Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with hoarding

What can be done with 6,000+ hard-copy books and a forensic engineer's lifetime paper collection in the "Age of Information"?

patience_limited — Sat, 02 May 2009 19:58:13 -0800

Is there a person or organization which will pick up and make productive use of a (non-famous) engineer/scientist's lifelong collection of books and papers? The local university libraries and relevant engineering organizations no longer accept hard-copy materials. I'm living across the country, and the family can't keep paying storage cube rental after my father's death. It's going to have to be an all-or-nothing donation in the next two or three months, or everything gets sent to a landfill. The storage facility is in the Ann Arbor, MI (USA) area - please see the extended explanation for details. My father, a consulting forensic engineer, amassed a large collection of engineering and science books. There's also a 40-plus year compilation of case files, photographs, blueprints, etc. concerning hundreds of studies of industrial accidents, automobile collisions, environmental issues, patent applications and the like - he never threw anything away. Any litigation involved has been concluded at least seven years ago, well past state or federal obligations to preserve or destroy notes and evidence.

Following his death last year, my family would like to empty the storage cubes these materials occupy to save the cost of rental. We're talking about 600+ standard-sized banker's document boxes. Unfortunately, the local university libraries, engineering organizations, and legal groups have all refused to accept any part of the collection, claiming that "we don't deal with paper anymore".

I'm trying to deal with this from 1,200 miles away, and the most practical and economical solution involves sending it all straight to a landfill.

I admit to a sentimental attachment to the value of my father's work during his lifetime. He's one of engineering's unsung heroes - kept the steel industry in America alive for 20 extra years; patented a process to make nitrogen fertilizer as a byproduct of steel-making, which in turn made the Green Revolution economically feasible; made industrial machinery, transportation, electrical power distribution and nuclear power safer, etc..

It would be irresponsible to discard the hard-earned historical wisdom gained from studying how things fail. The recent banking crisis is the perfect example of wise restraint undermined as successive generations lost their recollection of the consequences of error. Dad worked on the Holland Tunnel disaster, Three Mile Island, alternative energy development during the 1970's... the list goes on.

There's also the study of the evolution of scientific knowledge - the book library under consideration covers every aspect of engineering and most branches of science, mathematics and medicine in editions dating back to the 1920's. If you visit a modern engineering library, "obsolete" volumes are mostly gone from the shelves. The older books in Dad's library had what are now considered errors and oversimplifications. Nonetheless, it's worth having them, if for no reason other than to see how far we've come in what period of time and how we got to the current state of awareness.

In short, I'm asking if anyone knows who would be interested in picking all of this up and making good use of it. Geography, limited funds and time make it impossible for me to itemize and arrange partial pickups of books or other materials - it's really going to have to be all or nothing.

I'd rather that the recipient wasn't a used book dealer looking for free inventory and willing to discard papers to get it, but that's still better than sending it all to a landfill.

Thank you, MeFites, for applying your wisdom to solving this problem. Interested parties should respond to MeFi Mail.

I haz bukkits. Alert lolrus.

BitterOldPunk — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:52:20 -0800

What to do with 150+ plastic buckets? I'm cleaning up my mom's house. She's somewhat of a hoarder and a cat person, and so we've got empty cat litter containers stacked to the rafters. They're all shapes and sizes, but most of them are the yellow buckets which held 38 lbs of litter.

If I can't figure out a use for them, I'll just recycle them.

All ideas welcome, from practical to whimsical (and yes, I've already considered building a fort out of them. That'd be awesome.).

Help for Compulsive Hoarding

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 15:10:00 -0800

Compulsive Hoarding – Seeking advice on treatment options & how I can help myself. **Please do not pass this question by if you have helpful information. My problem is not simply a matter of “go see a doctor”. I am on a waiting list to see a specialist (medical doctor) and have seen another doctor this week** I am a Male in my 30’s. I have always been a “hoarder” but I thought I had it under control.

Rooms in my house can not be used because they are packed with boxes, cabinets, et cetera, but in the past I was always able to work (leaving my house) and function (relationships, paying bills, saving money, traveling).

I have graduate degrees and had a successful work history until the last year.

During the past year I burned through tens of thousands of dollars of savings in a crazy attempt to purchase every item I thought I “needed” to have to complete various collections.

I lost my job and my health insurance and I have gone into debt with credit card bills unpaid.

Didn’t care about any of it. I was happy to have more time to work on my collections.

Now I am losing my house and must move out over the next 30 days.

I have siblings and their spouses who are helping me and financially supporting me through this process; other family members are not supportive and these persons feel free to call the siblings and advise them to let me hit “rock bottom” without any help.

I met with a Psychiatrist this week. She explained to me that there is a lot about Compulsive Hoarding that is not known and she said it is not an area where she has a lot of experience. She ordered blood work and will see me next week to discuss possible medications.

I am on a waiting list to see another Psychiatrist that specializes in this area. That appointment is not until April.

