@emmysmom wrote:
Yes..I've been told hoarders are firebugs....there is alot of dust involved with hoarding...and if there's a fire..it goes up like a candle..I love in an apt and my neighbor is a hoarder! You can't walk into her apt...there's no room. She gives alot away to a Charity..and then brings back stuff daily! Its scary living next to her. I was told by the city, that the police should be called..and they would give her 48 hrs to get out or be evicted. She told me she see's a psychiatrist weekly and she showed me the meds she's taking. She's diagnosed as a schizophrenic! None of the neighbors talk to her..including me. She's a scary person!
@emmysmom living in a building with someone who is hoarder should be of great concern to you. I had someone in my building who was one. Originally she lived right under me; I'm on the second floor and she was on the first. Then she took a larger unit so she lived under my neighbor who lives across from me. Those of us who knew she had a problem didn't think Management should have given her the larger unit but I was the only one who spoke up. She convinced them that once she had the two additional rooms, she would be able to unpack everything and get organized. They went for it because this was a professional woman; she was a Nurse Trainer/Supervisor. She was immaculate whenever she left her house but her car always had a lot of stuff in it. Actually the piles were neat and looked orderly but they were always there.
We would talk on the phone at least a couple of times a month because I used to travel for business and I would always let her know when i would be gone. I had known her for two years before I knew she had children. One day I sensed she needed to talk so I let her. She confided about how her "collecting" had caused problems in her marriage eventually leading to divorce and the estrangement of her two sons. The older was married with children. She wasn't invited to his wedding, had never met his wife or seen her grandchildren. The younger one tried to maintain a relationship with her but he only saw her once or twice a year and would never allow her to meet his friends. Finally after we had been on the phone for almost an hour, she asked me to come downstairs. I did. She would't let me come in but she did open the door wide enough for me to see. It looked like a warehouse. All I could see were boxes and boxes of stuff - stacked to the ceiling. While I was standing there the lady who lived across from her came out of her place and started screaming "You've got to get rid of that junk" . My neighbor quickly closed the door. When I went back upstairs and called her, she wouldn't answer the phone.
After that she stopped speaking to everyone in the building but the boxes and packages kept coming. Just before Thanksgiving during one of our scheduled visits by an Exterminator, she wouldn't let him in so Management used that as legal grounds to finally evict her. When I saw those men loading those trucks and the amount of stuff that she disposed of - had to rent a dumpster - I realized how blessed we were there was never a fire. If something like that happens again, I won't take the passive approach even if it means I have to relocate.
"And suddenly you just know it's time to start something newAnd trust the magic of Beginnings..."
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