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Posted on 01/09/2006 6:22:49 AM PST by plain talk
A woman in Shelton, Wash., who was reported missing by her husband, was found dead under piles of clutter in their home, where she suffocated to death, according to police. Shelton Police Chief Terry Davenport said the home was so cluttered that police officers' heads touched the ceiling as they climbed over the clutter.
Authorities found the body of 62-year-old Marie Rose buried under clothes after 10 hours of searching. She reportedly suffered from a condition known as hoarding. Rose's husband believes she fell while looking for the phone in the house this week and suffocated. There were so many piles of items that the man did not realize she was dead in the home.
(Excerpt) Read more at local6.com ...
One would think that my brother's in-laws would be so embarrassed by this incident that they would not tell anyone about it. Oh no! Not these people! Thinking it absolutely hilarious, the FIL emailed the story to their friends & relatives, adding that his wife had actually brought the dead squirrel in a bag to work to show to her colleagues, laughing when they all responded in grossed-out revulsion.
My brother, his wife & her other siblings have repeatedly tried to intervene with limited success. The in-laws attempted to resolve their clutter problem by renting out a storage locker. Last year while visiting it to obtain some of her stuff, the MIL slipped on the ice and broke her arm, later needing surgery on it. So clutter can also injure! <g>
I just sent this article link to my brother in hopes that it will give them more ammunition to combat his in-law's problem. In the meantime... decline all of their dinner invitations!
bump for later
It is that but for the bad hoarders like this something is screwy in their brains. My grandmother got this way after she developed Parkinson's. She used to be neat and organized but when her brain chemistry got screwy she literally could not throw out anything.
I lived with her when I was finishing college and I learned to toss the trash after she went to bed on the night before trash day. I learned that after she literally brought back a trash bag I had thrown away. She never was like that before she got sick.
Great cartoon - gonna send it to my sisters.
Wish I knew your secret besides "shape up for ship out." My hub drives me nuts. If you saw my basement and garage.... I am so ashamed. Meanwhile, my house is beautiful because I am pretty organized and a little bit of a clean/neatness freak. I like everything organized and I don't like clutter at all. It actually makes me nervous. He's very handy and will save parts from various broken things in case another one breaks and he can use the piece from the other broken one; the only problem is he could NEVER find this stuff if he had to.
Never heard of Collyer's Mansion?
My dad's a borderline hoarder. I've told him and my mother that if they don't get rid of at least half of their stuff by the time they kick it, my brother and sister and I will torch the house.
We figure it'll be easier to deal with the insurance company and the arson squad than to clean out 40+ years of accumulation.
Nope never had.
LOL!
True, so true.
Professional organizer?
Got a website?
Unfortunately, I'm hearing it's the latter. Some people say it's genetic, which worries me.
I took a preemptive step this Christmas and gave or threw away virtually everything I own, and my stateside possessions are now down to required documents (tax records and substantiation), photos, sentimental keepsakes and some computers and related accessories. It was burning a monthly storage cost hole in my bank account, and when I looked at all my stuff jamming my storage space, I realized it was all very easily replaceable, or was going to sit uselessly there for years, gathering obsolescence, until I return to live in the US.
And I'll tell you, although it's liberating, it hurts to get rid of everything you own. You look at all the tools, hardware, house ware, kitchenware and clothes that cost good money to buy (whether bought or received as gifts) - that you never used or wore, and that you're probably never GONNA wear or use, and you realize what a monumental waste it's all been. Fortunately, I had family to give most of the good and heirloom stuff. And the other stuff ended up with people that could use it.
It's not so much the materialism driving the regret - it's just the feeling that one has been extremely wasteful in accumulating and not properly using all that extraneous stuff. You think "Well, I'll keep that and one day I'll wear/use it." But you rarely do.
I feel better reading this article.
New Years day I spent most of it cleaning up and organizing the spare bedroom. I spent 13 hours Saturday and 9 Sunday sorting, organizing, filing etc in my office and workshop. I feel so much better now.
No one will die under piles of clutter now....smothered by dust bunnies maybe.
So last week on FR we read where a guy who owned a tree removing service died from "complete morsalization" after becoming a victim of his own brush chipper. So this woman's death will be listed as "complete clutterization?"
I think I'm gonna try FlyLady . . . I have an aversion to uncluttered horizontal surfaces. Every table, shelf, and desk in our home is covered with books or crafting stuff. Our garage has 14 boxes of books in it . . . my closet has 10 more.
My husband wants me to lose 'em, but the perennial student in me cringes at the thought of getting rid of books.
I think we're going to have a garage sale this year.
Our New Year's projects often involve refitting closets, since the Container Store has a great sale on Elfa closet components. This year it was MY closet's turn, and it's so good to see everything neat and organized, and the three huge bags of good stuff I don't or can't use any more will do someone else some good. I've seen hoarding, and it's not pretty - it really is a mental disorder - and I'm determined to be as opposite to that as I can be!
If you can't get rid of them, at least build shelves for them. There's a great show called "Clean Sweep" where clutterers are forced to part with their junk; when they protest that something really matters to them (like all your books) the rejoinder is, "Why aren't you taking care of them, if they have value to you?"
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