Here's a case of Ebaying, getting out of hand.

vespacat

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That's very sad.
I hope she gets the help/meds she needs.
Hopefully her son/daughter will help her with that.
 

yoviher

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Originally Posted by MissCharlotte

I'm a social worker and on ocassion my agency deals with this type of situation. It's not right to exploit her mother in this way, but she may have tried helping her in other ways and failed. I had a client whose house looked similar to that but there was only a very narrow pathway to walk through the house. The township was called, the fire company came out to inspect the house, the daughter tried to help, and my agency tried to help. In the end, as long as no "regulations" are violated and the person has a means of getting out of the house, the person has every right to live like this. It's unsightly and I know I wouldn't want to live that way, but it's just one of the freedoms people have in the USA.
Unless there are children or pets involved. Then it becomes child/animal abuse.
 

twofatcats

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My late husband had a cousin and his wife who lived like this. They even had a baby grand piano totally covered with "stuff." When her mother died and left them her house in her will, they filled that house, too. They had no children. I wonder who had to deal with the mess when they both died.
 

yoviher

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Originally Posted by twofatcats

My late husband had a cousin and his wife who lived like this. They even had a baby grand piano totally covered with "stuff." When her mother died and left them her house in her will, they filled that house, too. They had no children. I wonder who had to deal with the mess when they both died.
Yeah, I wonder what is that person going to do with the inheritance when his mother dies.
 

peachytoday

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That just made me sad. A little while ago there was a news story here of a woman getting hurt and was alone for days when some of her boxes fell on her and she couldn't move. That house just looks dangerous.
 

laceydf

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oh holy cow!!! That's a lotta stuff!!! Someone should really help the poor lady and talk her into having a huge yard sale!!!
 

mom of franz

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That story is almost small potatoes compared to a book I'm reading now: Ghosty Men by Franz Lidz. It tells the true NYC story of two brothers, from a well to do New York family, Homer and Langley Collyer, both Columbia University grads (lawyer and mechanical engineer) who lived in a Harlem Brownstone. They were great fodder for all the NY tabloids during the 1930's and 40s. When they finally died (quite tragically) the police and the NY Sanitation Dept. hauled out 180 tons of junk or treasure, depending how you look at it. Some of their junk included about a dozen rotted pianos a Model T a boat, and thousands of pounds of newspapers. Langley constructed "tunnels" of junk so he could travel room to room to his bedridden brother, whom he fed 100 oranges a week, as a cure to regain Homer's eyesight. To this day when firemen in NYC come across a home like this they call it a "Collyer" It's a fascinating read a real New York, slice of life.
 

amberthe bobcat

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All I can say is, Oh my God!!!!! If someone would throw me in that house and lock the doors, I would go nuts, because I can not stand clutter. However, I do feel bad for this woman. She needs some serious help. I also have been wondering, where in the world is she getting all the money to buy all this stuff??
 

loveysmummy

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Originally Posted by krazy kat2

That is really sad. I think you are all correct about her needing mental help.
My sister's house looks nearly that bad, and I know for a fact she is as crazy as they come. She has been banned from ebay for something, I don't even want to know what. Hers was like that before ebay. She collects everything, including entire sets of dishes. The last 3 times she moved, my daughter asked me to come help her pack the house, since I worked in the moving/packing business for 7 or 8 years, and can pack breakables. I can pack my own collections and breakables in one day. It took 2 of us nearly a week to pack her crap, and stlll didn't get it all. That was just what was unpacked from her previous moves. She is on disability, and sometimes does not pay her rent because she buys so much crap. Don't even let me get started on the animals!
She likely kept winning auctions and never paid..that is a surefire way to get sellers mad and yourself kicked off ebay..

This particular woman is classic OCD...sad...at least its not cats.

I feel for the son (or daughter?). This person should bring home some literature and encourage her to talk to someone about this..though she likely doesn't see it as a problem...
Aside from the dust and the expired cereal, the house actually looked pretty clean.
 

cheeseface

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I was actually glad to see a photo of the person's mom after reading all that. She has a nice smile and looks bright enough to be able to be helped. I wonder how many years of therapy it would take before she started getting rid of all that junk though. I couldn't stand to live like that in the least. I love throwing stuff out!
 

loveysmummy

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Originally Posted by blondiecat

My thoughts too!
I think we should try and withhold judgement though, not being in that situation..This person has lived with this their entire life, and likely has tried to help his mother numerous times and this may be his/her last ditch effort in getting her to confront her issues..
Can you imagine bringing friends home in grade school to that????
 

yoviher

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Well, if you click the link on the start of the page, you will arrive at a 15 page thread of Something Awful forums... taken place from the 15th to 19th of December 2003. Its 15 pages of questions, humor, and both interesting, good and downright stupid suggestions. Perhaps the most common suggestions are to light a bonfire, the second most common is "move out of there ASAP", among others wanting him to sell a few "mystery boxes" on ebay, and a few people actually posted help links for people with OCD. Something else that caught my attention is how his mother actually has pressured him to move out stating clear out she wants to fill that room with boxes, and thats what she says every time he tries to talk about it.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about it all was that there were plenty of people telling the guy they know someone who is WORSE than his mother. You know, aside from a lot of dust, that house at least doesn't have dead animals, or feces lying around.

After reading that entire thread, during the final pages the man who posted (its a male, 22 years of age at the time) is writing that he's been convinced by the posters its time to do something along the lines of psychiatric help, that some have posted a lot of useful links and help, thanking people for the support PMs and that he is going to use them alright.

Its been one and a half years since those events took place. I wonder, how has it all turned up? Here's hoping they suceeded in getting help for the lady.
 

rosehawke

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Originally Posted by yoviher

Its been one and a half years since those events took place. I wonder, how has it all turned up? Here's hoping they suceeded in getting help for the lady.
I wonder too how it's all turned out? I wonder if there's any way of finding out?
 
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