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GOTTA STAY FAI posted:I needed to verify that the floors could handle the weight of the box, my new bed, and your mother all at once 
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Nov 11, 2016 19:53
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Terrorforge posted:I've trained myself to just throw things out the moment I start thinking "well, I might need it at some point". Yeah, I have two questions in these cases: Do I know of anything that needs this or will need it? Can I obtain it again fairly easily and at minimal cost? Makes it really easy to throw things out once you remember you can buy it again if for some reason it suddenly becomes vitally important.
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Nov 12, 2016 16:14
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I've definitely had moments of "drat why did I throw that out" but it's 99% related to clothes. This monstrosity, however, will stay with me (and my friend in the picture) until the end of time. This was the Target "designer" clothes section, loving what. Also we were both ~110 pounds in that picture. Goddamn, that loving dress.
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Nov 12, 2016 18:06
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Black face isn't cool
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Nov 12, 2016 18:29
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Those are the default colors in photoshop and I was lazy so I used them. Sorry if it's offensive
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Nov 12, 2016 22:37
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Just draw some big red lips on yourself. Then it's not racist because it's just a golliwog.
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Nov 12, 2016 23:59
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They really are the default colors and I really wasn't trying to be offensive. E: for content I'll provide with  http://i.imgur.com/xxlVDXr.jpg Thin Privilege has a new favorite as of 13:43 on Nov 14, 2016 |
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Nov 14, 2016 13:38
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My mom did a lot of local political stuff, like volunteering for campaigns and fundraisers and all that. One of the most active volunteers was this old lady named Jeanine, and they ran into each other so much that they became friendly. Anyway, this lady had this huge broken down horror movie mansion that she owned and didn't have much in the way of steady work, hence all the volunteering. So my mom threw her a couple of bucks now and then to babysit my brothers and I. She was super cranky and weird and hated kids and didn't really watch us all that closely, which was fine by us. I'd sneak around and catch her drinking my dad's liquor eating random things out of the fridge like half-eaten dinners and leftovers. It was too trivial/weird to confront. Sometimes she tried to get me to buy her smokes at the 7-11 which was like four miles away. I always had to explain to her that it wasn't the 1970's and they don't give cigarettes to twelve year olds and also she's the one with the car. She would also steal our neighbor's newspaper since we only got the Sunday edition and this lady loving loved newspapers. She'd sit there sipping coffee and bourbon and read the drat thing cover to cover, including all the ads. Anyway, one fall we were having some poo poo done to our roof so my mom made us go to Jeanine's rotted old mansion while she worked. And goddamn, let me tell you. I'm fairly certain that my mom had never been inside because she's a neat freak and one peak into that dank pit would be enough to send her running. First of all, she loved newspapers so much that the hallways and rooms were filled with stacks of yellowing and browning newspapers over head height. They were everywhere. I went off looking for where she stashed our neighbor's stolen ones and couldn't find them, so I settled for seeking out the special edition regarding JFK's assassination. It was a bad idea because a six foot stack of rotting damp newspaper fell on my and of course there were maggots writhing around inside. She also hoarded old cans of chemicals and paint and poo poo, most of which were open. Certain rooms were so full of fumes that I'm sure falling asleep inside would be a death sentence. It was also like 20 degrees colder in the house than outside, we could see our breathe. Anyway there was probably some more Resident Evil poo poo going on in there but I decided that if would look bad as the oldest child if my brothers got permanent brain damage from that poo poo so we played with crabapples outside for the next six hours. My mom was unfortunate enough to have discovered Jeanine's blue lipped corpse a few months later after not hearing from her for awhile. I can only imagine what fungi and animals had taken root at that point.
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Nov 15, 2016 12:25
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We had a house fire recently in the city I work in (I'm a firefighter) where the guy was a hoarder. He ended up dying because we could not open a single door or window in the house because there was so much stuff stacked from floor to ceiling in every room. We eventually made entry, could barely fit through the little walkways he left to get around the house, and ended up finding him dead in the basement under a pile of newspapers and garbage. The thing is we didn't find him right away. It was really smoke filled in the house because of the fire, and he was under a large pile of crap, so we walked over him several times while putting out the fire and ventilating the home. We didn't find him until the walk through after the whole house was cleared. Hoarding literally killed this man.
