The Last Straw

For several reason not pertinent to this blog, I moved home this spring. I had decided to make peace with my mother and her hoarding, as long as I had my room as a sanctuary, I would help her with her financial problems and mind my own business about the rest of the house. I viewed it as renting a sleeping place at a hostel, not something I would have to deal with much, especially since I had procured a job and was well on the way to helping out my financial situation as well. Then I was hit by a car.
My life drastically changed. I went from only sleeping in this house, to being confined to the Mazeland everyday, with my only sanctuary being the multitude of doctors appointments to help my healing process. The lack of breathable space in this environment was so suffocating that at points I caught myself daydreaming about it catching on fire. How lovely it would be to burn down and we could start from scratch.

Then the rodent died.

The day before I left for the Halloween weekend at a friends house (a much needed escape for me) the smell of death started to permeate the air. I warned mom about it, and then left for my weekend away. When I came home, it was still there--she had just gotten so used to it that she no longer sensed it.

I couldn't take it any longer. I had had enough. I started watching back episodes of Hoarders on A&E to get the psychiatric tactics for dealing with hoarders and I came up with a game plan: One bag a day. Mom actually agreed to the deal. Every day I will stand there, making no comment holding a garbage bag. She has to fill it with whatever she wants, and I will take it outside to the bins until we find the offending body. She actually made me agree to eat yogurt for my health as a compromise...done!

So far we are one bag down, and hopefully the streak will keep up. She understands if she leaves me for the weekend alone, I will bring in others and she will have no say in what is thrown out. But, for now, it seems to be working.

I plan on photo documenting the process from downstairs (even if there isn't any). Here is the photos from today