Years ago we did a move and clean-out in the Sultan, Washington area. It was a couple that had a seriously cool house that had fallen into an amazing amount of disrepair. It was so sad. They were selling the house and moving to a family owned home in Walla Walla.
The wife had a shopping problem. It was considered a hoarding situation. A multi-level home, the couple were utilizing just one bedroom space and the kitchen area. Every other room was packed full of items. You had to enter the home from the garage because all other entries were blocked. It really was a massive health and safety issue.
I often think about this project. I know hoarding is a mental health condition but this one really bothered me. This amazing home was falling apart and the couple were forced to move because they were running out of money and couldn't keep up the home. Yet, everywhere you looked there were thousands of dollars worth of items. Antiques, rare books, designer clothing, jewelry. Most items still had their original tags and had never been used.
The client was moving into a home a quarter of the size of the current home. We discussed options for downsizing. Donation of the clothing to a women's shelter, unused kitchen appliances to charities that help families furnish their homes after a loss, consignment of some of their antiques and donation of some of the additional items they wouldn't need.
The wife said no.
She wanted us to pack up everything in the home, with the exception of true trash and recycle, and move all of it to Walla Walla. Items she would never use again, clothing that was nolonger her size, furniture that simply wouldn't fit in the new home. At one point, she suggested I place an armoire in the hall way of their rambler. I said no, that the armoire would not fit in their hallway and they wouldn't be able to move past it.
As we were packing the home, all I kept thinking is "What a waste." All of these items are going into boxes and moving to storage lockers and the basement of a home to never be seen again.
We finally made it up to the primary suite where the couple spent most of their time. The wife spent most of her time in bed. I was picking up piles of newspapers in the bathroom. They were scattered all over the floor. Under one newspaper pile I found a beautiful Breitling ladies watch. Shocked, because I know how expensive Breitling watches are, I set it aside and kept picking up newspapers. A few inches later, I found another Breitling watch; a man's watch. In my hand I was holding easily $10,000 to $20,000 in watches that had never been out of their box and were sitting on the floor of the bathroom.
I walked over to the client and handed her the watches. I simply said "I found these on the bathroom floor." She calmly took the watches, tossed them on the floor next to her bed and said "Oh, thats where they went."
I had to walk away. I needed a moment. I kept saying to myself "don't be judgemental" but it was really hard. To be so disrespectful and dismissive of our hard work on her behalf.
We eventually got the client moved, packed the basement of the Walla Walla home with wardrobe boxes full of everything you can imagine, filled two storage lockers full of furniture that would never be used again and filled the house to the point where we had to say "No more" because it wouldn't be safe.
The move and clean-out cost about the same amount as the value of those two Breitling watches that she so easily tossed to the floor. They couldn't afford to pay us up-front so we needed to be paid out of proceeds from the sale of the home. The home did sell, even in it's horrific state of disrepair and has been transformed into an amazing wedding venue. That made me happy.
About a year after the move, the realtor told me they received a call from the couple and asked if there were any funds still available from the sale of the home. "No," was the realtors reply. It doesn't work that way. You were given all of the proceeds. Apparently they had worked thru most of those funds and were now looking for other sources of income.
I have no idea what has become of the couple and all of their thousands and thousands of dollars of unused items in storage.