Hoarders Review

Overall 5.00 of 5 view all 2 reviews

PattyTherre
The heart of , NY

Hoarders: When your stuff becomes more important than your life.

a lover of offbeat TV shows, a mini hoarder, a reality TV junkie, deeply caring, voyeristic, a homeowner

Pros

takes us from start to finish, helps us to understand hoarding, fascinating viewing, different from any show I have seen, success stories make me feel good, very emotional and real

Cons

some gross stuff is dug up, would like more follow up in 6 months, counselors can get a bit snappy

SEP

2009

Hoarders —

Quick View: Hoaders is a new reality show on the A&E channel. They describe the show as such, "Each 60-minute episode of Hoarders is a fascinating look inside the lives of two different people whose inability to part with their belongings is so out of control that they are on the verge of a personal crisis."

I find the show fascinating and I relate in some ways to the people who have allowed their stuff to take over their lives. It's a fascinating look into a widespread issue that many don't even know exists.

My Take on the TV Show, Hoarders

This one hour show looks at two different cases, bouncing back and forth between them. Hoarders are people who keep years and years worth of stuff. Some keep everything while others keep certain things like food (which is really gross), paperwork and newspapers, and personal belongings that have long gone out of style, worn out, stopped working, or expired. The reason people hoard is not the same for each case but hoarding is a true addiction just as drugs and eating disorders are. These people KNOW that they are in a trap but they can't get OUT of the trap.

Hoarders sets out to help those who are so deeply entrenched that their health, relationships, or even their kids are at risk. Counselors step in and try to help the hoarders to understand their behavior and a cleaning crew is on hand to get rid of the piled up junk but only if the subject agrees. No one can barge in and take a hoarder's stuff. It's very, very difficult for some to part with things that we, the viewer, simply can't fathom. I think I am such a lover of this show because I know the feeling of not wanting to toss something silly like prescription pill bottles. I don't mind tossing the small ones but the big ones can hold earrings or change or...well, you get the idea. I DO toss out the big bottles but I actually feel bad when I do.

I have a lot of stuff and I hate to part with my stuff so, to me Hoarders is a glimpse into my future if I don't stop loving my stuff and get rid of it. Every time I watch the show, I end up cleaning the house as does my husband. It's such a jolt to see how terrible things can become when years go by and hoarders are left to ... hoard.

During the show, you will follow the subjects as they come to terms with their hoarding, grapple with allowing people to toss their stuff, and either make great progress or fail and go back to their old ways. The counselors are usually pretty good but I honestly think they're a tad harsh. Yes, keeping food from 2001 is crazy but there is an underlying reason for that and you can't get snappy at the hoarders for resisting change. It takes understanding of WHY they can't let go of certain things before they can let go of them.

The show is like none I have seen before. We have all seen the drug addict shows and there have been plenty of shows on eating disorders. I have never seen a show spotlight the little known world of hoarding. I think it's a very positive thing to do because we all must understand that hoarding is an addiction, a mental illness, just as other addictions are. We shouldn't shake our heads and laugh at the person who can't bear to part with their old, seemingly useless stuff. We should feel compassion for them. It's a choice that was made for them not by them and getting over the hoarding mentality takes a lot of work and lot of sacrifice.

At any rate, Hoarders can be a little gross as they toss ages old food, animal feces, and everything else gross that builds up over time. One show tossed over 40 cat carcasses and bones out. I could have done without seeing the little skeletons of those cats! The woman who owned them had 71 cats in a tiny house and obviously couldn't care for them all. She didn't even know when they died due to the clutter. Very sad. But the good news is her house was completely cleaned, she was allowed three cats, and she is living a clean (as in her home) lifestyle now. That's success!

My Viewpoint

Hoarders is a fascinating look at people who hoard and why they do what they do. It is gritty and at times shocking to see the living conditions that the hoarders inhabit. It's a great feeling when they get their lives back. Not all are successful. Just as many seem to choose to stay hoarding than to change but, for the ones who do get their living space and lives back, it's so great to see how relieved and happy they are to be back in control. The show airs on Mondays on A&E at 10 p.m. You can catch reruns on the channel often. Give it a watch and do it with compassion. These people didn't set out to live in squalor and clutter. They need help to overcome the reasons why they ended up that way and this show offers that help to them. 5 stars.

