Here is an amazing documentary about people who hoard.

POSSESSED from Martin Hampton on Vimeo

Like my grandfather’s house, you can barely walk through their homes. There is no room for another thing, their areas are so packed with items. They are in debt by the spending or spilling out of their one-bedroom flat with over 6000 books.

Just like how all my hobbies devolve into a spreadsheet, the first hoarder had a database for all of his books. How many ideas did I get for storage of books from that man? So many that I can feel the hoarder in me get a little excited.

The French woman’s voice could have been my grandfather’s voice if he were more self-aware.

“It’s very difficult to let go of things. They are like a time capsule. My stuff is sacred. It might be rubbish, but nobody is allowed to touch it. Unconsciously, I must need it somehow. I can’t get rid of it. It happened before that I managed to get rid of things, but then I have been fishing them out of the bin, you know, while everyone is asleep.”

When Stacey threw out his newspapers, he went out to the huge garbage can to retrieve them. I don’t know what he said to her that day. We still don’t talk about it much.

To see the dust flying at the last hoarder’s home with all his mail, magazines and random papers was enough to remind me of those horrible days right after his death. He had over fifty magazine subscriptions, some of them in languages that he couldn’t read. Every newspaper, every piece of mail and every television guide was important to him. Those stacks and stacks of paper were the result of SORTING. They were the things that he wanted.

The last hoarder said, “It would be nice to have gotten her clothes back.” He was talking about his mother. He had been grieving her and wished for something more for his already overfilled house. Just like my desire for The Ancient Ones or my childhood toys still left at my grandparents’ house, I saw myself in him.

Half of me is reviled and wants to get rid of all my stuff. The other half learned how to cram more books into my tiny home. Which road will I walk down? Do I even have a choice?

Via: Mind Hacks: Possessed

Read Braidwood’s most excellent post about hoarding as well:

• Authentic Threads · Hoarding- a brief digression from Women’s History Month