Hoarders - General Discussion

[auntjess]

On 3/22/2019 at 5:54 PM, bettylou said:

I believe they said that they wanted to put the kids in foster homes.   But the mother refused or something. 

But with the  conditions, it shouldn't have been allowed.
I bet those kids would have rather been with clean strangers.

[JudyObscure]

On ‎3‎/‎20‎/‎2019 at 3:01 PM, BookWoman56 said:

I watch snippets of this show occasionally precisely because there’s about a 50% chance my daughter will have to deal with this scenario when her father dies at some point.

I'm currently reading, "The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning," which is all about the Swedish custom of going through collections and clutter with a view toward the next generation and sparing them the sorting and decisions regarding your stuff. It sounds morbid, but it's really a helpful little book.  If only we could get people like your daughter's father to read it.

[funky-rat]

9 hours ago, auntjess said:

But with the  conditions, it shouldn't have been allowed.
I bet those kids would have rather been with clean strangers.

From the sound of it, the house wasn't disgusting by that point - just sounded like it was badly cluttered.  The granddaughter said the house had a working toilet, and while her grandmother wasn't using it, she was emptying out the cups she was using outside instead of going straight on the floor.  Not excusing it whatsoever, but it wasn't to the level of what it was when we saw it on the show.

[AZChristian]

26 minutes ago, funky-rat said:

From the sound of it, the house wasn't disgusting by that point - just sounded like it was badly cluttered.  The granddaughter said the house had a working toilet, and while her grandmother wasn't using it, she was emptying out the cups she was using outside instead of going straight on the floor.  Not excusing it whatsoever, but it wasn't to the level of what it was when we saw it on the show.

It was disgusting enough that the kids smelled when they went to school.  

[funky-rat]

19 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

It was disgusting enough that the kids smelled when they went to school.  

That was after the initial visit.  It's not right, but it the house seemed somewhat passable, it was probably preferable to putting the kids in to foster care.  At some point, C&Y was tipped off that the house was worse, and were ready to put them in to foster care, but their mom convinced them to hold off for 2 months until she was released from prison and could reclaim them herself.

[JudyObscure]

19 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

It was disgusting enough that the kids smelled when they went to school.  

And when Linda said, "My house was in perfect order until my husband died," both kids looked at each other and shook their heads and Dale said ,"It was nasty."  Poor Dale used the word "nasty,' several times and his sister seemed to agree with me that the whole ordeal of living in Grandma's filth plus feeling abandoned by his mother, really damaged him a lot.  I just wanted to bring Dale home and nurture him until he felt safe enough to let the hood of his sweatshirt down.

5 minutes ago, funky-rat said:

That was after the initial visit.  It's not right, but it the house seemed somewhat passable, it was probably preferable to putting the kids in to foster care.  At some point, C&Y was tipped off that the house was worse, and were ready to put them in to foster care, but their mom convinced them to hold off for 2 months until she was released from prison and could reclaim them herself.

I agree that two more months with grandma, at that point, was probably better than the further trauma of a foster home and who knows how much red tape before their mother got them back.

[ChicagoCita]

I just keep going back to Dallas saying that cockroaches and mice crawled on him while he was asleep at Grandma's. That is my worst nightmare. It's literally my idea of torture. I see that whole family with flat voices and it breaks my heart. What terrors and emotions must be hiding inside.

[BookWoman56]

14 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

I'm currently reading, "The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning," which is all about the Swedish custom of going through collections and clutter with a view toward the next generation and sparing them the sorting and decisions regarding your stuff. It sounds morbid, but it's really a helpful little book.  If only we could get people like your daughter's father to read it.

Oh, he might read it but would never think of applying the process to his own home. Like most of these people, he didn't become a hoarder overnight. He spent from when he was about 8 through 17 living on his grandparents' farm, where it was common to hang onto stuff rather than automatically throw it away once it had become too worn or whatever for its original purpose. So stuff was recycled; for example, the handle for a farm implement that broke might be removed for use with another implement, etc. And they had a storage room adjacent to the main house, so it was easy to put things up for later use. But there's a huge difference between actually recycling things and just hanging onto anything and everything on the off chance that you might someday use it, and an even bigger difference between recycling items you originally purchased for a specific purpose and going around to garage sales and thrift stores to buy crap that other people have decided they don't want any more.

