ScienceDaily (Mar. 10, 2009) — "Most of us save things – memorabilia, collectibles, items from our childhood or from our children. But for more than an estimated million Americans, the saving may get out of hand and cross over to a psychiatric condition known as compulsive hoarding. People who engage in hoarding put themselves and neighbors in danger, say experts at the University of Michigan Health System. Their living conditions can present a fire hazard and are often unsanitary and unsafe. Hoarders face the real prospect of becoming buried under an avalanche of trash. Treating hoarding is difficult because people who suffer from it often don't see the squalor they live in as a problem." - Anna Haro from Bookmarklet

My Dad's uncle's wife has that. When he passed away and the family had to move her out and help her because she couldn't live alone we all found out how bad she had it. Its still tough with her. - Joe "The Enforcer" Pierce

Oh my goodness, Joe. :( Yeah, this condition is really quite sad. - Anna Haro

Yeah, he told us that she had a lot of stuff that she wouldn't get rid of but since they lived way out and always came to us we just had no no idea at all. - Joe "The Enforcer" Pierce

I think an ex of mine has it. She isn't to the point of it being unsanitary but she needs to surround her living area with tons of clothes, boxes, trinkets and such. - ·[▪_▪]·

My mother has it. Her excuse has always been "I might throw out something I need."- to which my reply one day was "Well, mom, most likely you have 7 or eight of every thing you could possibly NEED. You have so much stuff you can't find anything when you are looking for it and then need to go buy another. Wouldn't it just be better to go through what you have and reduce?" -Because I've lived in her house, i make it a point to go through spring cleaning every 3-4 months, rotating rooms i hit. - InPerpetualMotion(Gina k)

My uncle definitely had this problem. None of us realized how bad it was until he died and they had to clean out his house. It was unbelievable. The piles of boxes, the trash, newspapers... he literally had a path through his house from room to room that was surrounded by 4 ft high piles of stuff. It was really, really sad. - Jen (SquirrelGirl)

Oh, look a photo of hell to me. :| - Bibi

I used to be in the early stages of this condition. I was a minimalist my whole life, and then 5 years ago i became a packrat for some reason. then about a year ago, i just woke up one day and decided that it was time to let go. now i'm somewhere in between the minimalist and the packrat, which i am enjoying quite a bit. - Morgan

This condition hurts everyone around the person who has it & it's a very sad reality w/most of my family. Why does it hurt people around them? B/c we're the ones who have 2 clean up after these people when they pass on. Trying to live with & or clean up after people who have this problem sucks the life out of people b/c of the amount of time and money it takes to purge. I abhor clutter and try to live as simply as possible b/c of the family around me who insist on living this way. It makes me ill. - Melissa Davis

My Mom is doing this and it pains me greatly to see her live this way. I had to *untrain* my own brain to not think objects /materialism is good. Ugh! I have an very simple house now and enjoy the lack of crap! I am dreading the day we have to clean out her 3,000 sqft, 5 bedroom / 3 bath home... - Susan Beebe

http://failblog.org/2009... - Erica Toelle

Stay outta my room! - Derrick

My dad has this. We're cleaning out the house that I grew up in and it's miserable. When he dies we'll have to handle the home he lives in now and four storage units. I'm a minimalist for the most part and I think it's due to his habits. - Heather Solos