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Old 06-17-2018, 02:52 PM
 
Location: Twilight Zone
949 posts, read 685,199 times
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I'm sure most of you have seen the TV series called Hoarders whose hoarding has gotten to the extreme point where they need professional help.
On the other hand there is another occasional series called Extreme collectors. These Extreme collectors do not consider themselves hoarders at all. And yet if you look at the amount of their collections, it rivals the size of hoarders.
So what exactly is the difference between hoarders and extreme collectors?
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Old 06-18-2018, 09:03 AM
 
5,444 posts, read 6,946,631 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Monastic555 View Post
I'm sure most of you have seen the TV series called Hoarders whose hoarding has gotten to the extreme point where they need professional help.
On the other hand there is another occasional series called Extreme collectors. These Extreme collectors do not consider themselves hoarders at all. And yet if you look at the amount of their collections, it rivals the size of hoarders.
So what exactly is the difference between hoarders and extreme collectors?
This is strictly my opinion, but when you can display what you collect or it is organized properly, it is not hoarding. With the hoarders, you notice that things are not taken care of, trash is everywhere, and the house is no longer safe or sanitary. People can collect 1000s of a particular item, but if they take care of each of those items, they are just an extreme/passionate collector. Now, if they buy 1000s of a particular item, but they just get buried amongst a bunch of other stuff, then hoarding has begin. Again, this is just my opinion.
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Old 06-18-2018, 11:43 AM
 
Location: Las Vegas
14,229 posts, read 29,940,974 times
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Just opinion but I think hoarders don't discriminate, they keep everything until the trash factor becomes unmanageable. It's dirty and unsanitary. They have very little that's worth anything. A collector, keeps and maintains their collection. Depending on what they collect, it can be valuable...or not.
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Old 06-20-2018, 10:23 AM
 
14,218 posts, read 11,508,752 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by headingtoDenver View Post
This is strictly my opinion, but when you can display what you collect or it is organized properly, it is not hoarding. With the hoarders, you notice that things are not taken care of, trash is everywhere, and the house is no longer safe or sanitary. People can collect 1000s of a particular item, but if they take care of each of those items, they are just an extreme/passionate collector. Now, if they buy 1000s of a particular item, but they just get buried amongst a bunch of other stuff, then hoarding has begin. Again, this is just my opinion.
Quote:
Originally Posted by yellowsnow View Post
Just opinion but I think hoarders don't discriminate, they keep everything until the trash factor becomes unmanageable. It's dirty and unsanitary. They have very little that's worth anything. A collector, keeps and maintains their collection. Depending on what they collect, it can be valuable...or not.
Agree with both of these posters. I knew someone whose mom was a hoarder. She saved empty cereal boxes, bread bags, all sorts of junk, and nothing could ever be thrown out. You had to thread your way through the house on little alleys between the piles of boxes and trash.

I also know people who are passionate collectors whose houses are full of cases displaying their collections. The house is otherwise reasonably tidy and there is no trash lying around. Night and day.
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Old 06-20-2018, 02:58 PM
 
Location: Phoenix, AZ
20,261 posts, read 14,491,040 times
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My ex was hoarder-ish. What that meant was as some have mentioned, the utter lack of discrimination or organization. So when he "cleaned up" he would just sort of grab All The Things, or sweep them off a table or a counter, and into a box or a tub. You'd have opened junk mail from years ago, important papers, random tools, some of which had crud on them from being used for...who knows what??...some dirty socks and maybe dishes, books, random unmarked CD's, cables that go to ??? and just...junk. Absolute mixed unsorted junk. And he would take that box, and shove it in the closet or stack it in the garage. And then another. And another. Until the whole wall is lined with boxes (or his favorite, heavy duty plastic tubs with lids.) Today we need a hammer for a project. We own probably 8 of them. They are in various tubs. No one knows where exactly. So we buy another one. Which will also end up in a tub eventually...

That's hoarding. Or the version with the heaps of mixed stuff, filth, trash, that you have to pick through, that is also hoarding.

I think it is when someone cannot or will not make choices to part ways with anything, even if it has absolutely no purpose to them, it's trash, it has no value. And so things of value and things with none, are likewise just forming a growing and overwhelming heap, taking up space.

Present boyfriend is a collector. He has fairly clearly delineated collections of things, some of which are valuable, some not as much. Coins, toys in their boxes, art, comics, sports cards, autographs. Some are displayed, but many are very carefully stored in ways intended to preserve their value. Hoarders do not store things with such care. The trash has as much value as the treasure.
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Old 07-05-2018, 03:59 AM
 
727 posts, read 150,689 times
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A hoarder isnt exactly an extreme collector I dont think..........

A hoarder just keeps everything even if they dont want it.... A collector filters thru what they have and gets rid of stuff they dont want..
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Old 07-07-2018, 06:45 PM
 
Location: Twilight Zone
949 posts, read 685,199 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by scotthouse View Post
A hoarder isnt exactly an extreme collector I dont think..........

A hoarder just keeps everything even if they dont want it.
No, not necessarily, because on a Hoarders documentary, a hoarder had kept tons of newspapers based on the reasoning that he might need the information in them in the future. So contrary to what you stated, he actually wants the newspapers for the information. In fact, to his way of thinking, he has to have it. So even more than a want, he needs it.
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Old 07-07-2018, 07:33 PM
 
Location: near bears but at least no snakes
26,646 posts, read 28,501,980 times
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I think most of what has been said is more or less correct. I have a cousin who is a hoarder. Her mother was a hoarder. Everything is kept and things are purchased for no reason. They do not buy things with the idea of creating a collection. Then they keep it because they think they might need it someday. They might need that old magazine article or those scraps of fabric or that neatly stacked pile of clean blankets as high as the ceiling.

They buy for the sake of buying and keep for the sake of keeping. I think it's the intent that distinguishes between a hoarder and a collector. A collector will know what he wants to buy and will search for that special something until he finds it. The intent is to fill an empty space in the collection. It's all in the person's head. The intent, the idea behind it.
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Old 10-06-2019, 06:11 PM
 
Location: State of Denial
2,480 posts, read 1,851,671 times
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From what I've seen watching the Hoarders show:


If there are at least two dead cats (oh, we wondered what happened to Fluffy!) and a 3-inch layer of human and animal feces (but, it's only been like that for a week!) under all the hoard, it's a "hoarder".


If the place is relatively clean (dust and cobwebs are marginally OK) and they can use their toilet and the hoard actually has some value, it's an "extreme collector".
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Old 10-07-2019, 05:10 PM
 
2,333 posts, read 1,938,573 times
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If you are a flipper you will be hoarder light.

I will be selling much of my humble collection hoard. Some of it I have had for over forty years. Most of it is from the last 15.
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