@Okie wrote:
I was about to say worse than some of the people you've seen on TV. But when I googled hoarders, it wasn't that bad. No offense, but the pictures online looked like a trailer park version of Where's Waldo?
Anyways, extreme to the point where it is hard to walk. And the main family room looks like a storage unit with junk on top of junk, where this continues on for multiple layers. Ever since COVID and WFH, I've gotten too comfortable and have blurred the lines between work and home.
Cut yourself some slack, Okie. Stuff happens. Tackle a little bit of it at a time. It took more than a day to get that way, and it'll take more than a day to clear it out. Progress comes in big and little steps; take a baby step each day and be proud of what you accomplished.
My dad was a hoarder. Not "poop in a bucket because you can't get to the bathroom" hoarding, but he was a junk keeper for sure. He had a very strong sense of misplaced sentimentality. When we sold the family home, we were cleaning it out and discovered a pile of empty sliced cheese wrappers on the top shelf of a china cabinet in the dining room. We had no idea why he kept them, and by that time, he was in a care facility for dementia patients, so we couldn't ask him. I figure one of us kids ate the cheese on a sandwich, and he kept the wrapper because we'd used it.
Daddy was also mentally ill, so...there's no telling.
If your path dictates you walk through hell, do it as though you own the place. -unknown