I don't want to!

[goodmornin]

do my laundry and ironing....3 weeks behind!

 

[unpopular]

LOL - awesome thread. Although, now knowing that you had visitors, I am guessing that was your cleaning motivation? Hopefully they visit OFTEN

That was the motivation to clean the carpets and to clean that particular day. But it's not like we just let stuff pile up. Well aside from under the couch where the soda cans live.

 

[Jaemie]

For many years, I managed a company that owned numerous commercial and residential properties in San Francisco, so I frequently got to see some pretty amazing cases of hoarding and squalor. Among the more memorable:

The guy in Room 126. Had lived there for 15 years and collected Nazi stuff, but never dusted. Ever. There was a very even 1-2" pile of dust on everything in the room that he didn't touch in his daily routine. The shelves, books, SS uniforms hanging on the wall, helmets, bed headboard, boxes of German military stuff, all were covered perfectly with this thick layer of dust. Only the bed, chair, and nightstand were clear. The whole room looked gray from all the dust!

The gun collector. Guns everywhere! Handguns, rifles, assault rifles, shotguns. And thousands of rounds of ammo to match. He was a security guard, but he had mental issues, and he'd talk to himself constantly, muttering obscenities and political grievances. He had about a dozen mayonnaise jars filled with his urine, placed about the room. Geez..

The extreme hoarder. We'd had complaints from other tenants about mice coming from his unit, so I had to inspect. I knocked and a voice said to enter. I was only able to open the door far enough to squeeze myself through and immediately saw a wall of stuff piled from floor to about 18 inches from the ceiling. Boxes and boxes and more boxes. I could only walk in a narrow 1' wide path between the walls of stuff and the apartment wall. There was light, but I couldn't tell the source. A man asked what I wanted and I told him why I was there. I couldn't see him. He sounded to be above me. I entered further, rounded a corner and saw only more piles and boxes. The voice spoke again, and it was then I realized the man was laying on TOP of the center pile, 12-18" from the ceiling - it was his bed! Good god. The rest of the apartment was the same - boxes stacked to the ceiling, narrow paths, and dim light. And it was filthy! Even the kitchen was like this - right next to the stove!! What a fire hazard! Needless to say, mice were everywhere, living in a rodents dream world.

You never really know how people live.

 

[PinkDoor]

LOL - awesome thread. Although, now knowing that you had visitors, I am guessing that was your cleaning motivation? Hopefully they visit OFTEN

That was the motivation to clean the carpets and to clean that particular day. But it's not like we just let stuff pile up. Well aside from under the couch where the soda cans live.

Really, the soda can thing just cracks me up!

 

[Jaemie]

I hope it's diet soda at least, and not some sticky, vermin-attracting mess.

 

[unpopular]

LOL. After cleaning up after real hoarders you're picturing 100+ cans I'm sure.

We don't drink much soda, not out of cans anyway.

 

[Fidi]

In German, there is a blog for people like us called "Die Ordnungshüterin" - the Keeper of Tidiness - which gives you small, managable household tasks.
The clou about this is the use of a kitchen timer.
You set the time to 15 through 20 minutes and do your o n e chore.
Or you do a vexing thing for a number of prescibed times - like, wipe the sink 20 times or for 2 full minutes (kitchen timer!) and take it as a kind of meidtation.

On the blog, you are given a taks a day, such as empty and clean all surfaces in the living room or empty and clean the big/ger kitchen shelves, sort though scraps of paper and throw away everything in your desk drawer etc. that is no longer important etc.

ADD people like me can create their own file of tasks to be done regularly, every day for x minutes, once a month/ year etc.

Best,
Fidi

 

[Jaemie]

"Die Ordnungshüterin." I love it.

I've had (diagnosed) OCD since I was a child, but it doesn't cause me to hoard or organize more than normal, fortunately. Instead, I count, touch, and do irrational repetitive things. Sticky stuff and food messes and grunge are things I cannot bear. I can't eat ribs. I wash my hands a lot, not for germs, but just to keep that clean feeling. If I see someone with dirty fingernails, I shiver in horror. Dirty kids give me the heebeejeebees.

Okay, I guess I am a neurotic screwball. Lol..​