create the hoard. 

I think Jade had a crush on Julio.  I  noticed the way she looked at him.

Well a few weeks ago I mentioned all the ill fitting bras we see on the Hoarders, Coral and her daughters seemed to have solved that problem.  

[CrazyInAlabama]

I agree, where did all the massive piles of boxes and junk Coral kept go?   There was virtually nothing in the house compared to what she kept.   I wonder if there was a barn, or huge garage or other building packed full?    There is no way she actually got rid of that stuff.    I feel sorry for the daughters who think their mother will ever change.   Don't get me started on the useless husband, who enabled Coral for all of these years, at the cost of his daughters growing up in that hell hole.   I bet that house was packed full the second the Hoarders crew left.  

[Stevie Nicks]

5 hours ago, lu1535 said:

Forgive me for going back to last week's show, but I was really hoping to see the oil leak mess in the basement. Is the oil still there? Did they dispose of the contaminated stuff? I bet not and the producers missed a great shock factor by not letting us see.

As I recall, there was a still shot of the basement showing everything covered in oil. I don't remember seeing anything else. 

Coral was a real bitch. Blame the kids for not cleaning up. Sure. She showed her true colors the day she called the meeting. Bitch. Her husband is so whipped he just checked out and dgaf anymore. That house is still full of vermin, I'm sure. And mold and whatever other structural issues. 

[Elizzikra]

1 hour ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I agree, where did all the massive piles of boxes and junk Coral kept go?   There was virtually nothing in the house compared to what she kept.   I wonder if there was a barn, or huge garage or other building packed full?    There is no way she actually got rid of that stuff.    I feel sorry for the daughters who think their mother will ever change.   Don't get me started on the useless husband, who enabled Coral for all of these years, at the cost of his daughters growing up in that hell hole.   I bet that house was packed full the second the Hoarders crew left.  

I wonder if they didn’t just leave it all outside, under tarps.

 

4 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

And this week I was hoping to see some rats.  Did they get the rats all out before the stuff went back in? I also wanted to see the cat who produced all the hair.  We used to always get some cat footage and a good shot of pickles.

I’m phobic of rats so I’m just as glad not to have seen them but yes, usually we do get some shots of them gleefully taking over the house. I laughed when Coral announced during her tantrum that everything about her life was deliberate. Yeah - I’m sure living in a literal rat’s nest was a deliberate plan on her part.

 

4 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

They sure did go from piles of filthy junk to a clean house in a short jump.

I think the reason we see so many totally whipped husbands on this show is that the stronger ones would never allow their wives to wreck their homes the way the level five hoarders have done. They would have put a stop to it at about level three for their children's sake.

We also didn’t see a group of poor, beleaguered house cleaners trying to take care of 30 years worth of mess in a couple hours. 

I do think the strong spouses leave, which is fine as long as they don’t leave the kids and the pets behind. So many of them do and I honestly don’t know how they do that. I think they have their own special kind of denial. The spouses who are less able to set and maintain boundaries stay, like Coral’s husband. I guess maybe some stay because they just can’t afford anything else, but…

[CrazyInAlabama]

They did show the housecleaners, but briefly.   I suspect the hoard was in the back yard, under tarps or in some out building, because they never showed the back after the first few drone scenes of the entire property.    

In the Lori episode (the lady in the lovely town in Nunavut) they had a shipping container filling up with boxes, but apparently she's cleaned it out, and kept the house clean, and it's been a couple of years. 

 In Coral's case, I'm not believing the epilogue, and I'm sure there is a bunch of stuff in boxes somewhere.  If they really haven't seen more rats running around, then I wouldn't be surprised if they relocated to where ever the mountain of boxed stuff that mysteriously disappeared.   I don't believe anyone really looked at Coral's house, and they just take her word about the conditions.   

