Oh. My. Epicness. Of. Gross!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everyone knows about the show 'Hoarders' on TLC right? Well, last night Aaron and I sat down and actually watched a full episode of it. I wanted to vomit. Aaron went pale. It was all we could do to not run out of the living room screaming and crying. I had seen glimpses of the show before, but never actually taken the time to sit down and watch a full 1 hr episode, as Althea (My mother's mother...) is a known hoarder. One family was on the brink of losing their 3 kids, the mother was a compulsive shopper, and the dad couldn't let stuff go. The other family was a lady who horded food, and "Hated wasting things." She also didn't believe in the expiration dates. "Well, if it isn't puffy, and it doesn't smell terrible I figure it's still good. What's going to happen to sour cream, it is going to go sour!? You know... Haha!" ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!?!?!? Oh, you should have seen the way Aaron and I would cringe as they cleaned out these homes.
Praise the Lord! I married a clean freak.
We live in a tiny shoe-box apartment so that we can manage rent, pay off loans, and save money to buy a house. Organization is key.
Aaron married an avid organizer.
Brilliant combination!
After the show was over, and we had regained control over our speech capabilities we promptly thanked one another for not being anything like the two families we had just watched empty out their "Dirty Laundry." We were then able to talk about the way we would like to have our home organized, and the de-cluttering process we knew would be coming up when we move. (Hopefully in the next few months.) Thank heavens neither of us has issues with throwing out items we don't use, or need, and we seem to balance out the other's failings in the home cleanliness areas. Example: Aaron get's overwhelmed with papers, and things on the table, so he will just pile them on the counter, or throw them out. I have learned to keep all bill statements and receipts for at least 30 days, and I hate having counter space bogged up with papers and nonsense clutter. We've already talked about the need for a filing cabinet so we are both able to function, but right now we haven't the room for it, so we have delegated one counter corner as our temporary Filing space. Drives us both mad, but it's the best we can do with the circumstances we have been given. However, because Aaron hates having the table cluttered we often go through and throw away old papers, coupons, random items we pick up and have no place for -- where I keep receipts and bill statements, we have been saved several hundred dollars from creditors who have tried to bill us twice, or claim 'unpaid' items and jack up interest amounts. Win/win.
As I do have a few 'hoarders' in the family, I have always tried to be aware of those habits, and make sure those tendencies are not carried over into my own life style. Where Aaron works with truckers, who are notorious hoarders, he too watches himself as he doesn't want to carry those habits either. One day I will take him to a particular family member's house, and record his reaction. Then send it to America's funniest home videos, because that man had some classic facial expressions while watching that show!
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