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: Ever wonder who's buying all the crap that's for sale on eBay?
:
: <http://www.badjason.com/RegularArticles/Crazy%20eBay%20mom.htm>
:
: Warning: while amazing, this is some pretty sad stuff.

I would say an extreme case of OCD going on in that house. I have clutter 
but now I feel like I live in the wide open spaces compared to that house. I 
think claustrophobia would set in immediately upon entering that house!
~KK in BC~

bearclaw@cruller.invalid wrote:

>Ever wonder who's buying all the crap that's for sale on eBay?
>
><http://www.badjason.com/RegularArticles/Crazy%20eBay%20mom.htm>
>
>Warning: while amazing, this is some pretty sad stuff.

OMG.  I seem to always end up with one room that gets stacked with
boxes, but woofta, that is way too much.  DW had a friend that lived
like that, because she had to move into a fully furnished apartment
with her own furniture and items stuffed in.  When she moved the next
time, the movers kept her stuff, so she had dealt with all that mess
for nothing.

It does remind me though, time to clean out some stuff.

There is an alt.clutter group that would probably relate.

"~KK in BC~" <koffeekupz@hotmail.com> wrote in message 
news:38zRg.20758$KA6.18596@clgrps12...
>: Ever wonder who's buying all the crap that's for sale on eBay?
> :
> : <http://www.badjason.com/RegularArticles/Crazy%20eBay%20mom.htm>
> :
> : Warning: while amazing, this is some pretty sad stuff.
>
> I would say an extreme case of OCD going on in that house. I have clutter
> but now I feel like I live in the wide open spaces compared to that house. 
> I
> think claustrophobia would set in immediately upon entering that house!
> ~KK in BC~
>
>
Here in Los Angeles California, During the 1994 Northridge earthquake a few 
people were killed (buried alive) by crap piled inside their homes. There 
were pictures of books and newspapers stacked to the ceiling that fell over 
and pinned them to the ground while in their beds!
These "Packrats" are sick pups......

In article <4517c755.8260672@news.earthlink.net>, hchickpea@hotmail.com 
wrote:

> It does remind me though, time to clean out some stuff.

Whoa. That is SO similar to what I thought, it's scary.

In article <bearclaw-5C3E08.15530724092006@news.supernews.com>,
 bearclaw@cruller.invalid wrote:

> In article <4517c755.8260672@news.earthlink.net>, hchickpea@hotmail.com 
> wrote:
> 
> > It does remind me though, time to clean out some stuff.
> 
> Whoa. That is SO similar to what I thought, it's scary.

Heh. Time to get rid of some of this stuff before I have to rent a truck 
to haul it away. Maybe I could sell it to that woman.

On Sun, 24 Sep 2006 12:05:56 -0500, bearclaw@cruller.invalid wrote:

>Ever wonder who's buying all the crap that's for sale on eBay?
>
><http://www.badjason.com/RegularArticles/Crazy%20eBay%20mom.htm>
>
>Warning: while amazing, this is some pretty sad stuff.

At work I would often see women (sometimes men) taking these Xerox and
other office paper boxes to their cars.  I assumed they were moving.
Maybe not.
My mom was a pack rat too, but not nearly to this extent, and
different.  The only things she intentionally collected were old
personal documents, magazines and news clippings.
  That may not sound bad, but after 50 years those store receipts,
bills, etc start filling boxes.
They were kept in the basement, and not tidily.
My mom was disorganized and never had a specific place for storing
specific items, so since she often couldn't find something - like a
pair of scissors or a new pan that was "for when this one wears out" -
she would buy another.  Then one or the other would go into a box in
the basement, where of course you couldn't find it when you needed it,
because it might be in a box mixed with documents or newsclippings.
Anyway, though our living areas were always decent, we had a messy
basement and I didn't like going there because just looking at the
mishmash of boxes and scattered items was painful.
But it didn't seem to bother mom.
What surprises me about this woman is that all this junk is "neatly"
packed away in boxes, and the house doesn't look filthy.
But I think she's on the edge.  There comes a point where the seams
burst.  Her kid seems perfectly normal, but I'm sure he's suffering.

