I watched the Oprah show when it first aired a couple of months ago.  I taped them on my DVR. I watched the first show, but the second (the clean-up) is still in my DVR, I havent watched it yet, and here is why.......

I was very disturbed by the show, and I truly could feel that woman's pain! I cried with her. When she said she felt ashamed, I felt ashamed along with her, and I couldn't imagine what I would feel like if my family had "turned me in" so the whole world could see my mess.  How embarressing! I could relate to her on so many levels, and really understood when she was torn in having to try to get rid of stuff.  If you have lived this way for so long, and if you keep things for a reason, to just get rid of it is hard. Add to this that millions of people are watching, and criticizing you, it was hard to watch.

I don't have her addiction to shopping, she shopped every single day and eventually she ran out of room to put things and the stuff piled up. They also had a therapist there to try to figure out why she hoards things, and that was insighful to me.  I know that I filled my house with "things" after my daughter moved out (empty nest syndrome they call it) and then when my father died, followed by my dog and my mother the following year, I started gathering things around me to not feel so alone.  I know it sounds silly, but I see it now, I filled my house with anything, so I wouldn't feel so alone.  And the problem is bigger than I could have imagined. 

My house is not as bad as the woman's on Oprah, but it is close.  That is why my clean-up will take a while.  I have to do it bit by bit, baby steps.  What feels good for me and what I can handle.

Like I said, I didn't see the the big clean-up on the show, because they kept promoting that it took 100 people, and they cleared out 75 tons of garbage from her house!!  I was a little scared to watch the show. 

Brenda, did you watch the show? Should I watch it? 

Yes, Greeny, that is the same show that Brenda was talking about.  And I just clicked on your links, and I saw it all again. 

Like I said, I didn't watch the big "clean-up", I only watched the first show.  That was hard enough for me. They had started to do some of the clear out and clean up in the first show, but the majority of it was going to be on the second one.

 

I also watched the show, both times when it aired.  I DVRed it the second time so my husband could see it.  Did anyone see Dr Phil the other day with his cluttered house?  I wonder when the results will be aired? I too could relate to the woman on Oprah, it scares me to think that one day when my boys are moving out, I could become like her!!!  It certainly makes me think twice about something when I am shopping!!