The Secret Lives of Hoarders: True Stories of Tackling Extreme Clutter Read Online Free PDF Page A

across was a natural extension of his job. But one look inside his house revealed that instead, his hoarding was making his living conditions unsafe. His house was a firetrap.
    Like Rick, Jackson was a well-educated person with a good job. By all accounts he was good at his job as a social worker—he even sometimes worked with extreme hoarders. Jackson was young, healthy, in good physical shape, and kept his small house clean and orderly—at least until his Blondie memorabilia collection gradually took over, like so much kudzu. He was able to convince himself—and others—for a long time that he didn’t have a problem even though he’d stopped having friends over to visit because he was embarrassed by the clutter. His collection may have sounded like an interesting hobby to outsiders, but it was ruining Jackson’s life. But he couldn’t get it together enough to tackle the ever-growing mounds of stuff.
    Katrina was a retired divorcée who had worked as an office manager for a large company. She was an energetic redhead, smart and opinionated, whose hoarding started with a home-based business selling skin care products. She was storing an ever-growing amount of samples, catalogs, awards, paperwork—and lots of inventory. In addition, years earlier, Katrina had been so determined to get a decent settlement out of her divorce that she actually went to law school and got her degree. Now, long after the settlement, Katrina still had boxes, stacks, and filing cabinets full of legal paperwork. Katrina argued that these were very important documents, which they may have been, but she didn’t really need to hold on to everything so long after her divorce was final. At the very least, this stuff didn’t belong in her living space. She could have scanned or stored most, if not all, of the data. As a result, after years of neglect, mold was evident along the walls, floors, and baseboards of her home. She even had ivy growing through the floor in one of her rooms.
    Someone like Margaret looks like a hoarder—overweight, straggly hair, socially withdrawn, and living in a messy house. Because of that she is more likely to get attention and help from friends, relatives, or social services. But hoarders like Li, Rick, Jackson, and Katrina can slip under the radar, with their problem growing worse until it threatens their relationships, their livelihoods, and their health.
    It’s impossible to diagnose hoarding solely based on what someone says, what they look like, or even what shape the house is in. Brad and Ellen were smart, social people and their house wasn’t so messy that a visitor would assume they had a problem.
    It makes sense how hoarders like Li start collecting stuff. But how do things get so out of control? Katrina was clearly an intelligent person who knew that mold is dangerous. Why couldn’t she stay clean? These are frustrating questions that many family members and friends of hoarders ask, and the answers aren’t always simple.

WHAT HOARDERS HOARD
    When people think of hoarders, they think of someone living among broken furniture, decomposing garbage, and animal feces. But hoarding isn’t just about dirt and trash; it’s about hanging on to things that seem important for one reason or another. The rest is garbage that accumulates because everything else has gotten out of control.
    Most hoarder houses end up looking like the owners collect general clutter—too many old clothes, sheets and towels, tote bags, warehouse-sized crates of food, and other items from daily life. Yet some hoarder houses are pristine and packed with fine antiques and collectibles. Most often the hoarders start with that sort of thing, be it magazines, clothes, or valuable artifacts, which then accumulates and takes over the house. The tendency to hoard one thing often spreads until the hoarder becomes incapable of getting rid of anything .
    I’ve seen homes and yards full