The Life of Stuff

I have to confess to having a certain fascination for hoarders. When I decided to move to Australia in 2012, I had to clear my apartment for renters. I was quite alarmed by the amount of things I had collected over the years - hundreds of books & DVDs, many of them I had not had the time to read or watch.

While I konmari-ed my stuff I would watch episodes of “Hoarders” in absolute horror/fascination/compassion.

What I saw in that series scared me into becoming a minimalist, methinks. Although I am far from the “33 pieces of items in my wardrobe” person, I have far, far less things now.

But why do people hoard? Could you end up as one?

These questions haunted Susannah Walker, who was left with the unpleasant task of clearing up her mother's home after her death.

Her mum, Pat, spent her last years in a house so broken and filled with filth it should have been condemned. Yet, to the outside world, she appeared as a well-dressed woman who seemed in control of her life.

Thanks to reality shows like Hoarders, people who have this affliction are almost always viewed as freaks. Susannah, however, gives us an a compassionate and emotional insight into her mother's life as she tries to understand what led her to slowly destroy a home she once so adored.

“These people become hoarders because they have suffered so much loss already that disposing of even a single object would be too hard to bear.”

In the end, theorised Susannah, her mother manifested the pain of her tragic life outwardly - in her stuff.

A must read.