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Nov 15, 2016 16:09
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FearCotton posted:And finally, papers. Tons of papers. I recommend Marie Kondo to everyone if only for her section on how to handle papers. Thank you for this suggestion because I'd never heard of Marie Kondo before. My mother has an awful time with papers (I cleaned out over 100 pounds of old paperwork after my father died in Spring) and I still struggle with organizing in general. Mom is more willing to get rid of stuff and wants to organize these days so I may be buying Kondo's books as holiday gifts this year.
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Nov 27, 2016 04:33
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Relatively tame: When I sold insurance over the phone I remember this guy in Illinois was excited to have his house insured by us. He mentioned he was having trouble insuring because his existing company didn't understand he and his wife were big shot antiquers and did a little business on the side. Normally this is ok, so I figured they were just misunderstanding between he and the company. No big deal, lets set him up. Well his house was old so we had a normal inspection done. Just a walk through to make sure the place wasn't falling apart. A week or two later i get the report back and am told its declined due to fire hazard . I was shocked, so i checked out the photos as to why we would do this to him. Turns out the place was packed nearly floor to ceiling in just junk. These were his "antiques". Now, it wasnt filthy or squalor. No feces or stains or anything like that, just no where to move around. The stairs, including the landings, were just full of 3 foot high stacks of papers. Newspapers, magazines, boxes of paper neatly boxed and or tied, but taking up nearly the entire steps. Old folk like him and his wife would definitely have trouble navigating that. Easily 200 boxes there. Kitchen stacked nearly to the ceiling with plates and pans and assorted appliances. I dont know how they cooked or prepped food as every square inch was taken up by some dusty or rusty 50s era kitchen item. You could tell it wasnt high traffic because of the precariousness of the stacks; one errant elbow and you probably took out half the room. Dining room was more of the same, just piles and piles of old junk. The tables and armoires were just full of random assortments of mid 20th century every day items, just old, worn, and disorganized. The only room that looked normal was the bathrooom and even that room had those goddam boxes of paper in it next to the toilet. So yeah we rejected it and the guy got pissed at us. Couldnt belive there was a fire hazard as they handt ever had a fire and the paper is just fine where it is. But that house...you have a fire or need to get out quickly, not only is it going to be hard to get out, that place was a tinderbox. Poor guy 
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Nov 27, 2016 06:54
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That's a big problem with old people. They think everything old is an antique and thus worth a fortune if only they hold on to it for long enough. No amount of logic will persuade them that the mountains of mass-produced plywood crap and broken appliances from the 40s/50s which they've spent the last 60 years amassing will ever be worth more that firewood.
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Nov 29, 2016 11:51
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Sweevo posted:That's a big problem with old people. They think everything old is an antique and thus worth a fortune if only they hold on to it for long enough. No amount of logic will persuade them that the mountains of mass-produced plywood crap and broken appliances from the 40s/50s which they've spent the last 60 years amassing will ever be worth more that firewood. American Pickers is like Hoarders: Old People Edition. Two guys travel the midwest looking for hoards of Americana and various other kitschy stuff to buy and sell. Instead, what they find is mainly barns and bigger barns of antique garbage. Literal in the literal definition of the word "literal" garbage that should have been thrown out in the 1930s and 1940s that these "collectors" seem to hold on to because it's old and they think it's worth something. A lot of time, the dudes pick through the barn, notice that the stuff inside is pure garbage, don't want to leave empty handed, so they find an old oil can from the 1930s and ask how much.  "Well, my grandpappy put that in the family Model A back in 1938 in the middle of a snowstorm. I can't part with it because it's part of the collection *points to an enormous pile of old rusty oil cans*." "Yeah, but we don't want to leave empty handed, so how about $50 for this can because it looks cool?" "Nosir, like I said it's part of the collection and I won't let it go for less than $150 if you want to buy the single can." "..."The frustrating thing is most of the old people on the show are pushing 80 and above, and once they're gone in a few years, their children and grandchildren won't want the barns full of "collectable and valuable stuff worth millions" and will just get a few big roll-offs and junk everything. At least take the $50 now so you can see some money in your lifetime from your hoard of "collectable and valuable stuff worth millions," you old loving coot. One oil can missing from your collection isn't going to make your junk barn hoard worthless 
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Nov 29, 2016 14:41
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That show is fake. They know ahead of time what they are buying from conversations over the phone and stuff with the seller. Then they "hide" it and find it throughout the house. Prices are already negotiated ahead of time.
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Nov 29, 2016 15:42
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Tiny Lowtax posted:Television is fake
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Nov 29, 2016 16:28
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eatenmyeyes posted:See that circle on the wall? Somebody summoned a squalor demon.  Silent Hill 4 was kind of like a "horrorers" room.