--Vic

bearclaw@cruller.invalid wrote:

>In article <4517c755.8260672@news.earthlink.net>, hchickpea@hotmail.com 
>wrote:
>
>> It does remind me though, time to clean out some stuff.
>
>Whoa. That is SO similar to what I thought, it's scary.

Oh lordy.  I just ran across some old Byte magazines that I hadn't
processed (I rip out the most informative articles and put them in a 3
ring binder).  Viewing the website also motivated me to throw out some
old Scientific American and Discovery magazines I'd been hoarding to
re-read or ship to a friend.  Feh! Yuck!

I _really_ need to put some stuff up for sale on ebay and get it out
of here.

Got a chuckle from DW.  When I showed her the website, she said "Maybe
we should print out some pictures of that mess and put them on the
wall for motivation."   

Noooooooo!  

Then she gave me a sly grin.
FWIW,  it convinced her to toss some psychology journals and disks for
her (no longer existent) Apple ][

<bearclaw@cruller.invalid> wrote in message
news:bearclaw-D8C5F6.12055624092006@news.supernews.com...
> Ever wonder who's buying all the crap that's for sale on eBay?
>
> <http://www.badjason.com/RegularArticles/Crazy%20eBay%20mom.htm>
>
> Warning: while amazing, this is some pretty sad stuff.

And it has been around the web for at least 2 years. I first saw it on The
Awful Forums.

Melissa

 hchickpea@hotmail.com  quipped:

>bearclaw@cruller.invalid wrote:
>
>>In article <4517c755.8260672@news.earthlink.net>, hchickpea@hotmail.com 
>>wrote:
>>
>>> It does remind me though, time to clean out some stuff.
>>
>>Whoa. That is SO similar to what I thought, it's scary.
>
>Oh lordy.  I just ran across some old Byte magazines that I hadn't
>processed (I rip out the most informative articles and put them in a 3
>ring binder).  Viewing the website also motivated me to throw out some
>old Scientific American and Discovery magazines I'd been hoarding to
>re-read or ship to a friend.  Feh! Yuck!
>
>I _really_ need to put some stuff up for sale on ebay and get it out
>of here.
>
>Got a chuckle from DW.  When I showed her the website, she said "Maybe
>we should print out some pictures of that mess and put them on the
>wall for motivation."   
>
>Noooooooo!  
>
>Then she gave me a sly grin.
>FWIW,  it convinced her to toss some psychology journals and disks for
>her (no longer existent) Apple ][
>


what's scary is that there's probably a *little* bit of that in all
our homes.  (Note to self:  next week..make no plans..must clean up
basement)

"Vic Smith" <thismailautodeleted@comcast.net> wrote in message 
news:93rdh2l8bhsqgqf0jqqsh9m7s77mohe3mt@4ax.com...
> What surprises me about this woman is that all this junk is "neatly"
> packed away in boxes, and the house doesn't look filthy.

I noticed that too.  In her closet the hangers were hung uniformly, the 
t-shirts were neatly stacked.  Except for the accumulation of dust, the 
house appeared very clean - the tiles were spotless.
Really a strange obsession.  But like the rest of you, it inspired me to 
really make an effort to get rid of the accumulation of 'stuff'.

STB

Melissa wrote:
> <bearclaw@cruller.invalid> wrote in message
> news:bearclaw-D8C5F6.12055624092006@news.supernews.com...
> > Ever wonder who's buying all the crap that's for sale on eBay?
> >
> > <http://www.badjason.com/RegularArticles/Crazy%20eBay%20mom.htm>
> >
> > Warning: while amazing, this is some pretty sad stuff.
>
> And it has been around the web for at least 2 years. I first saw it on The
> Awful Forums.
>
> Melissa

I had kind of a disgusted reaction to this - not to the mother, but to
the daughter.  Yeah, the mother is crazy - but the daughter is
mean-spirited in putting all that on display, and that's worse than any
kind of crazy, in my book.  From the website, it looks like she moved
back in with her mother as an adult - surely one shouldn't bite the
hand that shelters you, however messy the shelter may be?