Hoarders is recommended by PattyTherre

Review inappropriate? Copyright violation?

add PattyTherre to my friends list add to my favorites email to a friend subscribe to feed

Comments about PattyTherre’s Review

I guess I'm on the opposite end of the issue of hoarding. I am constantly reviewing things in my closet to make sure I don't have anything extraneous. I never think I may need it someday--I tend to think maybe someone else can use this now. It's fascinating to think how overwhelming it must be to have this addiction. My heart goes out to anyone who suffers from this. I'm making a point to watch this on Monday. Excellent review.

I really loved your review, Patty. My heart goes out to these people and their long-suffering families. I think the counsellors have to get a little forceful though in a desperate attempt to countermand the awful hoarding compulsion. At any rate, someone is doing a superb job with this show and this was a superb review of it.

My mother passed away in June. She was a shopper. Going through her stuff and trying to
empty out her house has been so very frustrating
and at times endless. She ran my father financially
into the ground and wore him out. He died after
having a stroke. Watching him cry at times cause
he worked like a dog, but it was never enough.
He could bring home $8K a month, and it still
would not keep up with her addiction.
Her passing has been very difficult in a wierd
way, because I have not been able to miss her.
I resent the difficult task she has left me cleaning up
her mess, and the time it has taken away from
my family. We have filled 10 truck loads of garbage
and 25 garbage bags of clothes to Goodwill. I
still have approx 500 pcs of clothes to either give
away or try to sell. I could open a clothes store, no
joke. Almost all the clothes still have tags on. It seems a shame to throw it all away, but I only
have so many hours in this one life. I wish I
could just grieve my moms passing instead of
feeling so very frustrated.

In response to katcelata's comment from Sep 28, 2009 at 10:21PM:

Many, many people hoard things they won't use, some never even open the packages. It's a mental illness akin to OCD. It takes a lot of work and therapy to break the habits. People hoard things for a reason. Some have a fear of being poor and without anything, others are compensating for something traumatic that happened in their lives. I don't hoard but I shop. And I have put the brakes on needless spending because I have to! In this economy, I can't keep buying stuff just because I want the latest or newest things. I just tossed out several bags of stuff and gave away a lot of clothes that didn't fit or I didn't like. It was a great feeling!

I have an external hard drive and have transferred all my pics from all my computers on it. I will then make DVDs from them. I am then scanning many of my written things and doing the same. There's much that we can do to simplify and declutter without feeling like we lost everything we cared about. I have been really successful doing that so far and I hope to keep it up. My dad was slightly hoarderish because he was so very poor when young but nothing extreme. He just didn't believe in replacing stuff that was good - even if it was 100 years old. I, on the other hand, want 4 of everything,. lol.

Good luck in your venture!

In response to PattyTherre's comment from Sep 25, 2009 at 1:54AM:

I am currently going through a hoarders hell- my employers had a "reverse of finances" and decided to move from a 10,000 sq foot house to an nice Boston apt of 1750 sq ft. They have only had this current home for nine yrs, their prior home burned down- still, our poor caretaker, on only a few weeks notice has had to go through all these sq ft of STUFF!!! The wife of our employers "aquires" things. She has literally wasted millions (this is NOT an exaggeration) over the years, going to dollar stores, home depot, etc- anything with a sale tag she would scoop up multiples of. Luckily for them, most of the stuff is still in packages, and the sheer sq footage of the houses and barns ensured that it didn't become a rat's nest- so no one really suspected the sheer volume, and the depth of her illness- but I am in TEARS. Boxes and boxes of things we bought new again because we didn't know we already had it... luckily for them, so much of this (3 truckloads at this point, but including nice furniture and bedding for our guest rooms) the resaler tells me may net them $15,000 dollars...... WOW. She never bought furs, cars, jewels, she didn't even do crack. I could understand that. Granted, she bought property, but then she mortgaged it up so high, it can't sell for any profit, and she used that mortgage money for... STUFF!!!! It's obscene in the depressed area where I live, to see that waste- AND, she was a child of the Depression, with a father who was raised to be wealthy, and when his family lost their 300 apts, he refused to work and took refuge in alcohol- I think we will see this over and over with the children of he Depression, like my mom. As far as your comment on saving magazines, etc, this woman made every secretary save 4 or 5 copies of every email, refused to throw out junk mail or magazines, she always intended to "get around to reading it". They always intend to, they really do. My mother saved stacks of Nat'l Geos, because she had been a Scout leader. She just KNEW she could use them.....