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Nov 29, 2016 18:23
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That show is in Iowa and people literally travel here to go see them. Its so sad imo because it really is old garbage 90% of the time.
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Nov 29, 2016 19:25
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MageMage posted:
I like to think the demon is two seconds away from going right back in to that hole because of the hoarding just behind the camera.
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Nov 30, 2016 04:26
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MageMage posted:
Nononononono I was about to go to bed, now I'm going to have nightmares.
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Nov 30, 2016 04:28
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You Are A Elf posted:
Car stuff infuriates me. There are loads of people with sweet 50s/60s cars that they bought in the 70s when they were just old cars with a few problems and virtually worthless. Then they got parked in a field and left to rot. No it doesn't just need a new battery. It needed a new battery in 1973, now the engine is seized solid and there's a bush growing through the floor. And the crazy old man who owns them is convinced the piles of rust held together by an inch-thick layer of bird poo poo are worth ten grand apiece because they saw a rare limited edition restored to better-than-new condition sell for six figures on a TV auction.
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Nov 30, 2016 21:07
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Thin Privilege posted:Nononononono I was about to go to bed, now I'm going to have nightmares. aww widdle babby is triggered by a video game picture
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Nov 30, 2016 21:14
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bradzilla posted:aww widdle babby is triggered by a video game picture He's probably going to have nightmares of having to play a lovely Japanese video game.
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Nov 30, 2016 21:19
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Sweevo posted:Car stuff infuriates me. There are loads of people with sweet 50s/60s cars that they bought in the 70s when they were just old cars with a few problems and virtually worthless. Then they got parked in a field and left to rot. No it doesn't just need a new battery. It needed a new battery in 1973, now the engine is seized solid and there's a bush growing through the floor. And the crazy old man who owns them is convinced the piles of rust held together by an inch-thick layer of bird poo poo are worth ten grand apiece because they saw a rare limited edition restored to better-than-new condition sell for six figures on a TV auction. When I was like 17 I found a '70 Challenger 440 six pack convertible in a field like that. That one really would have been worth a lot. I don't think he knew what he actually had; he was some old coot, and this was like the mid 90s or so, so there wasn't easy internet research or car auction TV channels, but he still wouldn't sell. Planning on doing something with it any day now, he said, as it sat rusting away its potential value beside like 4 or 5 other similarly decaying cars. I couldn't have afforded to properly fix it anyway
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Dec 1, 2016 05:47
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ReidRansom posted:When I was like 17 I found a '70 Challenger 440 six pack convertible in a field like that. That one really would have been worth a lot. I don't think he knew what he actually had; he was some old coot, and this was like the mid 90s or so, so there wasn't easy internet research or car auction TV channels, but he still wouldn't sell. Planning on doing something with it any day now, he said, as it sat rusting away its potential value beside like 4 or 5 other similarly decaying cars. But isn't that just the quintessential hoarder mentality. "I'm planning on doing something with this rusty old car someday" = "I might need these 4 draws of plastic cups someday"
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Dec 1, 2016 05:55
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These hoards are so disorganized. I pretty much never see situations where a house is full of meticulously organized things. If people were really sincere that they wanted to save stuff for a particular purpose it wouldn't end up in filthy heaps.
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Dec 1, 2016 06:37
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Panfilo posted:These hoards are so disorganized. I pretty much never see situations where a house is full of meticulously organized things. If people were really sincere that they wanted to save stuff for a particular purpose it wouldn't end up in filthy heaps. Now I know these aren't really "hoards" in the usual sense of this thread, but that's kind of the point. Somebody who keeps a gigantic, obsessively neat collection of weird crap may not be the model of sensible living, but they're not really the kind of person we think of when we hear the word "hoarder". But I think you're right in concluding that people aren't really sincere when they say they're going to do something with their junk. If my personal experiences are anything to go by, that attitude is mostly about justifying your behavior to yourself. You know that refusing to part with literal garbage because you can't bear to lose it is completely unreasonable, so you tell yourself "oh I'm just prudent, I'm going to need this later, I'll be kicking myself in three weeks/two months/ten years if I get rid of this now". Also it might be worth pointing out that there's a difference between a compulsive hoarder and someone who merely lives in filth. You can be both, but when I was stepping over a pile of a dozen pizza cartons to get to the sink every day it wasn't because I loving love pizza cartons and planned to build myself a pizza fort one day. It was because I'd reached peak sadbrains and even the minute mental effort required to gather the fuckers up and throw them out was more than I could muster. Terrorforge has a new favorite as of 14:45 on Dec 1, 2016 |
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Dec 1, 2016 14:43
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Sweevo posted:That's a big problem with old people. They think everything old is an antique and thus worth a fortune if only they hold on to it for long enough. No amount of logic will persuade them that the mountains of mass-produced plywood crap and broken appliances from the 40s/50s which they've spent the last 60 years amassing will ever be worth more that firewood. Give it another three decades or so and it'll be people who all bought 50 holo-foil glow-in-the-dark cover copies each of X-Force #1 in 1990 "as an investment".
