The Secret Lives of Hoarders: True Stories of Tackling Extreme Clutter by Matt Paxton, Phaedra Hise Read Free Book Online

much of what they hang on to is junk mail or old newspapers. But to Rick, those items have value. Also, hoarders often keep items like paper towel tubes or plastic bags to donate or recycle, and big collections of these can look like trash to non-hoarders.
    As we’ve discovered before, a trash hoarder’s piles are as revealing as an archaeological dig. At the bottom are the possessions that may at one time have had some value: clothing, books, toys, household items, and collectibles. Then there are the junk mail, old magazines, and other printed papers that date the point when the hoarder gave up. The top layer is just trash of every sort.
    Where Hoarders Hoard
    JIM WAS A preacher who started out storing family heirlooms and church artifacts in the garage. He saved boxes of old photographs, knickknacks, and other family items that he felt someone would want someday. He also kept years’ worth of church bulletins, linens, and discarded service accessories like candles and offering plates. He even had an original copy of Playboy , which may seem strange for a preacher, but maybe he thought it was a collector’s item that would have future value.
    After Jim filled up the garage, the collection began to creep into the house. First he filled up the utility room, then the family room. And when Jim’s wife died, he filled up the house. We never met Jim, only his children. They organized a cleanup of the house after Jim died.
    Hoarding is partly about what the hoarder is collecting, but also sometimes about where. People may not recognize a hoarder who has a clean house because they don’t see the attic or garage filled to capacity. The hoarder who has the space—the attic, basement, garage, and outbuildings—can stave off the consequences of his or her hoarding for a long time. But eventually the creep takes over and starts invading the hoarder’s living space
    Once the garage is filled, of course, many hoarders have to park their cars outside. And for many, a car is just another place to store stuff. In the next chapter, we’ll meet Ben, the pizza man, whose car was filled with so many empty pizza boxes—and had become so disgusting—that he had to buy another car to get around.
    Backyard junkyards (or in some cases, front-yard junkyards) are popular hoarding locations. This is where you’ll find the big stuff—old appliances, cars, lawn care equipment, furniture (outdoor and indoor). Often the backyard hoarder will claim that the value of the scrap metal makes it worth keeping lots of this stuff. I once found an entire barn filled with aluminum cans, probably worth about $10,000. We didn’t cash them in because we ran out of time on the cleanup. That hoarder is still working on taking his cans to the recycling facility, one bag at a time.

    Much to the consternation of their neighbors, property values go down when hoarders spread to the outdoors and the piles mount.
    Outside hoarding is dangerous—and in most cases unlawful. Not only does it attract snakes, rats, mosquitoes (to standing water), and noxious weeds, it also attracts the attention of local authorities. Yard hoarders are often the first to be cited and fined since junked cars and appliances that contain gas, Freon, or other high-risk materials are significant health hazards. A hoarder with lots of land can seemingly keep collecting forever because there are no ceilings or walls outside.

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    WHY PEOPLE HOARD

    A t just over six feet tall, with long blond hair, Candace, fifty-nine, was an imposing figure. She had been a well-paid advertising executive who had also taught classes on marketing at the university near her upscale neighborhood. She confided that money wasn’t an issue for her as she’d invested well and was able to retire from both her advertising job and teaching.
    But years before Clutter Cleaner came into her life, Candace had slipped into horrible living conditions. In her house, my