In response to PattyTherre's comment from Sep 25, 2009 at 1:32AM:

Patty, my heart goes out to you. You may or may not be a hoarder- I feel if it has taken over your life, costs you money better spent on good life choices, makes your home a difficult place for you to live, then you may want to seek some help. I have to guard against it, and have gotten pretty successful, one thing I try to do is put something aside, set myself a time limit, and if I have not picked it up, used it or found it useful, out it goes. One problem I had was with written items, invitations, photos, etc- GREAT solution for this- you can buy an all-in-one printer fairly inexpensively from Walmart.com Scan in your valuable photos, writings (those papers you wrote in college, your unfinished poems) and store them on CD RW's (read/write, so you can go in and work on those manuscripts) and store it in no space at all! Also safer- your cherished papers can be stored on disks or inexpensive zip drives that you can store a copy of off site, so it is never lost, it never yellows, fades or decays never destroyed in a flood, or even a coffee spill and you can print it out at any time, embellish them or make a collage!! Be well and good dear, someone out here knows how you feel and is pulling for you! Best, kat

I love and hate this show- it's like watching a train wreck I can't look away from, but more than that. My mother was a hoarder after my Dad died, and I really think it came from growing up responsible for 2 younger children in the MidWest during the Depression. I have to guard VERY HARD not to hoard, it was how I was raised- use it up, make it do, make it do again. I was angry at tonight's Hoarders showing a very young child being put through terrible angst, forced to make choices. He was being given the total responsibility or what HE would throw out. I feel he should NOT have been given choices, he should have been given a selection. He should not be asked which of many things to keep or throw out, he should have been offered a small selection and allowed to keep one or two, anything thing else is too hard, it overloaded him, and stressed him out terribly. He is the child. His choices SHOULD be limited, how else will he learn? I do feel that hoarding is a control manipulation, but when it comes to hoarding animals, no pity should be shown. I know that the SPCA officers try to work with animal hoarders, and help them if they can- but when it gets to the point that you are walking on 4 feet of garbage with dead animals underneath, the law needs to step in an make moves.

In response to Meri's comment from Sep 25, 2009 at 9:05AM:

It's a really tough situation that can't be hidden like many other behaviors. I guess, in a way, that's good because if you can't hide it, eventually you HAVE to face it. It has got to be a heck of a tough thing to battle.

I have watched this a time or two... real eye opener! I feel bad for the people though- you can feel the anguish in their voices...

In response to MikeMaroon's comment from Sep 25, 2009 at 1:40AM:

It's very unhealthy too obviously. I don't know why people hoard magazines and newspapers. Or empty cans and bottles. I understand hoarding stuff you like like shoes and jeans (OK I do that, ack) but the other things, I don't understand. However, Hoarding is a true illness and one of the hardest to cure. People need a lot of support and help if they are ever to get out of the terrible place they ended up in.

I had and aunt and uncle, both dead now, like that. When we had to move them to a nursing home, we had to clean out their house so dad could sell the property. I had no idea people could live like that. The house was literally full, you could not see the floor, with newspapers and magazines, many so old they were rotting. There was animal feces everywhere and it was really really nasty.

In response to JazzSinger's comment from Sep 24, 2009 at 11:38AM:

Definitely eye opening and gross. That people live like that and know it's not right but have such trouble getting out of the pattern is sad. I would love someone to come and help ME to get rid of some stuff but I wouldn't want them telling me what to toss. Nu uh. It's mine, all mine! Oh man, I really Am a hoarder, I think.

I found this show a few weeks back, and I really like it. It's interesting, but it can get a little gross at times.

In response to PattyTherre's comment from Sep 23, 2009 at 12:23AM:

I'll have to try to watch it on Hulu, our TV/cable doesn't pick up much except History Channel, Bravo, FX & Sci Fi.

In response to LadyMagic's comment from Sep 22, 2009 at 4:24PM:

I am going to go through a bin I have and donate the clothes in there., Many have never been worn. But I don't really like them or they are too big. Someone out there needs them more than I do. I once bagged up a bunch of warm clothes and went down to the section of town that is very poor. I labeled the clear bags so no one thought they were garbage and left them. As I drove away, I saw people swarming them looking for things to wear. THAT was so much better than storing clothes for someday!

In response to Nancy44's comment from Sep 22, 2009 at 5:37PM:

All of the episodes can be watched in their entirety on the A&E website as well. Yeah, the lady with 71 cats, around 40 of which were dead and more little skeletons in her garage, made me sad. She was old and alone and just took them all in but it was clear she couldn't keep up and who could? Those poor little cats. Hoarding animals is the worst since it affects innocent creatures but these people don't mean to end up that way. I once ended up with 13 cats. I had 3 and found a mom and a litter. I took them home and no one wanted them when the kittens were old enough to go. Not even the shelters would take them! THAT was nuts. I found homes for all but one which I kept. But 71? Um, no. lol.