I have no health insurance – have applied to Medicaid and expect to receive benefits before February.

The doctor I saw this week said residential treatment may be indicated, but she will have to ask colleagues for recommendations.

My questions:

1) What can I do on my own to work on this? I have hundreds of boxes filled with things that are important to me that I need to go through. How do I decide what to throw out? Are there social workers who will come to your house and help you through this process?

2) Is some type of 12 step program appropriate? I don’t know where else to go to find people who have similar issues.

3) What kind of residential treatment programs are there for Compulsive Hoarding? How long would I have to stay at one?

4) Any information about treatments, suggested reading, experts to contact are appreciated.

I have created an email account hoardinghelp@yahoo.com if anyone would like to send information there. I will monitor the responses and ask a moderator to post additional information if it is needed. Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Help the son and daughter-in-law of a compulsive hoarder!

SpecialK — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 21:23:51 -0800

I have some friends (a married couple) from Denver who have just found out that 1) his mother had a stroke at the age of 70, 2) his mother was a hoarder, and has kept everything in her house for the past thirty-plus years that she's been living alone (with no power, heat, or water) 3) in Peoria, IL. I'm trying to find resources that they can use on their limited budget for psychological (support group), financial, and other assistance. More tragedy: The husband just got laid off from a networking job in Denver and missed his first interview since the layoff, which was supposed to happen on the day after they found out about the mother. They were skinny in the wallet in the first place, but now they're spiralling further into debt as they have to afford the time away from the husband's job hunt and they incur the costs of hotel rooms and food in a remote area where they don't know anyone... plus medical care for the mother, who is now in a nursing home and needs extensive therapy to recover from the stroke. There's no other family for them to fall back on, and the mother has no assets besides the house which can't be sold.

So far, they're doing everything they can. They've made the house as safe as it can be (it was a fire hazard with junk piled all up around the boiler in the basement and the boiler only half working), they've gotten a lawyer and are moving for guardianship of the mother, and they've told their friends about it so that we can start marshaling resources to help them out.

Beyond the obvious, there's one thing I'm most interested in and that's active support communities (she's found two that are inactive or barely active in Chicago, but Chicago is not Peoria) for the relatives of Compulsive Hoarders. National/Web organizations are fine.

Any ideas on who someone who needs the help of a charitable organization in Peoria, or what charitable organizations (the couple has no religious affiliation... and religious groups might not be the best choice) might be able to provide some resources in the area for them. Right now the mother's house is completely uninhabitable due to the vermin infestation and lack of power and water to the house, and they're staying at the (barely) habitable Holiday Inn before they have to return to Detroit.

Any other suggestions to help them out? We've started a "tip jar" online, are putting a mailing list together, and are looking for other ways to raise money for them.

Possible structural failure due to a hoarder's heap?

Kevin S — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 18:56:43 -0800

I am concerned about the possibility of structural failure due to a hoarder's heap. My 80+ year old mother has a woman friend in her 60's who lives with her much of the time, occupying a spare bedroom. The friend is a "compulsive hoarder"; i.e., a person who is constitutionally unable to discard anything - newspapers, boxes, magazines, old clothes etc. Her room looks like a dumpster (fortunately there is no organic matter and no odor). The debris "mass" occupies about 75% of the 15' x 13' room and on average is about 4 feet deep but in places approaches 6 feet. There is not even a goat path to get from the door to the bed; she crawls over the pile to get there.

There is a vague "plan" to get her stuff out of the room. But in the meantime I have numerous safety concerns (fire hazard, dust, mites, emergency egress), some of which are likely code violations.

I am wondering specifically about floor loading and the possibility of structural damage/failure. The heap is an undifferentiated mass, so I really don't know what the average density is (e.g., if it is 10% paper or 75% paper). So assuming (in the extreme case) that it is mostly newspaper/magazines, is there a possibility of structural failure? It is a 1950's frame house. The room is supported by wooden joists that run the 15 feet between the foundation wall and the beam running down the center of the house. Each joist is about 1" x 8 " with 45 deg X's cris-crossed between the joists. Sitting on the joists is the plywood subfloor, with hardwood above. Looking up from the basement, there is no obvious sign of damage.

Any advice or suggested analytical approach would be appreciated.

Can I hoard gasoline?

aaronetc — Wed, 29 Jun 2005 14:05:27 -0800

Is there a relatively safe way for me, a typical consumer, to hoard gasoline? With prices increasing, and no end in sight, I'm thinking it would be really great if I could buy several hundred gallons of gas at the current price ($2.25/g, locally) for use when we break the $4/g barrier, for instance. Alternative fuels are unavailable for both my car and my wife's, so we're stuck with regular old petrol. This article says there's no "completely safe" way to store gasoline, but is there a "mostly safe" way that's not covered? Furthermore, could I legally sell this gas for somewhere between my purchase price and the then-current retail price when the time comes?