He didn't go into full-scale hoarding until about 20 years ago, when his aunt died and left him her house, which was a couple of years after we'd divorced. He started collecting books, with the rationale that he was acquiring a lot of collectible books that could be sold at a profit. And for a while, that's what happened, but as noted, only when I was more or less in business with him and handling the inventory and organization, along with processing the online sales. But during that time, when he was scouting out estate sales looking for collectible books, he also started going to thrift stores and just gradually filled up his house with all kinds of junk, because he couldn't resist the idea of getting something that once sold for X amount of money, at a fraction of the original price. It ceased to matter if it was something that he might actually use; the entire point was that it was a "bargain." So over the course of several years, my daughter and I watched this transformation of his house from a pretty nice house that simply needed some updates to an obstacle course. It got to where he had stuff stacked on the back patio, and code compliance issued citations until he got that mess under better control. My daughter had never spent much time at his house, but she quit even the most casual visits a few years ago. The last time I spoke to him was about three years ago, and at that time, he was relying on whatever live-in boarder he could find to keep the kitchen, living room, bathroom, and one bedroom relatively clean; his family room and what would normally be the breakfast area are stacked with books and other crap, as is the master bedroom, third bedroom, and garage. He is a fundamentally lazy slob, who thinks he's too good to clean anything, so the boarder is the only reason that parts of the house are relatively clean and free of junk. He's never going to get rid of the books and other crap voluntarily, because in his mind, they are valuable. Sure, he's got some books that at one point would have been considered collectibles, but given the way he's stored them for years now, their condition has probably deteriorated to the point that they're worthless. 

I suspect he's got the same mindset that a lot of hoarders do: when other people fill their houses with stuff, that's hoarding, but what I'm doing is collecting valuable items that I need/want, and even though my house is crowded, that's a small price to pay to have all this valuable stuff. They're just delusional. 

My exposure to his hoarding has left me with an aversion to having too much stuff and to having what stuff I do have be unorganized. I went through a minimalist phase a few years ago and got rid of anything I wasn't really using. I've since bought a fairly large house for various reasons, but I still don't have a lot of stuff. I don't have a lot of clothes; I do have a decent supply of kitchen stuff but not excessive; right now I also have two sets of formal china and three sets of crystal, plus silver, but most of that is my mother's and it all fits into a china cabinet and sideboard. There's a lot of empty space in any given room in my house, precisely because I can't stand overfull rooms and clutter. So when I watch this show or any of the hoarding shows, I'm generally horrified by what I see.

[enoughcats]

Tonight's gross out: three houses and one hoarder

"Patricia

A retired nurse makes extra money selling things that other people have discarded, but is fined thousands of dollars a week because her three Florida homes are overflowing with her inventory."

[CrazyInAlabama]

I can't wait to see this one.   Poor Corey, he certainly has a task ahead of him.

The blue eye shadow on the hoarder, Patricia, is hideous.  Three houses full of garbage, all with fines from codes enforcement on them.   

Patricia is a true hoarder, because her pick up truck is a rolling hoard.   I love how she says it's not hoarding when you resell it, but there are three houses full of garbage, inside and out.   

Bill, Patricia's boyfriend seems sane, but he's obviously not, because he's with her.    I'm guessing Cooper City is in Florida?    If I lived next to her, I would be screaming at the city authorities to clean that garbage out.  

So Bill went from partner, and selling stuff, to hoarder enabler.     How could anyone afford three houses?   And all of the junk to fill them inside and out?    

So a heavily depressed Jenny (the daughter) loses the father of her daughter, another fiance, and has drug issues, and wants her daughter to come back to live with her in Patricia's house from hell?    Jenny needs to move out to a nice, quiet place where she can work on her issues, and maybe get better.  

 Patricia is another kookie one, who doesn't realize that clearing all three houses out, and selling two would give them money, make everyone's life better, and stop the fines from codes enforcement.  

Edited March 27, 2019 by CrazyInAlabama

[atlantaloves]

Let me tell you if this hoarder doesn't piss and crap on the floor, this episode should be heaven. Last week just about put me off this show FOREVER....and I am or was a huge fan. 

[DC Gal in VA]

Heh heh, strap yourselves in folks, this one looks like a SCREAMER! 😲

[Julyolo]

She looks like she should have hoarded some serious sunscreen. Is that her husband? He looks 20 years younger!