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Dec 1, 2016 16:44
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There are periodic Hoarders episodes where it's clear they're not "hoarders", they just had filth out of control and gave up. I remember one where the organizers opened the garage and started their whole "can I throw out this broken basket?" spiel, and the owners were like "please get rid of everything in there."
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Dec 1, 2016 17:23
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My grandfather is probably what you'd call being on the Hoarder Spectrum. Their house is very clean and neat throughout, thanks to my grandmother's degree of scene control, but their garage, and the half acre or so surrounding their home is dotted with orderly junk piles, tarp coverings, rotting sheds, and piles of various things. I've heard they also have two storage sheds elsewhere, full of poo poo He was a child of the depression, grew up an orphan with his four siblings, so the tendency to save and scrimp everything was already there. Then in the late eighties, early nineties, the restaurant he owned, full of equipment, decoration, interesting items and knick-knacks went under, and he had to clear everything out. Without a plan, his first thought was apparently to just keep it all, and soon reopen a new restaurant. Never happened, stuff continued to pile up, he started picking up old poo poo from local businesses, and the piles just grew and grew. Buried in there are dilapidated Ford Model Ts from 1912 and 1915, a 1947 Chevy pickup that still ran (and he used to pick up more poo poo) until the early 2000's. Gas street lamps from the '10s, military mess hall cooking equipment from WW2 and Korea, tools, sports equipment, and god knows what else. It was all cool as poo poo to a little kid like me, until adulthood slowly steals the magic of all that buried treasure from you, and shows you the truth of it all. I tend to think they all share a similar disposition, but that some trauma or life-altering event becomes the tipping point. I also think many of them are trying to recapture the wonder of all the "possibility" buried in there. At some point, admitting that you'll never get to all of it, and never be able to accomplish it all is like admitting your own mortality. The experience of throwing away that set of golf clubs is like throwing away a little bit of your potential future. So instead, you go out and find a little bit more potential future, in the form of a lamp shade, or disco ball and go back home and add it to your loving pile.
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Dec 1, 2016 19:09
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One story about a hoarder that I sort of enjoy is that of Arthur Kennedy Miller, whose predilection was for Stutz motor cars. He was originally an engineer who ran an autogyro delivery business, he was in the RCAF during the Second World War (because he was too old to join the USAF), then after the war he went a bit strange, moved into a remote ranch with his wife, turned all his money into gold and silver and spent the rest of his life curating this collection of classic cars. He drove VW Beetles which he abandoned on his property when they broke down or he lost interest in them. Wikipedia says: quote:As time went by, the farmhouse and the farm in general became dilapidated. In keeping with his frugal nature, Miller himself usually drove beat-up Volkswagen Beetles and when one would break down or he grew tired of it, he would abandon it in his yard. The neighbors often worried that the Millers were poor, and sometimes made offers of charity.
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Dec 1, 2016 19:31
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What a waste, the guy sat on a million dollars in gold bullion for decades, fell off a ladder and died in his 80's, and the government swooped in a took it all. At least looking at his various classic cars probably gave him some sense of satisfaction, but once you get into your 60s and 70s why not spend a little bit of that gold?
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Dec 1, 2016 19:40
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Basebf555 posted:What a waste, the guy sat on a million dollars in gold bullion for decades, fell off a ladder and died in his 80's, and the government swooped in a took it all. At least looking at his various classic cars probably gave him some sense of satisfaction, but once you get into your 60s and 70s why not spend a little bit of that gold? I believe he was also notorious for being a massive cheapskate.
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Dec 1, 2016 20:14
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Pick posted:There are periodic Hoarders episodes where it's clear they're not "hoarders", they just had filth out of control and gave up. I remember one where the organizers opened the garage and started their whole "can I throw out this broken basket?" spiel, and the owners were like "please get rid of everything in there."