Edited March 20 by CrazyInAlabama

[Suzywriter]

On 3/17/2024 at 5:15 PM, torontomeridith said:

Same! It would still be the time when such "scandals" were covered up and the fact that the brother and his partner referred to David as their son really put the puzzle pieces together. I'd be shocked if David hadn't considered this possibility.

Additionally, maybe because David and Odette's grandson reminded me of my own kid, I felt so bad for him. He's really going through it, but his grandparents just don't see it clearly. They sing the lyrics of caring, but there's no music behind it. Just hollow sentiments.

I wondered if David was from a beard marriage from before "big brother" came out (or got caught). 

 

[Mollywolly555]

Coral is puffed up with the noble purposes to save stuff from landfill, create art and scrapbooks, put leaves/seeds in jars, and give everything a home...as well as blaming her daughters for not cleaning up.... fur years. Why didn't child welfare come in sooner?

She talks with a high and mighty, saving the earth vibe, while  the rats eat the stuff and mold contaminates everything she buys cuz she shops instead of doing her projects, and therfore does not have space to craft at home. She's working against herself to ever do any projects. 

Plus for Goddess sake, point out that NO One wants stuff that was exposed to rat droppings, urine, or mold. That's those mental illness delusions talking

Why didn't the psych or cleaner [or anyone point out her hypocrisy to her?

I really believe they only got the upstairs cleaned out...due to Coral's interfering and nitpicking.  I think she's ADD cuz of her flitting around, lack of focus,  and multiple projects. Again, prioritize crafts/projects and let other crap go. 

I think the downstairs was still packed 26th crap and they just didn't show it, OR that's where all the boxes are being stored. Welcome back rats! 

[Rapunzel]

19 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

They did show the housecleaners, but briefly.   I suspect the hoard was in the back yard, under tarps or in some out building, because they never showed the back after the first few drone scenes of the entire property. 

The opening aerial shot of the home showed I think 3 shed-type buildings. Not sure if they belong to Coral, but I didn’t see any other houses near them. If they are hers, I’m guessing they are fully hoarded out. 

They have a habit of never showing all the rooms in the house at the end so I suspect a lot of the hoarders have rooms just full of boxes that they fully intend to get to later (yeah right). 🙄

I’m not as big a fan of the Canadian version. The “experts” don’t seem to have much personality and aren’t as involved as Dorothy, Dr. Z (bee stung looking face and all), Matt and Cory. I don’t think we saw Cory this season though. He can be a bit of an a**, but he isn’t afraid to be very direct with the hoarders and their friends/family. 

Edited March 20 by Rapunzel

[enoughcats]

We bought our place about thirty years ago and have an 18 mile drive to the city.  For decades I watched a double carport that was full of stuff. No cars, just stuff, from the floor to the ceiling and solidly packed making it look as if it had been carved out of stuff. 

Somehow, the stuff is now gone. Not scattered over the property.  Now there's a pontoon boat stored there and a car. And nothing on top of either.

I wonder what caused the salvation of that carport.

[JudyObscure]

1 hour ago, enoughcats said:

wonder what caused the salvation of that carport.

Death and re-sale I'm guessing.  Long before this show, we would regularly pass a cute little house in WV, perched on top of a hill and completely surrounded by ten foot high piles of colorful clothes.  I miss it now that normal people seem to live there.

 

4 hours ago, Mollywolly555 said:

Coral is puffed up with the noble purposes to save stuff from landfill, create art and scrapbooks, put leaves/seeds in jars, and give everything a home...as well as blaming her daughters for not cleaning up.... fur years. 

Of all the irritating things about hoarders, that's the one that aggravates me the most. A few seasons back a woman looked into the camera and lectured us all about WASTE while standing in the middle of her sky scarpers of QVC boxes.

  I really, really want someone to tell them that nothing is more wasteful than buying  thousands of dollars worth of stuff they don't need and that there is absolutely  no difference between a landfill and their living room.