I'll try to tune into that show Patty...how very sad for the people and especially the animals. They occasionally spotlight animal hoarders in the news here and you're right, they just want to help the animals but it all gets out of hand. I'm glad I read your review, I'll have to see if we get A&E. Our cable is kind of hit & miss. I have seen an Oprah show also where there was hoarding, and like you said, some are successes and some go back to the way they were.

I haven't watched this. I wonder if it's the same group that was on Oprah a few times. Go ahead and get rid of the clothes that are a few sizes that big. You exercise so much, I don't think you'll ever need them again! I recently got rid of some. What a good feeling once I committed it. Tonight I'll be going through a bag of paprers I had in the closet. Most of it will get taken away tomorrow for recycling. Great job, Patty.

In response to MRSverret's comment from Sep 21, 2009 at 1:06AM:

I think a lot of people tend to not want to get rid of good things. I hate to get rid of shoes and clothes that are good even though I don't wear them. I just keep thinking I might need them. Most are larger than I am now. I am at a size that I was 25 years ago and the smallest I have been in ages. I keep thinking if I give away the clothes that are too big, what if I gain weight? What will I wear? Obviously I will buy NEW clothes but I guess I have that fear of not being able to.

I think the difference between hoarding and just not wanting to part with some things is that people literally cannot part with things that often have no value at all. Used bottles, newspapers, cans, old food that HAS expired, etc. It gets so out of hand that they have nowhere to sit, nowhere to even live anymore. But watching the show does make me aware of my own hesitance to get rid of stuff and I always end up donating a bag of clothes or something after I see the show. lol. It is helping me NOT to end up like the people on the show!

In response to PattyTherre's comment from Sep 21, 2009 at 12:56AM:

I guess i sort of hoard things to. my husband is always trying to get me to toss out old clothes or even food that we're never going to eat (it's not expired or bad we just don't like it) i just can't bring myself to throw away ANYTHING that is still good. especially clothes and food i will just bring to the local outreach center. if i know someone else can use it i'll keep it. wow now that i'm thinking about it i sort of hoard a lot of things. like my son's pictures he draws i try to keep EVERY ONE. i'm a hoarder and didn't even know!

In response to MRSverret's comment from Sep 21, 2009 at 12:26AM:

Some have worse conditions that they live in. It's a mental disorder that is really tough to get over and one that is shocking to see if you don't have a tendency to hoard stuff. It's shocking for me to see and I DO have that tendency but I like to hoard shoes. I don't think that's exactly the same thing but I do get nervous tossing away my shoes or good clothes that don't fit because I feel like I may need them someday. I do, however, give them away and feel better after. But then I buy more. Hmm. They need a Shopaholic show and I mean that! I would be on it.

i'll have to look for this show. sounds like intervention without all the drugs! i can't believe those pictures that's pretty bad.

In response to pitcherday's comment from Sep 20, 2009 at 12:55AM:

I wish they would explain that more clearly about how long it takes to actually really release yourself from your things. It doesn't happen in a day by any means. It's not as simple as they make it seem. It's gut wrenching and a huge process and, as you said, one rarely can be cured but can learn new behaviors with counseling and other things. I am a mini hoarder but I think it's more I am too lazy to get rid of my stuff. Then again, when my son offers to go through and toss everything from my office where I keep a lot of my shoes and clothes, I get really nervous. No way is he tossing my stuff without me seeing what's going! ACK! If it's THAT hard for me, how must it be for the people who truly suffer from this affliction? I have no idea how much time passes but they need to notate that. They do kind of make it seem like people come in and within a day or two, the house is all clean and some of the people are fine thereafter (They do admit that some just go back to their old ways.). I may actually write and see what the show says!

I like this show too. I do wonder at how it seems to take them not so much time to get these people to unclutter their homes. Hoarding is the worst form of Obsessive-Compulsive disorder, and the least likely to be "cured" so to speak. On other news magazine shows (like Dateline NBC) they have followed people and it took them months to clean out one room. They have debilitating panic attacks when people take a stack of newspapers from the hallway. Do you know if this show is filmed over a long period of time and then condensed down? The show "Obsessed" takes place over 16 weeks or more to help with other forms of OCD. I enjoy the show, but it looks so easy to just come in and throw the stuff away. I think it must be really edited, because hoarders don't give up nearly that easily. I don't care if it's edited or not, I would like to know really how much time they were there, though. It would help to highlight the seriousness of the disorder.