[suev3333]

Dr Z to the rescue!😄

[atlantaloves]

I'll wait until it is recorded...but yahooooo Dr. Tonya Harding, LOVE HER....I gotta have dinner first too....YOU GUYS LOVING THIS ONE????💖

[DC Gal in VA]

13 minutes ago, Julyolo said:

She looks like she should have hoarded some serious sunscreen. Is that her husband? He looks 20 years younger!

Oh Julyolo, like those 600, 700 and then some poundticipants on M600PL, how does someone like that get a man! 😆

[Julyolo]

10 minutes ago, DC Gal in VA said:

Oh Julyolo, like those 600, 700 and then some poundticipants on M600PL, how does someone like that get a man! 😆

LOL....maybe it's her son? OMG it IS her boyfriend.

Edited March 27, 2019 by Julyolo
Clarification

[rebel2u]

I've just watched the opening segments and see that Patricia is a former ER nurse and she's challenging someone to a fist fight.

Patricia seems like the nurse that would punch me out for whining for more pain medication after surgery.

Edited March 27, 2019 by rebel2u

[DC Gal in VA]

Wow, that sister Donna! I guess the nasty, bitchy fruit does not fall far from the nasty, bitchy, blue eyeshadowed tree! Hee. Jenny needs to put on her big girl panties, get a good lawyer, and get her four year old daughter away from this harpie! Who know what she is saying to her daughter about her behind her back!?

[Julyolo]

2 minutes ago, rebel2u said:

I've just watched the opening segments and see that Patricia is a former ER nurse and she's challenging someone to a fist fight.

Patricia seems like the nurse that would punch me out for whining for more pain medication after surgery.

Because she took it.

[Midnightblue]

2 minutes ago, DC Gal in VA said:

Wow, that sister Donna! I guess the nasty, bitchy fruit does not fall far from the nasty, bitchy, blue eyeshadowed tree! Hee. Jenny needs to put on her big girl panties, get a good lawyer, and get her four year old daughter away from this harpie! Who know what she is saying to her daughter about her behind her back!?

I think the daughter is a teenager that has been living with the sister for 4 years.

[Miracle Maxie]

Bill fascinates me. He seems to be behaving like we’ve always wanted the various enablers to behave. It’s different, but I have the feeling it’s not going to end well. 

[fonfereksglen]

Is this about cleaning out a hoard or watching nasty people?  Too much Dr. Z babbling to the camera and not enough progress.  BORING.

And too many commercials.  After the first half hour, 5 minutes of show with 2 minutes of commercials.

Edited March 27, 2019 by fonfereksglen

[JunkFoodTV]

Well she certainly has hoarded blue eyeshadow. Woof...

[DC Gal in VA]

26 minutes ago, Midnightblue said:

I think the daughter is a teenager that has been living with the sister for 4 years.

Thanks Midnightblue. Well if she is a teenager, that's even sadder. I mistakenly thought the daughter was much younger. If she was a little girl then IMHO there's more hope of having an easier time of re-establishing a mother/daughter relationship. So dysfunctional and sad.

[Suzywriter]

Hi, I'm late to the party.

Watching Patricia. At least there are no neglected pets in this hoard.

[DC Gal in VA]

Sad to say, but I think this one is too far gone..................

[Guest]

I just can't with that stuffed banana with the dreadlocks on the porch only because I know it was the final, sad chapter to this already sad (yet hysterical) story:

[Julyolo]

It's like a Fellini movie! It just cranks on. Where do they live? Crazy Town? The best was when the boyfriend was hammering apart some chairs, and she told him "Stop it--you're making a mess".

Edited March 27, 2019 by Julyolo
Clarification

[CrazyInAlabama]

Jenny's daughter went to live with her aunt Donna, after her (the girl's) father died, another fiance died, and Jenny became depressed, and addicted to pills.     I think the daughter was about 6 to 8 at the time, and has lived with the aunt for over 4 years.    Jenny said she moved in with the mother after rehab in the hoard where Patricia, and Bill live.     If Jenny thinks she'll ever get custody, and get the daughter to agree to move into that hoarded house, especially since Jenny still seems depressed, she is fooling herself.    

