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kx250rider
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03 Mar 2011, 1:15 pm

I don't know whether I should call myself a hoarder or a collector. I'm a neat freak, and I can't stand a cluttered disorderly house. I also quickly dispose of things that are useless to me; whether clothes that I don't like anymore, or furniture not needed, etc. I give it to charity if it's worth anything, or sell it sometimes, or throw it away if worthless. I immediately get rid of magazines and stuff like that as soon as I have read them, OR if I decide that I won't have time to read them before the next one comes.

BUT: I do have 14 cars & trucks; all Toyota and GM Diesels from the 1980s. And I have a whole building full of spare engines and parts, and even the whole front of a Toyota Diesel limousine cut off and sitting on a pallet here, which I had shipped from overseas. I also have a few hundred old TV sets ranging from the first mass-produced American TV sets in the 1940s to tiny Sony color TVs from the 1980s.

Again, all orderly, clean, properly displayed or shelved, and in the case of the vehicles; all in perfectly good highway-ready condition with current tags and insurance. None sitting outside and rusting away like might be what someone would think they are, hearing of somebody with a whole bunch of old cars. And I have a few thousand pounds of Cold War era air raid sirens around the house 8O

With all that said, I guess I'm a hoarder of some sort.

Charles



Yensid
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03 Mar 2011, 3:16 pm

I am a compulsive hoarder. I grew up in the exact opposite environment. My father was a compulsive cleaner. He would go around looking for things to throw away. I think that may be part of the reason why I hoard, because so many things got thrown away before I was finished with them.

Actually, now that I think about it, my father was a bit of a hoarder. He hoarded things that were interesting to him. He threw away anything that was uninteresting to him.


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jojobean
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03 Mar 2011, 3:40 pm

My Grandmother was an abusive compusive neat freak, she beat my mom for putting the magizines in the rack wrong, hanging the clothes the wrong way, beat my aunt with an electric razor cord till she was blue for some minor offence, and yes she hated wire haaaanngers. My mom has been rebelling against her even after she died by being a clutter bug and a hoader. My grandmother was a freak...she about nutted up on me for figuring out how to turn off the closed captioning on the tv. Later in her life they put her on tranquilizers...but I dont blame my mom for the way she is, but it really does give me sensory overload with the amount of stuff she has.
Then I dont want to clean because I get so confused and then the mess compounds.


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Yensid
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03 Mar 2011, 6:09 pm

jojobean wrote:
My Grandmother was an abusive compusive neat freak, she beat my mom for putting the magizines in the rack wrong, hanging the clothes the wrong way, beat my aunt with an electric razor cord till she was blue for some minor offence, and yes she hated wire haaaanngers.


Once, my father noticed that my clothes were hung up "incorrectly." All the shirts had to be facing in the same direction, with the top and bottom buttons buttoned. This was a rule that I had never heard before. The punishment was that I had to throw away all of my possessions. After I had thrown everything out, he did let me recover my possessions, but it was still a very traumatic experience. He never admitted that he had overreacted to a minor offense.

I imagine that has something to do with my tendency to be very protective of my possessions. Considering the crazy childhood that I had, it is a wonder that I turned out as sane as I did.


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Nikki82
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03 Mar 2011, 8:47 pm

My grandmother hoards things especially crafts and my fil also hoards everything in his house and yard so yes there is in our family.



Cicely
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03 Mar 2011, 8:50 pm

My grandma became an obsessive hoarder later in life. She saved everything in case it might be useful, but she didn't ever use any of it. My grandparents' basement was full of all kinds of junk. After she died I helped my grandpa clean out the house, and there were boxes upon boxes of random items. This is the only disorder on my dad's side of the family.



Last edited by Cicely on 03 Mar 2011, 8:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

TeaEarlGreyHot
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03 Mar 2011, 8:50 pm

Zzzzeta wrote:
My mother is one of those hoarders who fill entire houses with worthless junk. Anyone else grow up in this kind of environment?


I did.


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sandrana
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03 Mar 2011, 9:12 pm

I grew up in a very messy house, we didn't throw out much. I always believed it was because my parents had grown up during the war and had learned to be thrifty, but now that I realize I'm an aspie and have learned that family members often have aspie-like traits, I wonder if my mom had the same problem I have, categorizing items and deciding where to put things and when to throw things out.

I do this with food in my fridge, I'll buy a tub of yogurt and eat a little every day and then forget about it for a week and then remember it but be a little nervous about eating it and then plan on psyching myself up to investigae it, and then forget about it again and then start to dread it...6 months later it's still there, a nice hairy little science experiment in the back of my fridge.



stargazing
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03 Mar 2011, 11:02 pm

My father has a mild but very real and problematic hoarding and overbuying problem. He thinks that because the house doesn't look quite like what you see on TV specials about people with extreme hoarding problems, it means it's not a problem.

