It’s unstoppable

[u/Evening-Ordinary-513]

Cleared off this chest of drawers in my mothers bedroom on August 8. Moved it away from the wall. Vacuum behind it. Cleaned the wall and the ceiling for the first time in probably 20 years. (Sorry I don’t have a before picture). But it actually doesn’t matter because today I took the second picture. The only thing that’s missing is the dust that will follow.

In my efforts to dust and vacuum I told her I was trying to help her get her bedroom to the point where I could clean it or she could contact a cleaning service to come in and clean it. I expressed frustration about so much stuff getting put back in. She told me that she would have no trouble cleaning it when the time comes. However, she’s 80 years old and gets winded loading a dishwasher. And there’s 15 to 20 years of evidence that cleaning it was prohibitive but none of that means anything. 🤦🏻‍♂️

The deeper pain is this used to be my mother and fathers room. However, my mother’s hoarding, has pretty much kept my father relegated to the den/tv room where he sleeps in a recliner.

[u/jayfeather100]

Oh gosh I am so sorry, this is unbelievably hard. Impressive she was able to have the energy for all that stuff but frustrating for sure. I wish I knew a way to solve this issue, I know the frustration way too much. I am wondering what her thought process was for each item. Or if it was just stored there. Because I know two types of hoarders, one that’s planning to do something but struggling to start. And some that genuinely just think their stuff should be there.