If Bill had any sense, he would take his stuff, and the dog, and move out, leaving no forwarding address.    Patricia is BSC, and there no fixing that.     They will never get the outside fixed up enough for codes enforcement to stop the fines, and the area (I Googled it) accumulates fines, goes to court, and cleans the houses out.     By that time the fines on all three will be too much to pay, and the houses won't belong to Patricia then either.    I'm sure when she gets evicted, she'll move to another house, and hoard that one then too.    

Patricia with Zasio is bizarre, and when Zasio says not to mention mommy dearest playing with poop in the garage, then she's at nutty as Patricia is.      If you want to hear yelling, then I bet the neighbors are standing in their windows having heart failure over the tiny amount of junk that is leaving.

This is in Cooper City, FL.   A friend of mine lives there, and when they said the Cooper City house, then I realized where it is.       I have nightmares about Patricia and her smoking, among the piles of garbage in the houses.     Why on earth would Bill stay with that woman?    I hope he realizes that the city has foreclosed on some hoarders there already, and then Patricia will be out on the streets, and her three houses of junk will be gone.    I can't imagine the total fines from codes enforcement already.        I bet the pressure on codes enforcement, and the city to get this problem solved, and this three disgusting piles of garbage gone, will be increasing starting tomorrow.     

Edited March 27, 2019 by CrazyInAlabama

[hoosiermom]

This is why 2 hours on one hoard is too much. It is irritating and redundant.

[Julyolo]

OMG, that is in the town right adjacent to where I live!!

[suev3333]

Pocohantis....lmfao 🤣🤣🤣😂😁😁(sp)

[enoughcats]

1 hour ago, Julyolo said:

Is that her husband?

She introduced his as her signficant other, and then late in the show called him husband and several non-husband names. 

36 minutes ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

when Zasio says not to mention mommy dearest playing with poop in the garage, then she's at nutty as Patricia is

Thank you, that's what I thought I heard.

When Patricia talked about not worrying about strangers wandering in, I wish Dr.Z had given her a video of the guy out in California with all the pet rats.  After his hoarding show, he was murdered in that house, by strangers because he welcomed everyone to his house. 

Can a small stroke cause a change from seller to hoarder?  I don't know, but the bones of the two story house were good, and the neighborhood was good looking from the air.  

I almost expected the neighbors to come out with deck chairs, set up some sun umbrellas and have scores numbers to hold up to rate the junk going.  But then they didn't see much moving, and my cynical soul says they called code enforcement to get things moving. 

I almost heard Dr Z allow Patricia to touch everything that left and that used to be the key part of her process.  And it seldom worked. I don't think this worked particularly well, either.  Going to court and getting power of conservitorship  (or something similar)  is the only way that property can be managed.  Patricia has be be a sub-set of BSC and I don't know why her significant other hasn't found someone else.  Many many widows down there would would appreciate a man who is willing to clean part of a house. Even if he smokes.

[CrazyInAlabama]

From what I've read, Cooper City Florida, has lost patience with several bad hoarders in the past few years.   When the fines hit a huge amount, then they foreclose on the properties, clean them out, and either resell to a remodeler, or sell as is.     

Patricia will definitely trash the outside as soon as she can, and I don't know when this was filmed, but I'm sure she's filled all three yards up again.   

Codes enforcement seemed to be the most concerned with the outside, but I bet as of tomorrow morning, people in that city should flood the phone lines to codes enforcement, and the fire inspector, and get the city moving on getting rid of the three hoards.      The neighbors must be so sick right about now, seeing what that woman has done to three neighborhoods in the city, and I bet they know where the rats are coming on their property from.      

If Bill was smart, he would pack up, take the dog and leave and never look back.   

[Guest]

Way too much manufactured drama tonight. This episode could have easily been one hour without the unrelated constant backstory of the daughter whose boyfriends kept dropping dead and her CPS issues. Take that shit to Intervention and more hoarding, please.

I kinda liked Bill. Sure, he was probably a drunk with rage issues but the guy had some sense about himself at least.

And the minute they said she had three hoarded houses, I knew this episode would be an overall failure. They can barely clean up one house in a two-hour episode. Three? That would be a full season right there.

Big laugh at the inside cabin of one of those 800GotJunk trucks that was all hoarded up inside with crap.

[kittyglitter]

I am horrible people, but one of the first scenes, where Patricia was defiantly clinging to the stuffed Krusty the Clown whose hair matched her eyeshadow, had me chortling. 