He's the only one in the family I'm aware of who has ever shown this kind of behavior at all. He almost certainly does not have AS. It seems to be one of several symptoms of resentment issues he suffers from (but stubbornly refuses to seek treatment for) as a result of a great deal of unfair things he experienced during his career. Hoarding behavior like this is often a symptom of depression, OCD, and anxiety disorders of various types.



jojobean
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03 Mar 2011, 11:20 pm

Yensid wrote:
jojobean wrote:
My Grandmother was an abusive compusive neat freak, she beat my mom for putting the magizines in the rack wrong, hanging the clothes the wrong way, beat my aunt with an electric razor cord till she was blue for some minor offence, and yes she hated wire haaaanngers.


Once, my father noticed that my clothes were hung up "incorrectly." All the shirts had to be facing in the same direction, with the top and bottom buttons buttoned. This was a rule that I had never heard before. The punishment was that I had to throw away all of my possessions. After I had thrown everything out, he did let me recover my possessions, but it was still a very traumatic experience. He never admitted that he had overreacted to a minor offense.

I imagine that has something to do with my tendency to be very protective of my possessions. Considering the crazy childhood that I had, it is a wonder that I turned out as sane as I did.


That would make anyone a hoarder, I am sorry your dad was such a freak about that. It must have been crazy growing up with that level of unpredictibility on top of you having AS


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ducky9924
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03 Mar 2011, 11:47 pm

My grandfather was a major horder. His garage was horrible. My uncle was even worse. His lived with my grandmother and his rooms were filled to the ceiling with Magazines, Newspapers, VHS tapes ect. It was a fire hazard. He had even more stuff in storage sheds. He litterally brought home 5 copys of magazines and newspapers.

Because of that, my mother HATES clutter, and I'm not too fond either. Although I have my own hording tendancys too. I have a hard time parting with things like books, stationary, art supplys. I still have a ton of pogs, pokemon cards, minatures and other collections that I've boxed up and put in my parents attic. Now I'm fighting myself trying to clean out the stuff and get it shrunk down to a reasonable level.



Yensid
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04 Mar 2011, 5:32 am

jojobean wrote:
That would make anyone a hoarder, I am sorry your dad was such a freak about that. It must have been crazy growing up with that level of unpredictibility on top of you having AS


The whole situation seems to have been designed to drive me crazy. At the time, I thought that I was breaking important rules. I did not understand that the rules were arbitrary, just an excuse for unreasonable behavior.


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alone
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04 Mar 2011, 10:18 am

I am the opposite. I think obsessive either way is rooted in a larger issue, I guess the more obsessive the bigger the issue. Both my sister and mother hoard but for different reasons. I actually cannot stand anything around me that reminds me of anything in the past, even pictures. I used to have a few things but I got rid of those too. I didn't do it without first thinking about it. I did it because I tried extra hard to recognize 'what' I felt when I looked at the item. I felt a memory, sad or happy, but by definition a memory...ie. now in the past. It didn't matter the association as much as it was past. I also can't get my head around something on a table or a wall that has no purpose. A vase or lamp or a something that I don't use for anything except to fill a spot. I am fascinated with those who fill every space and feel comfort in the closeness. I get absolutely nothing from a memory. The time is completely past, it has no meaning in any logical sense and no meaning for me today. I don't even let my mind go back and don't like whatever feeling it brings. It isn't right now and sealed in its own time. I've lost interest in taking pictures. Pictures of a wedding or something I didn't attend have little meaning to me, pictures of a flower or a trip somewhere mean nothing. It is not the rooms, the streets, the faces I see and I don't see a point. Even if it is a beautiful place or thing, it is not something I know. I don't experience any part of this life 'by proxy'. Their are no stories or images of the past that mean anything. It is very hard for me to relate to my family and 'the memories'. They remember things 'jaded' with whatever reason they are telling the story. The emotional hook is placed on all discussions, and they are incredibly non-authentic.

I know many hoarders and they have a hard time seeing it as a problem. They don't want to let go and want more in order to fill the space around them. They don't like empty space around them. It is all very interesting and I feel for their different struggle to try to hold on to something to fill this void that does exist in the completely real now.

hugs to the hoarders :)



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04 Mar 2011, 10:42 am

So, at what point does a really big collection become a hoard? If you just collect a few specific things - like comic books, fabric and notions, electronic parts - things associated with a hobby - is that considered hoarding? Where is that line - these shows are incredibly nonspecific. Obviously homes filled with trash and nothing but narrow pathways full the stuff is a problem but I can also see overzealous family members freaking out over large collections.



TeaEarlGreyHot
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04 Mar 2011, 12:13 pm

draelynn wrote:
So, at what point does a really big collection become a hoard? If you just collect a few specific things - like comic books, fabric and notions, electronic parts - things associated with a hobby - is that considered hoarding? Where is that line - these shows are incredibly nonspecific. Obviously homes filled with trash and nothing but narrow pathways full the stuff is a problem but I can also see overzealous family members freaking out over large collections.


I believe it crosses the line into hoarding when it starts to affect the way the person lives. Animal hoarding, for instance can come with a relatively clean and clutter free house but all the animals jammed into a space far too small for them affects their health and the health of the hoarder.


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