Hoarders...

I used to watch the show "Hoarders" which is absolutely fascinating and horrifying at the same time. When things are out of place or my house is even a little bit messy, it throws me off completely and I am crabby, unable to focus and overwhelmed. If my space is disorganized, my mind feels chaotic. I can't imagine living in a home where stuff (and often garbage) is piled to the ceiling, filling rooms and making a house practically un-inhabitable.

The problem with watching Hoarders on Monday night is that every single Tuesday (for several weeks in a row), I would have a breakdown over a pile or a mess somewhere in the house. It might be dirty dishes in the sink or the storage space in the basement, but I would end up in a panic, yelling at my roommates that we were going to end up on that show.

Eventually my brother said, "what can I do to get you to stop watching that show?" and then he deleted it from our tivo. I haven't watched it since then and I have to admit, I've been much calmer and had far less freak outs (although I still really hate when the house isn't picked up).

When the three of us moved into my house, we didn't have very much stuff and so being organized was easy. It's amazing how much you can accumulate though, and 3 years later, this house is BURSTING. My brother and H are planning to buy a house of their own and have been looking for a few months now. In the meantime, they've been accumulating things they will need (pots and pans, furniture, etc). It's smart of them to do- I had to buy SO much stuff when I first bought the house, so if they can get it now, it will help them avoid spending tons of money all at once. So I'm supportive... in theory.

Except that there is stuff EVERYWHERE. And pretty soon, we aren't going to be able to organize it, so I fear we are verging on crossing the line to chaos.

My mom is moving in March. She is moving out of the 5 story home I grew up in, to a small condo. It has taken her over a year to go through everything, get rid of stuff and get ready for this move. It is going to be such a wonderful change. I can't imagine cleaning, paying electricity bills and caring for a house that size. My house is probably 1/4 the size and sometimes I am overwhelmed. I love that house, but I think she is going to feel so much lighter and freer when she no longer has so much stuff weighing her down.

Downsizing is coming (almost) at the right time fr my brother. She has a beautiful dining room table and chairs, a huge barbecue, and like, a million other things he will need for his house. She also has several things I really need like a new lawnmower and a nice bookshelf. There is also a bunch of our childhood stuff that we both want to keep, although we don't really have a use for (my gorgeous, but enormous doll house for example). Unfortunately, she is moving in March. He is probably not going to be ready to buy a house until the fall. Which means that my house is going to get even more packed with stuff in the next few weeks and I will have to deal with it until the fall.

I'm trying to make some organizational plans, while mentally preparing myself for the piles, boxes and corners piled with stuff. In three and a half months, I'm moving to camp for the summer. And then it will be the fall and (God willing) they will have found a house. So, really, this is temporary. I can tolerate it for 3 months, right?