Bill needs to take that sweet adorable pibble and run far away. I suspect he has his own issues and he’s certainly no prize, but self-loathing codependency is no way to live.

Annoying as she and her family were, it was refreshing to see an actual, classic  hoarder as opposed to a pigperson who throws trash on the floor and just shits wherever.

[CoyoteBlue]

Jesus, Donna, shut up. You're just making things worse and that nasty comment to Jenny about her choices and her daughter was just stone-cold-bitch. 

Run, Bill, run! If you stop smoking, you can bring your pibble and come live with me.

I was a little surprised they didn't make a deal with her ahead of time : Find a shop space, and she can keep as much crap as fits in the shop. Rent would have to be less than $500/day, right? Then she has to promise Bill that nothing comes back in the house, that she has to run it like a business. Let the Junk Guys either toss it or move it to the shop. Then at least maybe she'd be willing to get rid of stuff if she saw a "way out" to pretend like she's wheeling and dealing. Was there a hoarder on one of the shows where they did this or was it some show where they help a family have an enormous garage sale and throw everything else out?

Bill should keep a spreadsheet of how much she's "earning" each day and how much she's spending in time, gas money, and fines. "Congrats, honey, you're only $100 in the hole for today!"

[JudyObscure]

4 hours ago, CoyoteBlue said:

Bill should keep a spreadsheet of how much she's "earning" each day and how much she's spending in time, gas money, and fines. "Congrats, honey, you're only $100 in the hole for today

Yes!  I kept thinking Patricia needed an accountant, not a psychologist.  She could be collecting rent on one house and letting her daughter and granddaughter live in another one, while running an  old crap  store  thrift store from a cheap rental in town.

I love the Zazz, but I wanted to see less of her and more of the hoard.  What happened to the days when we got to see armadillo purses and jars of pickles?

Another thing needed was a make-up intervention.  Not only over Patricia's blue eye shadow but Dr Z's foundation which is so thick and dry it always makes me think she's covered her face in Clearasil.

[terrymct]

Is Bill significantly younger than Patricia?  Or has she just been down a hard road somehow?  It was nice at the end to see a bit of his affection and concern for her return.  He's going to be her caretaker, one way or another.  The BSOJ didn't mention that anyone was in therapy, did it?  Patricia and her daughters all need it.    I thought at the onset that Bill would end up being significantly crazy because of his breaking stuff, but then it became clear that he breaks things so that she can't bring them back into the house or yard.  It's one of those instances where this new format is particularly helpful.  Who knows if that would have been clear from a briefer overview.  It sounds like she's running ads on Craigslist or an equivalent.  Bill's right to be concerned.   If she was mentally healthy, the two of them could have what it sounds like he expected...a late life career/hobby of buying and reselling, hopefully through swap meets and the like.  He clearly understood that that potential was gone.  She has mental health issues that manifest as an addiction.   

Patricia insists that her selling pays for their cigarettes and bills.  Of course, she could clean up the properties and sell two of them and she and Bill will be set for years.  None of these houses are backwoods shacks.

[Pepper Mostly]

12 hours ago, DC Gal in VA said:

Oh Julyolo, like those 600, 700 and then some poundticipants on M600PL, how does someone like that get a man! 😆

Low standards. Bill was no prize. He's not bad looking. He has to be much younger than Patricia--she's 75? He doesn't look much over 60.

12 hours ago, DC Gal in VA said:

Wow, that sister Donna! I guess the nasty, bitchy fruit does not fall far from the nasty, bitchy, blue eyeshadowed tree! Hee. Jenny needs to put on her big girl panties, get a good lawyer, and get her four year old daughter away from this harpie! Who know what she is saying to her daughter about her behind her back!?

Donna is a bitch and a half. A harpy. A shrew. I can't think of anything bad enough. What a cold, spiteful, controlling, vicious hateful woman. Whenever she mooed "Moooom!" I wanted to smack her. When she was spitting "don't you want to be with your family? Don't you love us more than you love your trash?" I was muttering " I would rather sit in Pat's hoard than spend one moment in your company, you hag". And when she turned on her sisters, for no reason than to deflect Dr. Z's attention from herself, she showed her mean, callous true colors. Why did she start bad mouthing Gayle? She was just standing there! Gawd, I loathed her. Hard as nails. She will never let Jenny get her daughter back. Not as long as she can use her as a club to beat her sister with.

