Hoarder : The Cleanup

Well, ... I promised to show the interior of the home, so here it is. Since I feel that I did a lot of explaining in the previous post, I think this post I'll explain photos/go into greater depth with the photographs. Mostly, I'm just giving you a glimpse of what the place looked like when we first walked in (after cleanup had already occurred the weekend before). I don't have a wide angle lens, so the shots aren't as full view as I'd like them to be, but ... you get the picture.

James' Dad had horses, so here are some shots of the room that had all the bridles, ropes, etc. He was also very into leather work, knife making & Music.

We found
various types of musical instruments. Leather, leather, leather and more leather. Some pelts and fur, but mostly leather! And whenever we crossed paths with one of his knives we got a little excited. Mostly because they are pretty amazing knives! Some of his knives, that he made, could sell up to $400! But, ... we like them, not only because of the look and quality of the knives, but the sentimental value, that his Dad Made it. There is no way that we are going to sell, or toss his knives. They're just too awesome!

 

 

The fridge wasn't too bad. It was working when we arrived, and looked to have been working. Then we left and returned the next day and the Fridge had pooped out. O'well. I was sort of wanting a new fridge anyway. This one was just a tad bit too old for me. But

 the black and white photos of it does make it look quite good.

Photo to the left is the living Room. Photo to the right is the second bedroom. (Only two bedrooms).

These are just some shots we got of the inside of the dump truck. We had ripped out the carpet in the living room, which had tile underneath.

You will never guess what we found under the tile. HARDWOOD! Not just any hardwood. It's an inch Thick! Literally! Apparently this home was built out of the leftovers of the famous "Prince of Whales Hotel" in Waterton! How cool is that!? A little piece of History right in our own little home. I guess technically, ... our First Home!

Finally! Here are some shots of the house After it had been cleaned out. We still have a lot of work to do to get it in better condition.

There is an addition on the back of the house that needs to be completely torn down. It's the cause of most of the mold/mildew in the air. The roof on it isn't keeping out the water and it's unsalvageable. But, that's ok. James says that we can tear it down and build a larger addition onto the back at a very low cost. He has the best connections ever.

 Photo of Things in Good Condition that we can give away or keep for ourselves.

 There are 5 of these beasts hiding on the property. We found 3.

Photo above is the living Room.

James is just working away. He's such a good hard worker. Love him!

 Garage

 Kitchen Almost cleaned

 Love Always,

Mrs. Fray Fray

A Hoarders Haven

I Never thought that I would be a Coordinator to cleaning, and clearing out a HOARDERS house! But that's Exactly What James and I did on August 30th 2013! 

We Decided to buy James' Dad's Land off of him in Hillspring. It is about 4.5-5 Acres, and we are really excited to take it over. His Dad has become very ill, and has moved into an apartment.

James' Dad is 100% a Hoarder. He needed to sell his land, and deciding to sell to us I think set his mind at ease a bit. The day we went down to clean out the house he called in the morning, a bit emotional, and asked us to save a few things. He gave us a list of all the things that he'd like to have saved. It was sad to hear his requests, because being a hoarder isn't just a physical thing. It's very psychological. It's a mental illness. Usually triggered by some traumatic event in a hoarders life. James said that his Dad had always been a hoarder, but after his Grandpa died it got much worse. 

His Dad was emotional all day, but consoled himself by saying, "It's just stuff." He knew it would have to go. But for a hoarder, ... letting "things" go is Hard! Poor Guy. It was good he wasn't there when we cleaned it out. Otherwise it would have been much harder on him. So, it was good that he wasn't able to be there.

People from our new ward came out to help us clean up the house. They lent us a Dump Trailer and a Dump Truck. Probably about 8 guys or so showed up to help us. And it was miraculous how quickly we got things cleaned out of there! 

James took the back end of the house and coordinated the guys there. And I Coordinated the crew at the front. I hollered out what to keep, should they run across it, and told them to just "get rid of everything" else. They would stop a lot to ask if they should keep something (even if it was in good shape) but most of the time I told them to toss it, or to take it for themselves. There was just so much stuff. I mean, What are we supposed to do with it all!? We can't take care of it, Or keep everything. So things needed to go, even if they Were in great shape.

I never thought I would become emotional over all the work there, technically this wasn't my stuff, And I wasn't attached to it. But, Halfway through the work I wanted to start crying. Not because the work was too much or anything, but it was emotional. I don't know how to describe it. I mean, I'm not a SUPER emotional person. But it was sad to see good stuff go. It was sad to see this house's condition. It was sad knowing what I know about hoarders, and how they think. I don't know how to explain it, even to myself. But ... it Was Emotional, and very ... Sad. 

