So a few months back a guy I went to High School with pinged me on my Facebook and told me he was living in Michigan and was coming out because his mom had become a hoarder and the county was threatening to put her in a home and take her house. I told him I had a spare room and he could stay with me when he came out and he did but only staid a week to just get the lay of the land and to try and formulate a plan. He came back a couple weeks ago to start working on the place and trust me if you have seen the show Hoarders it was just like that a true stage 5 hoarder with just paths through the house to walk and stuff piled almost to the ceilings in every room. Again I let him stay with me and also told him I would take a week off work to help him and did, we donated 6k pounds of food to a food bank and stuffed my truck 12 times full of stuff to donate to the local charities and filled one very big dumpster in the five days I helped and we only made a dent in this two story five bedroom house. I also hooked him up with my best friend’s wife who has been taking care of terminally ill elderly people for about the last ten years and is just an angle of a person. Candice was able to point him in all the right directions and got people to help them and people to do more donations to and in two weeks the house is empty of clutter and they filled a second dumpster as well and now he has passed the county inspection and the county guy wanted to red tag this house and put her in a home not a couple weeks ago, he told him he could not believe the amount of work that was done and asked for Candice’s phone number to pass along to others in the same boat. It made me feel very good to help a friend even if I had not seen him in 30 years, he is still a friend and was amazed that I would do so much for someone I had not seen in so long, I believe in karma and hope I earned a bunch by doing this but really I did it because it makes me feel good to help people just wish I could have taken more time off work to help him all the way through the process but just could not. He did tell me if it had not been for my help and getting him Candice’s help that his mom would be in a home right now and the house probably would be red tagged for demo, he was just to stressed and had no idea what to do until I came along and pushed him in the right direction, it was a lot of very hard work for a guy that sits at a desk but it was truly rewarding and to see his mom walking in her house and able to use her furniture and know she is safe in her own home now, well it is just a great feeling to say nothing of knowing how much I helped a friend so am I nuts? Maybe just a little but I like being a little nuts. 8-)

As long as there is a real need and not just someone trying to take advantage of you, I feel you did all the right things.

I agree with you on giving and you will receive back although I don't call it karma. I think that he is very fortunate to have a friend like you and I am proud of you. :)

Thanks Jimi.
This is a shot of my buddy standing in front of the garage and kind of says it all, poor guy but he is much less stressed now.

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I agree with Jimi.  You are a good friend and it doesn't seem like he took advantage.

I'm proud there are people in the world like you.  You have a lot of heart.

All that work sounds like a real HEADACHE. :D

You a good friend..

Actually staying that busy helped keep my monster at bay most of the time but at the end of helping him I got sick not sure if it was something going around or something I breathed in the house but I got very sick, I lost 12 pounds in a week and spent five days in bed, guess no good deed go unpunished.
:(

Except for the birth of my children, there is no better feeling in the world than knowing that something you did, helped someone else. 

Matt, I am a clean-freak and when I watched that T.V. show I was almost gagging.  Ifyour friends Mother was that bad, she needs some mental help or her house will just revert right back to hoarding.   It may take a while for it to get that bad, but it will happen. 

ya done good, Matt!!!!!  I believe that what goes around comes around!

Linda - I'm like you - a clean freak.  I watched that show once and could not believe that anyone actually lives like that!

You're one of the good guys Matt. Nice going.

It's a killer of a job.

Charlie

Nice one Matt, Do you want to be my friend  :D
I would rather give than recieve and will bend over backwards to help people. you will be rewarded ten fold either in this life or the next.
me personally i have severe neck and back pains from carrying these bloody wings and halo around all day  ;)
well done

mark (the saintly one)

McGee wrote on Dec 1^st, 2010 at 3:56am:

Nice one Matt, Do you want to be my friend  :D I would rather give than recieve and will bend over backwards to help people. you will be rewarded ten fold either in this life or the next. me personally i have severe neck and back pains from carrying these bloody wings and halo around all day  ;) well done mark (the saintly one)

Are you sure it's the wings and halo and not the dancing?  :-? Blessings. lance

You have such a good heart Matt!! 

I too, hope she can get some sort of counseling though so she does not revert back to hoarding. 

Matt.... I am proud to know you... Good or Bad, I do believe in Karma... and you done good my friend..

God Bless

Well I called my buddy last night and both the code enforcement guy and adult protective service person where blown away by the change and she is safe in her home for now. The code guy asked my friend’s wife if he could pass her number on to others in the same boat since she did such a great job, he just could not believe we got the place cleared out in two weeks, it was a five bedroom two story house and was packed with stuff. I am just glad she is able to stay in her house and be safe and with the care she will be getting I know she will be much happier and stay safe.