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rtfi
09-11-2010, 08:18
The other night at the dinner table, the topic of the new television show “Hoarders” came up. Explaining to my 10 year son that hoarding is a mental disorder, my mother-in-law added that people can also go to the other extreme and convince themselves they only need one of everything. Yes, my son, those people are called hikers!

Don H
09-11-2010, 08:21
I think I'm a gear hoarder, I have 9 Thermarest pads! Where can I get help?

4eyedbuzzard
09-11-2010, 08:44
I think I'm a gear hoarder, I have 9 Thermarest pads! Where can I get help?

Help is here (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=69)

Fishbamboo
09-11-2010, 09:04
Don, you could send me one, I don't have any.

Deadeye
09-11-2010, 09:05
I think I'm a gear hoarder, I have 9 Thermarest pads! Where can I get help?

or here:

http://gearx.com/consignment.html

consign your stuff, and get cash/credit to buy more!

Ox97GaMe
09-11-2010, 09:31
I guess Im a gear hoarder too. But not necessarily by choice. I find all this semi-decent gear along the trail. Last weekend, I found 2 bivy tents and a sleeping pad. The trip before that, I found a a jetboil stove. Funny what people are willling to leave in the woods; knives, saws, machetes, tents, hammocks, sleeping bags, stoves, boots, shirts, jackets. I could almost open an outfitter store with stuff I have found.

IronGutsTommy
09-11-2010, 10:00
so YOURE the one that keeps taking all my stuff while im getting water...

ridgewalker777
09-11-2010, 11:53
I am something of a minimalist, but have known hoarders who fly into a rage when you try to throw a "treasured" piece of junk out. I cannot deal with hoarders now because of what someone who was crazy as hell living in hoarding squalor did to defame me.

Here is an example of the worst case, the famous Collyer brothers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collyer_brothers

Don H
09-11-2010, 12:18
Help is here (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=69)
HA! Now that right there is funny. Of course as a true hoarder of outdoor equipment I could never get rid of anything!

Ox97GaMe
09-11-2010, 12:56
Hmmm. Maybe I AM the one taking all your gear. Next time you go to get water, leave your pack near the shelter so I know that there is somone around. Or maybe dont hide just the sleeping pad behind the tree.

But.. you are welcome to come pick up all your stuff, anytime. :)

Fiddleback
09-11-2010, 13:00
My name is Fiddleback and I'm a hoarder.

In anticipation of a family reunion I picked up my collection...two large boxes of containers and plastic squeeze bottles. Different sizes, different tops, different nozzles.

In an expression of severe will power and a first step in the recovery program, I whittled the bunch down to four of each kind. Mostly.:o

Now, I can't remember where I put the box of those I saved. My whole body is starting to shake.

FB

Mrs Baggins
09-11-2010, 13:27
I finally organized our gear room in the basement. In unpacking boxes of backpacking gear and car camping gear and shelving it all I found that we had:

10 sleep bags
10 mats
6 tents
4 camp coffee percolators
5 cook kits
several big pots and frying pans
10 camp chairs
4 ice chests
5 backpacks
and so much more........

I figure if there's any kind of disaster, we are set! No way I'd get rid of any of it!

Prettywoman0172
09-11-2010, 13:49
You guys are hilarious. I am a hoarder of sorts, too....books and childrens toys... I do purge occasionally but the collection is still enormous. I do have a pretty huge collection of car/base camping gear, too....but I had to have an outfit for 8 people.

Ann

IronGutsTommy
09-12-2010, 00:35
i used to hoard. made a rule to get rid of anything i dont use within a years time, except luggage or other random stuff. noticed my health increased alot without all the dusty clutter. now im on the other end. i do goodwill runs every two or so months. only thing i am compulsive in collecting is dvds and bluray disks. at last count i had over 2300 movies, filling up 9 bookcases. every tuesday (media release day) i am at the store picking up a few new releases. more than 2/3 of the collection is still in the plasticwrap. funniest thing? i dont like watching movies much. i feel they are too long, and i get restless and wish i were doing something physically engaging.

Mrs Baggins
09-12-2010, 08:00
After our 3 month long road trip, we settled into a house again and got everything from storage. We were absolutely appalled at the amount of clothing we had! We had survived very well on the road, camping, with one duffel bag each of clothes for everything from snow to desert heat (Maryland to Alaska to Death Valley and back to Maryland - early April to mid-July) with the rare addition now and then of a new t-shirt. I started filling big Hefty bags for the thrift stores.

sbhikes
09-12-2010, 13:13
I am getting better about clutter myself. I want a tiny house (http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/) someday. Then I can live like a backpacker but in a house.

Clutter is not the same as hoarding. I used to work with the mentally ill and I had to clean out one hoarder's room. I filled my pickup truck with 4 truckloads from an ordinary-sized small bedroom. There was a lot of porn and books with most of the words underlined. Eventually when I got to the bottom of it I found a handgun in the closet. The guy was in big trouble for that.

Danielsen
09-12-2010, 16:11
I could almost qualify as a gear hoarder thanks to my 9 backpacks (2 large, 1 mid-large, 2-perfect sized, 2 daypacks, one hydration pack I can stuff for an overnight), one of which I just acquired this weekend (perfect size AND perfect fit). I buy what I can afford and then when I find something better/can afford something better, I go for it... but I keep the old ones. Not for nothing, though: it's easier to get friends without packs to hike with you when you can just let them borrow one of your own. :D

Hikes in Rain
09-12-2010, 17:01
SB, those are seriously cool houses. My only concern is that I think my library alone is more cubic feet than the whole house! I could really see them as vacation houses, though.