I wanted some one to ask Coral how many illnesses she has cured with her mouse chewed dead herbs and why she has her stuff in her daughters' rooms and ask to see some of the "fabric art," she created.

[CrazyInAlabama]

On 3/20/2024 at 6:36 AM, Rapunzel said:

The opening aerial shot of the home showed I think 3 shed-type buildings. Not sure if they belong to Coral, but I didn’t see any other houses near them. If they are hers, I’m guessing they are fully hoarded out. 

They have a habit of never showing all the rooms in the house at the end so I suspect a lot of the hoarders have rooms just full of boxes that they fully intend to get to later (yeah right). 🙄

I’m not as big a fan of the Canadian version. The “experts” don’t seem to have much personality and aren’t as involved as Dorothy, Dr. Z (bee stung looking face and all), Matt and Cory. I don’t think we saw Cory this season though. He can be a bit of an a**, but he isn’t afraid to be very direct with the hoarders and their friends/family. 

Matt was the cleaning expert on the St. Louis episode with Bob (the fantastic artist who wanted to change his home into a museum) .  Cory revisited Meryl, in Massachusetts.      Matt and Cory weren't on other episodes this season.  

Edited March 24 by CrazyInAlabama

[Rapunzel]

8 minutes ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

Matt was the cleaning expert on the St. Louis episode with Bob.  Cory revisited Meryl, in Massachusetts.      Matt and Cory weren't on other episodes this season.  

Thanks - I can’t remember the Cory episode very well. I may have to re-watch. I did notice the they used Dorothy the most this season. I like her personality and she has a lot of empathy for the hoarders as well as their loved ones. Sometimes though you need a Cory to just be firm and direct, especially with the most stubborn hoarders. 
 

I don’t think Matt spent the night in any houses this season. It’s always interesting to see it from his viewpoint in there in the dark on his own (well, with a camera person). Most of these homes I wouldn’t be able to spend 5 minutes in alone, never mind overnight. 

Edited March 20 by Rapunzel

[enoughcats]

Am I the only one here who no longer looks as row upon row of self storage units (that seem to multiply like un-neutered large dogs) without inserting some profane adjectives before saying "storage sheds"?

I think the town closest to us now has one shed per house, and the sheds continue to multiply, faster than houses are built. 

[JudyObscure]

2 hours ago, enoughcats said:

Am I the only one here who no longer looks as row upon row of self storage units (that seem to multiply like un-neutered large dogs) without inserting some profane adjectives before saying "storage sheds"?

I think the town closest to us now has one shed per house, and the sheds continue to multiply, faster than houses are built. 

Oh yes, my street  mainly consists of older retired couples.  Yet all our houses have, three car garages.  So we should all have plenty of  garage space for mowers and rakes.  Nope.  We're the only house that doesn't have a shed in the back and our yards would look so much prettier with out them.  At least they make a nice home for possums and ground hogs.

[Maisiesmom]

Well I got all caught up last night. David and Odette were such a joke-why would she marry someone who was so bad that she couldn't even bring her stuff in the house? Did she not see the inside before they got married? I think his "dizzy spells" were bullshit-just a way to make people feel sorry for him. And his wife? One minute she's mad at him and the next she's hugging and kissing him and the next she won't talk to anyone and won't throw anything away and has to bring the poor dog along because it doesn't feel good? WTF?  And don't get me started on Coral-she has a wimp for a husband, (at least her girls were cool) and is another one of these people that has to touch every damn item and wants to keep crap that has rodent waste on it? Um, no. That house was so bad I think I would just burn it down and start over. My sister was a hoarder (we didn't know until after she died) and my husband is one also. However, he was recently diagnosed with dementia so what I do is pitch stuff while hes sleeping (which he does a lot) and he doesn't really notice.I know the only way for me to get rid of his stuff is after he dies then I can really clean it all out.