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Dec 2, 2016 01:49
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Inzombiac posted:I have as well and the worst problem there was late night parties and stale beer cans everywhere. The worst we ever had was a dude who just straight up did not know what a garbage disposal was for. Like, he literally thought it was for cramming any old garbage into. We didn't notice what he was doing till one day we woke up to the sink brimming foul greywater made up of everything from bacon grease to cardboard pizza boxes. When he admitted to it he refused to pay for repairs till another 'roommate' snapped and beat the hell out of him threatening to drown him in his own sink-mess. Prokhor Zakharov has a new favorite as of 04:37 on Dec 2, 2016 |
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Dec 2, 2016 04:35
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Tiggum posted:They're not psychologically invested in their garbage, just too lazy to throw it out, and they're happy to have a TV show send people in to throw it out for them, but they never thought of hiring someone to come and get rid of the stuff and clean the place up? Never met anyone who is both cheap and lazy?
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Dec 2, 2016 17:10
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Tiggum posted:They're not psychologically invested in their garbage, just too lazy to throw it out, and they're happy to have a TV show send people in to throw it out for them, but they never thought of hiring someone to come and get rid of the stuff and clean the place up? Look, hiring people can be a pain in the rear end okay? That's why I just waited for my house to burn down rather than clear it out. Way easier.
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Dec 2, 2016 17:20
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Tiggum posted:They're not psychologically invested in their garbage, just too lazy to throw it out, and they're happy to have a TV show send people in to throw it out for them, but they never thought of hiring someone to come and get rid of the stuff and clean the place up? It's more likely than you'd think. Hiring people costs money, for starters. Maybe you could get assistance from a local housing board or mental health workers or your family, but even that would involve admitting you have a problem. And you don't have a problem, right? Gonna clear out that old garage any day now. Aaaaaany day. (Any day in this case being when a TV crew shows up to inform you that yes, you do have a problem but don't worry, we're going to fix it for the low, low price of humiliating you on national television.) Plus it takes bit more than just laziness to get to the point where you're literally drowning in garbage. If you have mental health issues that give you trouble just taking out the trash, finding and negotiating a contract with a cleanup crew is going to be a nightmare. e: Slime posted:Look, hiring people can be a pain in the rear end okay? That's why I just waited for my house to burn down rather than clear it out. Way easier. So basically this but unironically. It really is easier - right now. I mean, what's more effort? Organizing a concerted cleaning effort over the course of days, weeks or months, or throwing one more rusted typewriter on the pile? Terrorforge has a new favorite as of 18:02 on Dec 2, 2016 |
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Dec 2, 2016 17:57
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SUPERMAN'S GAL PAL posted:Thank you for this suggestion because I'd never heard of Marie Kondo before. My mother has an awful time with papers (I cleaned out over 100 pounds of old paperwork after my father died in Spring) and I still struggle with organizing in general. Mom is more willing to get rid of stuff and wants to organize these days so I may be buying Kondo's books as holiday gifts this year.  I hadn't heard of Marie Kondo before this post, thanks for the information. My mom has a really tough time at dealing with her clutter (tons of stuff she is needlessly attached to). I'll definitely check it out as a Christmas gift as well. How Rude has a new favorite as of 18:37 on Dec 2, 2016 |
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Dec 2, 2016 18:27
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When I was a Paramedic I came across several hoarder situations. The one that sticks out the most was two old people hoarding dogs inside their home. I estimate there were 100 dogs in the house and because of zoning laws regulating the amount of dogs you can have. All the dogs stayed inside all the time. It seems like a list of observations will help all those who have not had first hand experience with this. 1. There was a main pack of 60 small to medium dogs that roamed freely through the house. 2. Cages were stacked on top of cages holding other small dogs they said cause trouble.These cages lined every wall in the house. The bottom cages had a constant rain of poo poo and piss. 3. The carpet was matted down with poo poo and piss from all the dogs. Looked like a dirt floor. They could not figure out why they were having respiratory issues. 4. A small bedroom with 3 litters of puppies. 5. Most of the dogs looked malnourished. 6. The house was also infested with fleas, and roaches. 7. While i was attempting to load a patient dogs were biting at my ankles. 8. The old lady got mad when i kicked the biters. 9. Dead dogs scattered various places from power struggles in the pack.
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Dec 2, 2016 19:12
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The_end posted:When I was a Paramedic I came across several hoarder situations. I would legitimately be interested to see the evolutionary path this secluded ecosystem would take after 1000 generations. You've stumbled upon the dog-galapagos...
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