Though I do have to admit to a strange compulsion to straighten up my
dorm room after seeing that site. 

LM (alphabetizing my textbooks...)

"Larisa" <purple_bovine@yahoo.com> wrote:

>
>Melissa wrote:
>> <bearclaw@cruller.invalid> wrote in message
>> news:bearclaw-D8C5F6.12055624092006@news.supernews.com...
>> > Ever wonder who's buying all the crap that's for sale on eBay?
>> >
>> > <http://www.badjason.com/RegularArticles/Crazy%20eBay%20mom.htm>
>> >
>> > Warning: while amazing, this is some pretty sad stuff.
>>
>> And it has been around the web for at least 2 years. I first saw it on The
>> Awful Forums.
>>
>> Melissa
>
>I had kind of a disgusted reaction to this - not to the mother, but to
>the daughter.  Yeah, the mother is crazy - but the daughter is
>mean-spirited in putting all that on display, and that's worse than any
>kind of crazy, in my book.  From the website, it looks like she moved
>back in with her mother as an adult - surely one shouldn't bite the
>hand that shelters you, however messy the shelter may be?
>
>Though I do have to admit to a strange compulsion to straighten up my
>dorm room after seeing that site. 
>
>LM (alphabetizing my textbooks...)

Interesting reaction.  I think of it more as a cry for help.  DW had a
similar reaction to yours.

Oddly enough, I've seen a number of homes that have similar problems.
One fellow I was interviewing for a historical paper had tons of boxes
in his house, and was obviously embarrassed by them, but it simply
wasn't an issue for me.  He was erudite had valuable life experiences
that needed to be documented for future generations.  His choice of
lifestyle didn't mean a tinker's dam to me.  I was overjoyed to see
that my talking with him had the side effect of bringing him a little
out of the shell he had built around himself, and that he was soon
writing some of his experiences to the local historical society.  All
of us have our own issues, and making too much of them does a
disservice to us and others.

<hchickpea@hotmail.com> wrote in message 
news:451b19f5.29416145@news.earthlink.net...
> "Larisa" <purple_bovine@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>Melissa wrote:
>>> <bearclaw@cruller.invalid> wrote in message
>>> news:bearclaw-D8C5F6.12055624092006@news.supernews.com...
>>> > Ever wonder who's buying all the crap that's for sale on eBay?
>>> >
>>> > <http://www.badjason.com/RegularArticles/Crazy%20eBay%20mom.htm>
>>> >
>>> > Warning: while amazing, this is some pretty sad stuff.
>>>
>>> And it has been around the web for at least 2 years. I first saw it on 
>>> The
>>> Awful Forums.
>>>
>>> Melissa
>>
>>I had kind of a disgusted reaction to this - not to the mother, but to
>>the daughter.  Yeah, the mother is crazy - but the daughter is
>>mean-spirited in putting all that on display, and that's worse than any
>>kind of crazy, in my book.  From the website, it looks like she moved
>>back in with her mother as an adult - surely one shouldn't bite the
>>hand that shelters you, however messy the shelter may be?
>>
>>Though I do have to admit to a strange compulsion to straighten up my
>>dorm room after seeing that site.
>>
>>LM (alphabetizing my textbooks...)
>
> Interesting reaction.  I think of it more as a cry for help.  DW had a
> similar reaction to yours.
>
> Oddly enough, I've seen a number of homes that have similar problems.
> One fellow I was interviewing for a historical paper had tons of boxes
> in his house, and was obviously embarrassed by them, but it simply
> wasn't an issue for me.  He was erudite had valuable life experiences
> that needed to be documented for future generations.  His choice of
> lifestyle didn't mean a tinker's dam to me.  I was overjoyed to see
> that my talking with him had the side effect of bringing him a little
> out of the shell he had built around himself, and that he was soon
> writing some of his experiences to the local historical society.  All
> of us have our own issues, and making too much of them does a
> disservice to us and others.

