the computer looks like it would be tough to friendfeed with - Pete Delucchi

WHATABURGER! Yeehaww! Gotta love Texas. I can only aspire to this level of slobbery. - Josh Haley

That person has a serious problem of some kind -- I am not a neat freak but that is disgusting - Brian Sullivan

and i no longer feel bad about how dirty my place is right now. at least i have the excuse of being sick the last week. - Admiral Anika

Looks like a hoarder. I have several clients like that. It's really sad and nearly impossible to treat. - Rochelle

and now i've clicked through the link and OMG...i smoke, but get techy when my "ashtray bucket is more than 1/5 full. the most jarring thing was the pieces of "cleanliness' among that nasty, like all the cleaning supplies adn shampoos in the bathroom. the iron in the kitchen. they'll probably find the tenant under all that trash next to the bed. GROSS> - Admiral Anika

Oh my god I am going to vomit. - Jennifer Leggio

Things could breed there. Nasty things. - David Young

Rochelle: yuck, yuck, yuck. Tell us you don't have to make housecalls and see this kind of stuff on any regular basis. I get a little ill just looking at this, and I am a bit of neatfreak, so yeah, it kind of ties my stomach up in knots looking at it. - Pete Delucchi

Pete, I do, all the time! I'm a social worker. :) - Rochelle

OK, whoa, just looked at ALL the pics. That's tough to see. Not safe for the vomit-fragile. - Josh Haley

Reminds me of a place I was shown when I was looking for my first apartment out of college. I didn't rent the place. It was too scary. -

I get sketchy when I have more than a couple of days worth of laundry to do or if I have dishes in the dishwasher, already pre-rinsed, that haven't been run through the cycles yet. I would have a seizure if I walked into a place like this. - Jennifer Leggio

omg BARF - Archangel ωαřмaiden

i am not a neat freak, but that is just disgusting. - Heidi Blanton

I have just cleared my desk :) That's awful! - Vicky

what's a landlord to do with a place like that? - Jasmin Smith

Jasmin, there are professional companies that specialize in industrial/heavy duty waste cleanup and such that can be hired to come clear out everything. I've priced a few and they're ridiculously expensive. Of course, there's then an issue of pest control if there are bugs, mold control if there is mold, etc. - Rochelle

This is pretty vile stuff and it says they people *live* here, its not just been left like that. - Kol Tregaskes from twhirl

Someone has a serious psychological disorder. - ·[▪_▪]·

That's not funny. Someone is really bad sick and needs some help. Looks like some form of depression. - Chrimmus Tad

Tad, for younger people, it's usually depression combined with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Schizophrenics can also end up with homes like that due to the utter lack of organization in any part of their life. In older adults, it's usually depression combined with dementia. - Rochelle

wow Rochelle, I'd say it's worth every penny. - Jasmin Smith

Jasmin, it would be worth if for sure if the person was moving out. But to do a cleanup for someone who will continue living there, it's not worth it unless they're also being treated for the problem. Otherwise, they'll fill the apartment right back up again in no time. - Rochelle

Rochelle's right, but I don't think this person is a hoarder. Usually hoarder's houses are full of stuff that are somehow meaningful to them like old newspapers or magazine and other stuff which is often stacked relatively neatly. A friend's mom was a really bad hoarder, but she didn't have ANY food or other unsanitary stuff laying around. Her house smelled fine - it was just full (to the ceilings) of junk (newspapers, mail, etc) - Chrimmus Tad

Tad, there are different types of hoarders. Usually seniors with dementia are the type to keep meaningful items. Those with schizophrenia end up with homes like in the article. - Rochelle

That definitely did not go with my lunch. I thought MY house looked bad. My thought was, "There's someone who has completely given up." Maybe this will give me the impetus to get back to getting stuff in order around here. - MiniMage TKDteacher of FF

The support talk of other sufferers that started on Reddit was uplifting (especially for those of us who *think* we might have a touch of this). http://www.reddit.com/r... - Adam Turetzky

Let's face it: it's not really 'living' is it? - dkb

This hits pretty close to home. My dad is borderline with hoarding. It's probably why I went in the opposite direction with being a neat freak. He doesn't keep food, but seemingly everything else. I dread the day he dies and I have to deal with his house +5 storage units of stuff. - Heather Solos

Seriously, hoarding can get pretty awful. It's not uncommon for them to keep things that healthy adults would consider garbage, like fast-food wrappers, already-opened envelopes. There are people who even store all their stool and urine in baggies and in cups. - Victor Ganata

Rochelle, do people who suffer from this tend to also ignore their health? I have a friend who lived this way who died recently and she ignored all her symptoms until it was too late. We spent days cleaning out her house and found about $10,000 worth of stuff never taken out of the original wrappers and mail order boxes. - Trish R

Bump - Josh Haley

Oh, I'm totally late in responding to Trish R's question. But yes, Trish, that's very common because people with hoarding problems generally have coexisting mental illness, which goes hand-in-hand with neglect of personal health care. - Rochelle

I just don't understand. I just don't. - CAJ, somewhere else

1 year old post. Wow. - Josh Haley

Holy moly - Rodfather

A&E is currently running a show on Hoarders if anyone is interested. - adf

this is OLD. - Joe Silence is not Santa

speaking as someone who spent over a decade battling major depression, i can totally understand the mindset behind this behaviour. thank fuck that's in my PAST. - Joe Silence is not Santa

:o - chaz2b

Thanks for the bump, Josh, it's just as vile as before. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

hollyy shtt - siniradam

Very sad. (I'm surprised it hasn't all gone up in flames.) I bet many of us know someone with some version of this problem, and some of us might have milder forms of it from time to time. (My stuff does get messy, but I'll go into purge mode periodically to get rid of all the crap. My problem is more that I run out of time daily to tend to some stuff properly. I definitely don't leave food out and stuff like that, though.) - Kamilah Gill