Honestly, I am NOT a Hoarder!

Internet photo of a hoarder's home

Last evening I watched a television show on the A & E Channel, "Hoarders."  Each week this show features a person who is considered by his/her relatives to be a hoarder.

I was revolted and disgusted while I watched as one man's home was shown, room by room.  I found myself cringing as I watched thousands of cockroaches moving throughout his belongings.  When the covers of his bed were pulled back, hundreds of roaches ran in every direction.  As the man stood and talked to the tv crew, there were bugs crawling on his clothing, on his head, and even into his pockets.

How a person can live in those conditions is simply beyond me.

At the beginning of each episode of "Hoarders," the following paragraph appears:

     "Compulsive hoarding is a mental disorder marked by an obsessive need to acquire and keep things, even if the items are worthless, hazardous, or unsanitary.

      More than three million people are compulsive hoarders."

That's a lot of people.  Quite a lot of very sick people.

There was a chair back there somewhere in the corner.

Here's the scary thing:  if you were to take a look into my office nowadays, you might be saying to yourself, "That Jill is definitely a hoarder."

But honestly, I AM NOT A HOARDER.  In fact, lately I've written several blog posts about my efforts to declutter and organize my home over the last year or so.

I'm a neat and tidy person, and I like my surroundings to be neat and tidy, too.  That includes my cabin in the mountains, and my fifth wheel camper, too.

I like my home clean, and along with cleaning it myself, I hire a cleaning lady to come in every other week and help clean.

Yet looking at my office, you might think, "Umm humm."

I have hinted at the fact that there's a large building project going on up on top of the mountain, and move in date is really just a little over one month away.  And, whereas most people move from one dwelling to another, that will not be the case for us with our new lodge.

All furnishings and household goods will stay in our old cabin, requiring a complete outfitting of the new place.

So with that out of the bag, you now have an explanation for what is growing in my office.  I have a list and I am checking it twice.  And thrice.  As each required item on our master list is acquired, it is slashed off the list, and loaded into my back room.  We have been working at this since last July when the building project began.

In that room of mine there is certainly not anything that is worthless (other than the large amounts of unnecessary over-packaging on some of the items we bought), hazardous (unless you take into account the new set of kitchen knives we bought), or unsanitary (even the one large kitchen and six other rooms' small new trash cans in there are spotless.)

So no, I AM NOT A HOARDER.  I keep reminding myself that in just one more month the piles will all be moved out of my office and into the new lodge.  They will be carefully unpacked and thoughtfully put away into appropriate locations in drawers, cabinets, and closets.

That new lodge will surely be spectacular, but it will be oh so nice to have my office back again, too.