The crew came at 8am and were done about 10-10:30am cleaning it all up! It was miraculous! I literally thought we would be there all day. It was good though that the house had already been cleaned out a bunch beforehand by James' Uncles and Immediate family a week or two prior to our arrival. I think they had already taken a dump truck to the landfill. The day we went we took out a dump truck and a large back trailer, about the same size as the dump truck, but smaller walls. 

We did wear gloves, but one thing I forgot to bring was Face masks. And if you are Ever going to clean a hoarders house, Bring Face Masks. After two hours, I literally could not breath anymore. I Had to stand outside. I tried to go inside two more times but both times, the instant I walked in I Had to Walk out again. I literally could feel the mold and mice feces in the air. It was worse than a week worth of campfire smoke. It was awful. I don't know how to describe it better than that, but seriously, I could feel the damage occurring. It was Bad. 

We cleaned out the entire top floor of the house. We haven't even touched the basement yet, but ... that will be for another day. Here are some photos of the property. There is 1 house, 1 Garage, and three Large Shed's filled with stuff. There are also items all over the ground with much of it hidden in the long uncut grass. These are mostly just exterior shots. I'll post the interior shots soon.

 Old Organ Out in the Horse Field

 Debris scattered all over yard

 Yes, that IS grass growing out of a cushion

 New Fire pit?

Storm windows over the inside windows

Vent inside house that open Directly into the basement.

Front Steps

Old rake hiding in weeds

Side of the house that appears to have had someone back up into it with their Vehicle

Front of the home

Side of the house with an unfinished shed out back

Sidewalk out front

Step 1: Gathering Photos

The Perfect Gift:
Step 1: Gathering Photos

You know when you're attempting to get into a Workout routine, after not doing it for a while, and you're TOTALLY Out of Shape!? It is SOOOO Hard at first! You get so overwhelmed on obtaining your goal that you probably give up 3 times even before you start! Well, I hate to break it to you but this is probably what this project is going to be like. It will be Excruciatingly hard at first, but as you go through the steps, each step will get easier and easier! And so The first step, I would have to say, is going to be the hardest step. Sorry! But I thought someone should warn you! At least you know you're not the only one on the planet going through this difficult process, I'm here with you!

So before you get overwhelmed with the vastness of this project just take a deep breath and relax a little. It's OK! Let's just take one step at a time. This isn't a race! It's OK if you don't hit "the Deadline!" because you know what, missing a deadline won't be the end of the world. You want Quality, and you want to do it right! (Photo Top Left: My Grandmother with Walt Disney behind her. Little Boy trying to get an autograph).

So get to work! Gather ALL those photos! You need to find every Photo Album you can find. Negatives, Pictures in frames on your wall, photos in boxes, photos in journals, Photo's in Family History Books that your Grandma keeps on her shelf. Get them ALL! Call up your Family members and tell them what you're up too or send them a mass e-mail. Ask them to send you copies of the photo's Via E-mail or to mail them to you. Or have them gather up everything they can find at home and set it aside for you to come pick up. Or even better, have them gather, scan and give you a mini USB with the files, that way it's less work for you in the long run. Just get those photos!

One thing that might help you, is to have a large plastic tub (or a box) to set all the pictures in. That way you can keep everything together without making a huge mess in the house. Every time you find something hiding away, just set it in the Box/Tub. You can also Organize WHILE gathering. You can set all the old black and Whites in one area, The old photos form the 70's in another area and so on. Keep everything as organized as possible as you are doing this or it might get overwhelming faster than you think. Do your best to group Events and Years together as much as possible! It will save you a LOT of pain later because you probably have a LOT of photos to go through!

And if you feel like, "I have no idea when this was taken." Don't worry. As you look through more and more photos, your memory will start kicking in and you will also be able to tell where a picture goes just by the way it looks. If you think, "this photo looks like it goes here" you're probably right. Just go with your gut through this, don't over think things, and just make sure your at least clumping the photo's as much as possible, and getting the photos Out Of The ATTIC!

Remember, for most of you, this will not be a 5 minute Task. It might even take some of you weeks to get ALL the photos you're looking to get Just because Most of the photos are probably spread throughout other Family Members houses! That's OK though. Make it a point in your schedule to visit or call the members of the Family you know have what you're looking for. Don't forget to ask those Family Members for Referrals. You know, ask if anyone else in the Family might be a photo culprit! Even if it's only 1 hour a week you can spare for this project, do it! Or Run around the house during the commercials of your favorite TV show. Make it a point to actively be looking and Gathering All those precious photos! If you have enough desire to complete this project, it WILL get done. YOU CAN DO IT!!! Now Go DO IT!

If you have any other tips on Gathering Photos, or just want to share your Experience, write a comment below. I'd LOVE to hear from you!