11 hours ago, Julyolo said:

It's like a Fellini movie! It just cranks on. Where do they live? Crazy Town? The best was when the boyfriend was hammering apart some chairs, and she told him "Stop it--you're making a mess".

I was dying! "Stop that! The lady's coming this morning, she might buy them!" When that guy ever wandered in to look at an outboard motor, in the midst of the cleanup, I died laughing.

I've had tons of yard sales in my life, and I've picked good stuff up curbside to either sell or keep myself. I've put stuff out curbside in the hopes that someone will pick it up, too. I can see how Pat got started, but obviously it got way out of control! Three houses! Holy moly.

[CrazyInAlabama]

The one sister was mean, but she's also been living with her mother's delusions since the divorce in 1986, when the mother started acting like she was the girl's age, and dating men young enough to be her sons.      Jenny (the depressed one living with the mother) wanted' the mother to clean up, so she could bring her daughter into the mother's house with the explosive relationship with the boyfriend, and a hoard that will never be any better.     Jenny was obviously still very depressed, and living with the mother wasn't helping her.    Donna has been raising Jenny's daughter after she was deep into drug abuse, depression, and after a suicide attempt.     I really think Jenny needs different help, since she looked totally depressed.   How Jenny can get better living in the hoard with her mother and boyfriend screaming at each other, just doesn't make sense.  

I wanted to hurl when Zasio was jumping on the daughters for telling the mother to stop playing with poop piles in the garage at the last house.        Getting rid of 6 trucks worth of junk from those three yards and houses is nothing.     I didn't see what the BSOJ said about codes enforcement, but I'm guessing that their phone is ringing off the hook from neighbors of the three hoards, and from other locals, asking why the hoards still exist.   

The oldest sister was mean, but she's been putting up with the codes enforcement, and dysfunctional living situation in the mother's home for years.     I wonder if the nutso mother has realized that when the city finally acts, they'll foreclose on all three homes, clean them out and resell them, and she'll be out on the street?       My guess is the back up plan is three people, and the cute dog showing up on Donna's doorstep, and in that case I would call the cops to remove all of them.   The mother will never stop hoarding, until one of her customers decides she has money hidden, and kills her to get it (that's what happened to the rat house man, someone decided he had money hidden, and tortured and killed him to get it), or the house goes up in flames some night from two or maybe three smokers in the house, or the city forecloses on all three houses.  

Edited March 27, 2019 by CrazyInAlabama

[Pepper Mostly]

Jenny, bless her hopeful heart, just wants a normal life. She's not getting the help she needs and she is fragile as hell. She can't get out on her own, so her mother's house is her best hope. That's no reason for her sister to shit all over her at every turn. She couldn't ever open her mouth without Donna telling her off. No one could open his or her mouth without Donna pushing in with her two cents. The woman has a face like a fist and she's so full of rage. I felt for Jenny. She's had a tough time. She's trying to put her life back together in very difficult, fraught circumstances. She gets no emotional support from her mother or her sisters, but she's trying anyway. Jenny's probably always been looking for the love and support she craves, and she'll never be able to walk away from her toxic family. The whole bunch of them were just wrecks. Pat, bat shit crazy. Donna, angry and spiteful. Jenny, depressed and fragile. Gayle, closed down and trying to keep the peace. So sad.

Edited March 27, 2019 by Pepper Mostly

[CrazyInAlabama]

They did say that Jenny was the focus of her mother's rage through her teens, and it looks like it never quit.   I can't imagine a worse place for her to live, than in the midst of piles of her mother's garbage, where the boyfriend has to throw stuff onto a pile to get a place to eat.    I bet Jenny spends every minute of the day in her room.     

[nytonc]

I was sooo excited to see this train wreck back on the air!!! One of my favorite shows ever!

I wonder why the counselors don’t suggest that the hoarder move to the country and open a junk yard. They could load all the shit onto trucks and haul it out to a 10 acre plot of land and throw it there. Sell the cleaned out house(s) to pay for the land. Instant business! 

We we all know they just end up hoarding again. 

[Cherrio]

I think Bill was homeless before they met, hence putting up with Pat and her hoard.

What could a halfway sane person see in Pat?

The only thing I can come up with is a blue eyeshadow fetish and a free place to live.

