Sometimes clients come into your life and make an impact that you never expected. One such client of mine was a hoarder. As with most hoarders Professional Organizers usually know to expect the worst. My client was a wonderful, highly educated woman with a problem. A problem that I always suspected would eventually lead to her death.
But - she was lucky. As I had anticipate, a fire did break out in her home but she was pulled out of her house by some neighbors and she survived. Not without extensive physical damage. But she survived.
The fire did finally force her out of her home and she is now living in a nursing home where she is getting the treatment she deserves.
Not everyone is so lucky.
Hoarding is a serious problem.
Read some of the stories from the past:
Langley Collyer
He lived with his brother, Homer, who was blind and
paralyzed, in a three story mansion in New
York.
It was filled from floor to ceiling with newspapers, boxes,
barrels, crates and 10 grand pianos.
On March 21, 1947, the New York police received
a tip that there was a dead body in the house. They broke down the front door
but couldn’t get in because of all of the stuff.
They climbed in through a second
story window and found Homer, dead. He had died of a heart attack.
The house was a maze of nests
& tunnels and was booby trapped. There were trip wires that would bring
down debris on any intruders.
Workers cut through the roof and
lifted out 136 tons of junk.
After 18 days they found the
body of Langley Collyer who had been dead for weeks.
It appeared that he had been
crawling through a tunnel to deliver dinner to his brother when he triggered
one of his own booby traps and suffocated. Homer had then starved to death.
What was salvageable from the
tons of junk that had been collected, sold for less than $ 2,000 at auction.
The house, condemned as a health and fire hazard, was razed. Today it is a
parking lot.
Grey Gardens
In
the early 1970s, two women related to Jackie Onassis were the subjects of the
critically acclaimed documentary, Grey Gardens, about eccentric
behavior. The women, Edith Bouvier Beale and her mother, Edith Ewing Bouvier,
were former New York socialites who spent
their days holed up in a decrepit East Hampton
mansion.
When
the Suffolk County Board of Health raided their house, they found piles upon
piles of garbage amid human and animal waste. It was said that only three of the mansion’s 28 rooms were
used, while the others were occupied by hundreds of cats, possums and raccoons.
When word of the deplorable conditions got o
Jackie-O, she and her then-husband Aristotle Onassis paid $32,000 to clean the
house, install a new furnace and plumbing system, and cart away 1,000 bags of garbage.
There have been a lot of articles on hoarding in the newspapers lately. Read some of them to learn how prevalent hoarding actually is.
Fatal Blaze Complicate by Hoarding
Animal Hoarding - Nevada Bill
Fatal Fire - Leads to Hoarding Death
Residents Frustrated with Hoarding Neighbor
FDNY Trains to Battle Fires in Apartments with Hoarding Problems
BURIED IN TREASURES WORKSHOP
A
Group to Address Hoarding Behavior
The Buried in Treasures Workshop
is about
more than
clutter...
· Overcoming challenges
· Increasing motivation
· Reducing acquiring
· Prioritizing and
celebrating choices
Self-Help & Empowerment
For
Finders and Keepers
Is clutter getting
in the way of how you want to live your life?
Are you feeling
overwhelmed with too many possessions?
Are you
embarrassed to have people over?
This
program offers a 16-week course
that is based on the book ‘Buried In
Treasures’. Join
us for this group created by and for people who are ready to live a less -
cluttered life!
Individual progress, challenges, successes, and goals are also monitored throughout the sixteen weeks.
Participants are expected to commit to attending all the
sessions as well as to participate actively.
A Buried in Treasures Group is forming at
St. Paul Lutheran Church
202 Brooks St.
Missoula, MT 59801
Sessions start Wednesday, March 20th from 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
This group offers a judgment-free environment
for people ready to make a change in their life.
Registration required. Call or email for more
information.
*** There is a VIRTUAL group also available for people not able to come to Missoula
*** There is a VIRTUAL group also available for people not able to come to Missoula
Less Clutter = Less Stress SM in your home, your business and your life
Organizational Consulting Services
http://www.organizationalconsultingservices.com
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