I love it when Netflix has episodes of Hoarders. The shows stresses out the SO but I feel right at home. My grandparents were hoarders. For years we’ve been talking about the epic undertaking of cleaning out their house. Now is the time. My grandfather died in February. My mother decided not to try anything until spring.

Today she and my aunt started the attic. I’ve never seen the attic. It was completely full when I was a small child. Since then things have been thrown in the enclosed stairwell. They pulled things down into the enclosed front porch.  My grandfather was a huge believer in recycling. That’s a good thing. He would bring home stuff to recycle from church events. The problem was that he didn’t take them to the recycling place. They are in the house.

Mom said that there were bags and bags of the clear plastic disposable cups. She set them aside to actually send to the recycling center. My aunt claimed them. They had only been used once and then washed out after all. They are fine to use again and then recycle. She would take them home. Hoarding is genetic. I’m so glad it went to my aunt and her daughter and not my mother and me.

Mom ended up taking a minivan full of magazines to recycling. She set aside some things for a yard sale. Then she realized another problem. The house and outbuildings are so full that there is no place to hold a garage sale. They are going to clear one three sided shed and hold the first sale in there. It will consist of things from the attic and a few rooms. That will give them empty space to sort all the junk from other rooms and the basement.  

I remember when I was little there were paths in the basement between towers of stuff but you couldn’t get all the way to the far back corner. Now I guess there is a path to the freezer at the foot of the stairs and a very thin trail to the furnace.  That’s it. Jimmy Hoffa could be down there for all we know. I may go up Memorial Day weekend and help just because I’ve always wondered what it would be like to go through all the stuff. It would be like being an archaeologist. 

I want to bring a camera crew. We’d be just like Hoarders.Â