DINKS Reality: Hoarding Buried Alive

All I have to say about hoarding is YIKES! For an obsessive compulsive hypochondriac like myself, Hoarding is beyond my comprehension. I do not understand why people don’t get rid of unused items. I also don’t understand how someone can go from being a pack rat who prefers not throw out unused items to becoming a hoarder who never throws out anything.

Why didn’t a family member step in to do an intervention when the items first started piling up? I don’t live near any of my family, but if I did I feel that it would be my duty as a family member to step in and intervene when something is going wrong.

Hoarding is not only a waste of space it is also a waste of money.  I couldn’t imagine spending money on something that I already have, or on something that I already have 25 of.

David is a husband with two kids.  He hoards so much stuff that if his house ever caught on fire his family would never make it out of the house alive. David risks losing his wife, his kids, and his house but he doesn’t even think that anything is wrong with his hoarding.

David’s kids have nowhere to play, and David has no money to buy new toys for his kids. I know that I am not a parent; I actually don’t even have a dog, I don’t even have a goldfish.  However, I do know that parents shouldn’t raise their kids in a pile of messy junk.  I would imagine that it may be heart breaking for a parent to tell their kid that they can’t afford to participate in after school activities or buy new toys because all of the family’s money was spent on hoarding unused items.

The impact that one single member can have on the finances of an entire family can be catastrophic.  David and his wife were always fighting over money and the kids were very unhappy living in a home where their parents fought all the time.  David was holding on to items that he may use one day or might need one day; but the fact of the matter is that he doesn’t have any space for activities or hobbies.

Normally when one aspect of a personal life is out of control so is everything else. If someone is in the middle of a Financial Free Fall the odds are that other aspects of their life are also chaotic.  This is exactly the case for Kaylie.

Kaylie did not have a happy childhood as a child and she is currently living as an adult who is still working try and find her happy childhood. Kaylie is an unemployed artist who spends her monthly Welfare cheque on her s and stuffed animals.

Kaylie calls her toys a collection of things that make her happy. She collects penguins and frogs. Kaylie says that her collections are her financial nest egg and if they ever become popular enough to be worth some money Kaylie will be financially set for life.

When Kaylie looks at her home she doesn’t see junk or a mess, she sees her art. Her live in boyfriend moved out because there was no room for him. She never has to clean or do housework because there was no room for dust or dirt.  For the time being Kaylie is happy not paying her bills and spending all of her Welfare checks on collecting children’s toys.

People hoard for different reasons, some people (like David) may use hoarding as a way to control his environment, and some people (like Kaylie) hoard items to fill a void in their lives.  Regardless of the reason why people choose to hoard, the fact of the matter is that buying and storing unused items is a waste of money.

Maybe people who hoard unused items should hoard their money, maybe they would be much better off.

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Photo by Plutor