I recall someone saying that he was more impressed with a professor's office 
that was messy and overflowing with books and papers than with one that was 
neat and tidy.  It reassured him that this individual was 'into' his subject 
and all else was superfluous.  That sort of made sense to me.  But this is a 
case of accumulating 'things' and boxes that were never even opened.  This 
is quite a different thing than someone who is absorbed by subject matter.

STB 

On 24 Sep 2006 16:42:01 -0700, "Larisa" <purple_bovine@yahoo.com>
wrote:

>
>Melissa wrote:
>> <bearclaw@cruller.invalid> wrote in message
>> news:bearclaw-D8C5F6.12055624092006@news.supernews.com...
>> > Ever wonder who's buying all the crap that's for sale on eBay?
>> >
>> > <http://www.badjason.com/RegularArticles/Crazy%20eBay%20mom.htm>
>> >
>> > Warning: while amazing, this is some pretty sad stuff.
>>
>> And it has been around the web for at least 2 years. I first saw it on The
>> Awful Forums.
>>
>> Melissa
>
>I had kind of a disgusted reaction to this - not to the mother, but to
>the daughter.  Yeah, the mother is crazy - but the daughter is
>mean-spirited in putting all that on display, and that's worse than any
>kind of crazy, in my book.  From the website, it looks like she moved
>back in with her mother as an adult - surely one shouldn't bite the
>hand that shelters you, however messy the shelter may be?
>
I think it's her son, not daughter.  There are plenty on indications.
And a daughter would likely move out if it bothered her.
Men more easily live in a mess they can blame on somebody else than
do women.
This kid isn't as strong as his mom and can't change her behavior yet.
I agree it was disrespectful to show her picture or to make her
identifiable in any manner.
   
>Though I do have to admit to a strange compulsion to straighten up my
>dorm room after seeing that site. 
>
Since my wife has a gathering collection of clothes she will never
wear filling more and more boxes in the basement, I showed her this
site and mentioned those clothes she's collecting.
She got pissed off at me, of course, and just couldn't help bringing
up all the spare computer and car parts I have laying about.  
Blah, blah, blah.

--Vic

bearclaw@cruller.invalid wrote:
> Ever wonder who's buying all the crap that's for sale on eBay?
> 
> <http://www.badjason.com/RegularArticles/Crazy%20eBay%20mom.htm>
> 
> Warning: while amazing, this is some pretty sad stuff.

I am not a psychologist, but I understand that one feature of
certain anxiety disorders is hoarding.

I don't know that much can be done about it, although maybe I'm
wrong and something can be.  It might be worthwhile pursuing that,
not because hoarding is a terrible thing (it's more like an
annoyance) but only because if there is an underlying anxiety
disorder, it would be nice to fix that if possible.

As a practical matter, if the hoarding can't be fixed, one of the
most important things is probably to make sure there is some
system for keeping the really important stuff (like financial
information, birth certificates, true family heirlooms) separate
from the clutter.  It's easy enough to deal with the annoyance
of having to wade through piles of pointless stuff, but it's not
that easy to deal with, say, losing thousands of dollars because
you can't find the paperwork for some savings account.

   - Logan

On Sun, 24 Sep 2006, S.T.B. wrote:

>
>
> I recall someone saying that he was more impressed with a professor's office
> that was messy and overflowing with books and papers than with one that was
> neat and tidy.  It reassured him that this individual was 'into' his subject
> and all else was superfluous.  That sort of made sense to me.  But this is a
> case of accumulating 'things' and boxes that were never even opened.  This
> is quite a different thing than someone who is absorbed by subject matter.
>
> STB
>

I had a buddy who was extremely organized and he told me being organized
is just as bad as being disorganized.  People come into my office
and talk about how cluttered it is but actually aside from about 
2000 lp's I keep around it, I have to have a bunch of piles because
I have a lot of stuff to keep track of.  I kind of resent people
assuming that there is  no rhyme or reason for my clutter.  Remember
when George Costanza was working on the "Penski file" his office
was very clean.