Thank you, I appreciate the link.

Danielsen
09-12-2010, 22:52
Those tiny houses look like a great idea! If I ever buy any property anywhere, I'd probably build something like that. Maybe constructed less like a traditional house, though.

4eyedbuzzard
09-13-2010, 00:57
Hoarding is a terrible condition / disease / whatever. My wife's aunt and uncle died in a fire caused by hoarding. Floor to ceiling with newspapers, and all sorts of stuff. Really sad. :(

IronGutsTommy
09-13-2010, 01:02
yeah, older woman in detroit died in a fire because the firemen couldnt get to her with all the junk she hoarded. plus the usual suspects, old furniture and magazines/newspapers, make great kindling

ZeroLozen
09-13-2010, 12:16
Such interesting people on this show.

Old Hiker
09-13-2010, 13:59
But that tiny house costs $516 per square foot. My 2700 square foot home cost me about $61 per square foot. I firmly believe in profits, but, yikes!! It's a wooden camper.

Danielsen
09-13-2010, 16:59
Precisely why I wouldn't do it their way. I love the principle of their products, but past that point my ideas start to diverge...

Skidsteer
09-13-2010, 17:57
But that tiny house costs $516 per square foot. My 2700 square foot home cost me about $61 per square foot. I firmly believe in profits, but, yikes!! It's a wooden camper.

Pretty much. And a camper/travel trailer is a lot cheaper. The designs are pretty slick too. Lots of convenience built into very low square footage, dual power options(propane, electric) on most of the appliances, fresh water storage, convenient hookups, etc.

sherrill
09-14-2010, 09:22
My sis suffers from this. It's a serious mental disorder.

Don't get me wrong, I chuckled at everybody's jokes above. But if you know somebody who suffers from it you'll realize it's way more intense than just collecting things.

If you go in somebody's house and it looks like a cave with tunnels through the stuff, there you go.

She had to move back home with my mom to battle breast cancer. It took us almost a month to clear out her condo, which was only two bedrooms. Now, her room at my mom's house is almost filled to the ceiling with crap. Her car also. My poor mom is about to tear her hair out.

4eyedbuzzard
09-14-2010, 09:45
My sis suffers from this. It's a serious mental disorder.

Don't get me wrong, I chuckled at everybody's jokes above. But if you know somebody who suffers from it you'll realize it's way more intense than just collecting things.

If you go in somebody's house and it looks like a cave with tunnels through the stuff, there you go.

She had to move back home with my mom to battle breast cancer. It took us almost a month to clear out her condo, which was only two bedrooms. Now, her room at my mom's house is almost filled to the ceiling with crap. Her car also. My poor mom is about to tear her hair out.
Hope you all can get her the help she needs. But remember to put your own and your mom's lives before hers. The disease has already claimed her to some extent - don't let it ruin your lives as well.

Fiddleback
09-14-2010, 11:28
Such interesting people on this show.

Ya' ain't seen nothin', yet.

FB

Old Hiker
09-14-2010, 11:51
Ya' ain't seen nothin', yet.

FB

OOOoooo, there's gonna be pictures?!? Can I be first to be offended? Huh? Can I??? PLEEEEEEZZZZEEEE???

Turtle Feet
09-14-2010, 11:54
My sis suffers from this. It's a serious mental disorder.

Don't get me wrong, I chuckled at everybody's jokes above. But if you know somebody who suffers from it you'll realize it's way more intense than just collecting things.

If you go in somebody's house and it looks like a cave with tunnels through the stuff, there you go.

She had to move back home with my mom to battle breast cancer. It took us almost a month to clear out her condo, which was only two bedrooms. Now, her room at my mom's house is almost filled to the ceiling with crap. Her car also. My poor mom is about to tear her hair out.

Seems like hoarding is almost always triggered by some traumatic loss (or sense of loss) in the victims life.

I have a friend who's ex-wife fell victim to the disorder after the death of their young child. It's truly devastating, but what I found interesting with his case, is that he failed to get her therapy. He complained, tried to hide it from family (basically no one was invited to visit anymore), but couldn't bring himself to get her therapy (I think he was in denial to some extent too). In my mind by not confronting her, in a sense he was enabling her.

The cases they show on 'Hoarders', by their own admission, are the extreme (9 or 10 on a 1-10 scale). There are plenty of 1, 2, or 3's out there that most of us just look at as 'messy housekeepers'.

Sorry to here about your sis Sherrill :(, hope you can get her the help she needs, for everyone's sake!

TF

ridgewalker777
09-15-2010, 11:39
As with alcoholism, there are support groups for people who are affected by other people's problems. De Nile isn't just a river in Egypt....

The most serious hoarding problem I knew was a former Cuban landlord. He and his wife were both hoarders, fiercely protective of their hoards. They were both "disabled" major leaches on the government, and also made large use of doctors and other professionals to help them feel better. I rented a small cottage on their property above a garage. I tried for a while to get them to clean out the garage, which they grudgingly permitted by dribs and drabs. We found a dead raccoon there, which had been reduced to a mere hide. Their house was in utter squalor, they tunnelled through the newspapers and other debris to get to their rooms. They refused to pay income taxes on significant income.

It took me quite a while to recover from the pain of renting from these people. I did report the issue to the state health department--the town health department was also in denial, enabling the situation, or afraid of the wrath of the Cuban if they took action. A psychologist can understand these situations.

Hiking did me good in helping heal from the situation.