We tried many times to help her clean out her house, but she would only
get defensive and angry.  I wanted desperately for my children to be
able to sleep over with "Grandma" at the house I grew up in, but there
was no place for that.  In fact, my mother typically slept on her couch
because there was no room on her bed. ..

Below is the result of your feedback form. It was submitted on
Thursday, March 20th, 2008 at 06:35 PM.


Relationship : son
Source : MSNBC article
Message :

My mother was a compulsive hoarder but it only got
worse/unbearable after I moved away to college.  We excused it as a result of
growing up in the Depression, but my father grew up under much more
deprived conditions and he was not a hoarder.  My father tried to keep it at
bay, but he eventually stopped trying and after his death, the hoarding
got immensely worse.  Junk mail, grocery bags, empty bread bags,
boxes, magazines, etc.,etc.,etc.  She could not bring herself to throw
anything away.  At least she didn't have a pet in the house.

We tried many times to help her clean out her house, but she would only
get defensive and angry.  I wanted desperately for my children to be
able to sleep over with "Grandma" at the house I grew up in, but there
was no place for that.  In fact, my mother typically slept on her couch
because there was no room on her bed. 

We also had a lake house about 2 hours away.  My mother tried to fill
that house up also.

My mom recently passed away after a long illness.  But even in the
nursing home, she would become angry if we even mentioned cleaning out her
house.  Now that she has passed away, my brothers and I are having to
sort through and clean out her house.  It will take 8 to 10 pickup truck
loads to the dump just to clean out her 1 car garage.  We have cleaned
out 1 bedroom, but we have 2 more bedrooms to go.

I pray that I do not inherit this disorder from her and try to throw
away as much as I can.