This house is sick though and the person leaving that mess needs help.


>
>

There are stories about this clutter all the time.  Usually, the
authorities have been notified because of death, too many animals, or
some other external irritant to the neighbors.  Then they talk about
the form of mental illness that causes people to acquire and hoard
stuff.  The sad thing is that the friends and families can't seem to
get help for the person(s) because they are so good at stubbornness,
temper tantrums, or other ways of manipulating their way out of
accepting any help.

In my case, I know this for a fact:  My posessions are horny little
devils that get together during the night and mate, reproducing at
alarming rates.  Especially newspapers, clothes hangers, plastic
grocery bags, travel size tubes of hand lotion, and computer wires.

My computer wires are flagrante delicto right now, and I can't figure
out what the heck I did to get them as tangled as they are.

hchickpea@hotmail.com wrote:
> Oddly enough, I've seen a number of homes that have similar problems.
> One fellow I was interviewing for a historical paper had tons of boxes
> in his house, and was obviously embarrassed by them, but it simply
> wasn't an issue for me.  He was erudite had valuable life experiences
> that needed to be documented for future generations.  His choice of
> lifestyle didn't mean a tinker's dam to me.  I was overjoyed to see
> that my talking with him had the side effect of bringing him a little
> out of the shell he had built around himself, and that he was soon
> writing some of his experiences to the local historical society.  All
> of us have our own issues, and making too much of them does a
> disservice to us and others.

Wow.  Can't say why, but this really affected me.  Thanks.

Marsha/Ohio

bearclaw@cruller.invalid wrote:
> Ever wonder who's buying all the crap that's for sale on eBay?
>
> <http://www.badjason.com/RegularArticles/Crazy%20eBay%20mom.htm>
>
> Warning: while amazing, this is some pretty sad stuff.

One thing I noticed is how "neat" her piles are; there's definitely
some method to her madness.  Perhaps "Jason" should nominate his mom
for Clean House or Clean Sweep; however I suspect the best thing for
her would be a healthy dose of Prozac along with some Wellbutrin might
help.  I do feel bad for Jason; not sure if he could actually do
anything about it himself.  Aside from the dust it's not filthy, just a
major firetrap.

Vic Smith wrote:

> On Sun, 24 Sep 2006 12:05:56 -0500, bearclaw@cruller.invalid wrote:
> 
> 
>>Ever wonder who's buying all the crap that's for sale on eBay?
>>
>><http://www.badjason.com/RegularArticles/Crazy%20eBay%20mom.htm>
>>
>>Warning: while amazing, this is some pretty sad stuff.
> 
> 
> At work I would often see women (sometimes men) taking these Xerox and
> other office paper boxes to their cars.  I assumed they were moving.
> Maybe not.
> My mom was a pack rat too, but not nearly to this extent, and
> different.  The only things she intentionally collected were old
> personal documents, magazines and news clippings.
>   That may not sound bad, but after 50 years those store receipts,
> bills, etc start filling boxes.
> They were kept in the basement, and not tidily.
> My mom was disorganized and never had a specific place for storing
> specific items, so since she often couldn't find something - like a
> pair of scissors or a new pan that was "for when this one wears out" -
> she would buy another.  Then one or the other would go into a box in
> the basement, where of course you couldn't find it when you needed it,
> because it might be in a box mixed with documents or newsclippings.
> Anyway, though our living areas were always decent, we had a messy
> basement and I didn't like going there because just looking at the
> mishmash of boxes and scattered items was painful.
> But it didn't seem to bother mom.
> What surprises me about this woman is that all this junk is "neatly"
> packed away in boxes, and the house doesn't look filthy.
> But I think she's on the edge.  There comes a point where the seams
> burst.  Her kid seems perfectly normal, but I'm sure he's suffering.
> 
> --Vic

I noticed that too.  Everything is well-organized and the house (what 
you can see of it) is basicaly clean.  Not the norm for pack rats.

Kathy