702 - Slow but steady

 

 

We live about 5 blocks from this new project, the house at 702 12th Ave, which makes it very convenient to schlep garbage...We're allowed 10 bags of trash per week, so if we don't have 10 bags at our main residence, we bring extras down from 702.  So far, we've gotten rid of twenty 42 gallon bags of trash, with another twenty bags going out on Sunday. Doing some math, that's about a 20 yard dumpster full. In two weeks.

Our community is having a community garage sale in two weeks, so my goal is to get rid enough junk that I can put things out on the sidewalk, PRICED TO SELL!  So far, we have found probably 60 glasses, 100 plates, a dozen Pittsburgh sports hats and jerseys, several sets of cookware and knives, drawers full of women's and men's clothing, and some furniture. I'm not at all sure how to get it all organized, arranged and priced. But getting rid of it is a huge motivator.

It's possible I'll end up with grab bags of clothes for cheap. Or perhaps like the Goodwill outlets, price things by the pound.

In addition to trash sorting, we've gotten some things accomplished. My husband cleaned out the kitchen -everything except the overflowing refrigerator and deep freezer. We'll do that the night before a trash day. Meanwhile, I swapped out the deadbolt for an electronic version that has both a key and electronic keypad. If we ever finish this, I mean WHEN we finish this, we can give a renter an electronic code and when they leave, delete that code without having to switch out locks. We've given ourself a code too, so that's one less key to cart around. Punch in our code, and the fancy deadbolt unlocks.

Today, I started in the main bedroom. It was a mess, and it was sad.  

Here's the mess part.

I suspect the owner fell in to hoarding - in the lower center of the photo is a hanging sweater container, with each container stuffed with plastic bags.

There's also a mini-fridge in the bedroom,  full of sodas - mostly unopened.

And here's a picture of what might become a sweet walk-in closet, or nursery. For now, it too was packed with food, empty plastic bags and plaster that had fallen from the ceiling. The dresser is full of clothes, some of which we can sell, some of which needs to be tossed.

I also found name badges and conference bags full of papers.

A purse, crammed with papers and bills from 2008, and a pocket full of pens

When you start seeing things that show someone's life, thing get real and things get sad. 

I found a grocery bag full of old trophies, dating back to 2002.  Some child did something worthy of trophies, and some parent saved them. We clean these things up as trash, but this was someone's proudest moment - both mother and child. I feel for the mother, for whom things got so out of hand that she walked away from this life. I wonder about the child, who's memories and mementos we abandoned. 

We found a high school 8x10 photo of a girl. I can imagine when the photos finally came back from the photographer, and everyone was smiling and happy to see them. 

According to the Mayo Clinic, Hoarding Disorder is frequently accompanied by a genuine belief that nothing's wrong, a symptom shared with schizophrenia. Anosognosia is an insidious symptom that creates the tendency for people with schizophrenia to refuse medication - since they're obviously not sick. For people with hoarding disorder, they genuinely don't see their hoarding as a problem, so why seek treatment in the first place?

Combine hoarding disorder with single parent with significant health issues with financial crisis with a 120 year old house, and you have 702. In addition to this project being a way to restore a beautiful old house, and a way to eventually provide affordable housing, this project is becoming a way to pray for the lost souls with any of these trials. As I lift up another discarded item,, I offer up a prayer for anyone suffering from any of these problems.