The Fraser Files: 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.