[nytonc]

Boy that Donna is something else!! I feel sorry for Jenny’s daughter. It can’t be fun living with bitchy Aunt Donna. She thinks she has the only correct answer to every problem and insits on telling everyone the right way to do something. Ugh I hate people like that!

[funky-rat]

Ugh.  Patricia admits she screamed at Jenny and didn't treat her particularly well, but then deflects the blame back on to Jenny.  Classic abuser behavior.  And Jenny living with her isn't going to help her get any better.  Not only is she still taking abuse from her mom, but she's living in a chaotic cluttered environment, which does not help her mental illness whatsoever.

I know people mean well when they set stuff outside for people to take, or do "curb alerts" online, but I think that eventually more cities are going to put a stop to it, because it encourages this type of behavior, and encourages strangers on to your property.  When I have stuff I don't want anymore, I take it directly to a thrift store or donation center whenever possible.  I don't do "FREE STUFF" or "CURB ALERT" postings.  For starters, our community doesn't allow that kind of thing (we have rules about putting stuff outside with FREE on it), and I don't want people knowing where I live and seeing what I have, etc. 

I have given furniture away, but I word my listings so that it weeds out a lot of people, and I NEVER give them any information on where the stuff is until I feel that we have a firm commitment, and those convos are done in private.  And even then, I try to have as much as possible sitting outside when they arrive, so people can't see what I have inside.  I also NEVER pick up stuff just for the sole purpose of re-selling.  I have stuff I've been trying to sell that I already had at my house that I'm ready to take to Goodwill because I'm sick of trying to move it.  Our neighborhood is off the beaten path, and is private (not gated, but our roads are private), and we don't do neighborhood yard sales (I sometimes wish we did because people who try to have them on their own get zero traffic), so I have few options when I want to get rid of stuff I think I can get a few bucks on.  I've done eBay for stuff I already had that needed a market outside of the area I live (ie: sports teams that aren't "hometown" teams), but it's a huge commitment if you want to make decent money at it, and I don't have the time on top of my full-time job.

My fear is that Donna is abusing Jenny's daughter in some manner, judging by the comments she lobbed at Jenny last night about raising her daughter.  Even if it's just constantly trash-talking her mom - still abuse.  Just sad all the way around.

[Pepper Mostly]

13 minutes ago, funky-rat said:

I know people mean well when they set stuff outside for people to take, or do "curb alerts" online, but I think that eventually more cities are going to put a stop to it, because it encourages this type of behavior, and encourages strangers on to your property.  When I have stuff I don't want anymore, I take it directly to a thrift store or donation center whenever possible.  I don't do "FREE STUFF" or "CURB ALERT" postings.  For starters, our community doesn't allow that kind of thing (we have rules about putting stuff outside with FREE on it), and I don't want people knowing where I live and seeing what I have, etc. 

I live on a main street, in a small city which is also a college town. All I have to do is put something out, no posting necessary! Its usually gone within a few hours. Once I put my 20 year old, in need of repair Kitchen Aid mixer out, it was gone before I got the front door shut behind me. I also scored a storage ottoman for my son that my neighbor put out after she didn't shift it at a yard sale. I get Pat's "thrill of the chase", but of course she just grabs anything, it seems. If she d been able to keep up with the stuff, post it and turn it over quickly, and stay organized, it could have been a fun and moneymaking side hustle. I wonder when it got out of hand.

Those yellow chairs Bill smashed up were cute. I would have grabbed them for my yard sale if I saw them curbside....

27 minutes ago, funky-rat said:

My fear is that Donna is abusing Jenny's daughter in some manner, judging by the comments she lobbed at Jenny last night about raising her daughter.  Even if it's just constantly trash-talking her mom - still abuse.  Just sad all the way around.

Oh, you know Donna is emotionally abusing Jenny's daughter. Probably begrudges every mouthful of food the poor kid puts in her mouth. If she puts a foot wrong Donna's probably on her like ugly on an ape, hissing "like mother like daughter". Ugh. Another generation of dysfunction. Those poor kids.

[Josette]

1 hour ago, funky-rat said:

I know people mean well when they set stuff outside for people to take, or do "curb alerts" online, but I think that eventually more cities are going to put a stop to it, because it encourages this type of behavior, and encourages strangers on to your property.

 They said that the stuff was left for bulk pick-up.  Bulk pick-up is done by the city every once in awhile.