[satrunrose]

One thing I find interesting about hoarding is that I don't know a lot of other run-of-the-mill mental illnesses (especially OCD and anxiety, which hoarding is most closely associated with) where so many of the patients seem very convinced that they are far superior to the rest of us. Cora wanted to start a community centre to teach people her ways for heaven's sake!

I felt really bad for the daughters. They didn't seem to mind that their mom was blaming the whole thing on them and then proved that she was lying when they talked about how the house was always like that and they never realized you could live in a clean, non-ratty house before they started spending time at other people's houses. 

[Elizzikra]

2 hours ago, satrunrose said:

I don't know a lot of other run-of-the-mill mental illnesses (especially OCD and anxiety, which hoarding is most closely associated with) where so many of the patients seem very convinced that they are far superior to the rest of us.

That is an interesting thought! I am somewhat knowledgeable about Eating Disorders. Many people with EDs think that they are superior to other people in terms of their ability to severely limit intake. They can think they are almost superhuman in their ability to go days and days without food and sometimes they see themselves as superior to their “weaker” peers who have to eat. 

Narcissists see themselves as the center of attention; the center of the world. They definitely view themselves as superior to other people.

Schizophrenics can have delusions that they have special powers; have been anointed by God, or are otherwise “superior” in some ways.

Those are just a few off the top of my head but I am now terribly curious about the phenomenon of feelings of superiority being a feature of mental illness.

[satrunrose]

7 hours ago, Elizzikra said:

That is an interesting thought! I am somewhat knowledgeable about Eating Disorders. Many people with EDs think that they are superior to other people in terms of their ability to severely limit intake. They can think they are almost superhuman in their ability to go days and days without food and sometimes they see themselves as superior to their “weaker” peers who have to eat. 

Narcissists see themselves as the center of attention; the center of the world. They definitely view themselves as superior to other people.

Schizophrenics can have delusions that they have special powers; have been anointed by God, or are otherwise “superior” in some ways.

Those are just a few off the top of my head but I am now terribly curious about the phenomenon of feelings of superiority being a feature of mental illness.

Agreed, I was trying to find a way to distinguish between anxiety/depression/OCD and ED/narcissism/schizophrenia but didn't quite make it. 

The more I watch Hoarders, the more I wonder if it's not just one disease. Some hoarders do seem more depressed than anything (I find those are the ones that have the most positive end, although the follow-up isn't always so great). Some do seem anxious with a heaping helping of defensiveness (I had plans for that!). Those are the ones I try to watch when I'm trying to de-clutter. I'm not a hoarder, but I do have more stuff than I need due to "but I might be able to use it!". Then there are the Sonias who are sure that they are the superior people and that the organizers are there to bend the laws of physics and get 100% of the stuff that isn't literal trash back in the house and "organized" somehow. 

[enoughcats]

A friend is faced with the discovery that her sister is a hoarder.  Maybe fortunately this discovery was made before the sister's death.  The sister,. though, is 80. 

Have you read anything about how folks can deal with hoarders of this age and who really don't think they have a problem?

[enoughcats]

Now a brief trip to not so jolly olde England where a "fly tipper" has hoarded out a fourteen hectare bit of land formerly called a "Beauty spot" .  To the neighbors dismay, they're going to be the ones whose community will pay to clean it and in a similar action, the fly tipper got a suspended sentence. 

Interesting photos and some video from a drone.

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13294367/Life-living-Britains-worst-fly-tipper-landowner-branded-neighbour-hell-turned-14-hectare-beauty-spot-personal-landfill-site-locals-hope-never-comes-area-blighted.html

[JudyObscure]

The Daily Mail's  slang always makes it hard for me to understand their articles, but in spite of having to look up "fly-tipping " (illegal dumping) and "beauty spot" (a place in the countryside which is famous because it is beautiful) it was an amazing story. At first I thought he didn't own the land, but it's his so he must be fairly well to do. 

How can one human destroy so much land in just a few years, merely by living on it?  I hope this guy does some real jail time.