Hoarding. I can not get this article from the AARP magazine, The Hoarders Among Us, February 4, 2011 out of my mind. I remember hearing about the Collyer Brothers many years ago and being fascinated with their story. They died surrounded by 130 tons of waste they had accumulated. (Most people in my generation never heard of the Collyer Brothers as they died in the 1940’s.) As a complete neat freak, hoarding both intrigues and frightens me.
Luckily, I did not have to deal with hoarding with my parents. The only thing that came close was the incredible number of plastic bags that my mother seemed to have amassed. For some reason, she had a deeply held belief that you can never have too many. I am now an avid recycler of plastic bags and try to use my own reusable grocery bags whenever possible.
That said, the article points out that the hoarding tends to be more prevalent in older people and that it gets worse with age. If you are dealing with hoarders, the article suggests that therapy is useful and that it is a long and agonizing process to get hoarders to relinquish possessions, even useless ones.
Tip: Get a dumpster. Or two.
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Julie Rothhouse
The Executor Advisor 