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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 10 of 10. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by iforgotmypassword on October 30, 2005, at 14:26:35
my place is so messy and dirty that if i don't clean it up i will be evicted in less than a month. i cannot bring myself into functioning order to even finish minor tasks. everything is overwhelming. what can i do? i dont even know what is wrong with me.
Posted by megj on October 30, 2005, at 14:26:35
In reply to facing eviction, help, posted by iforgotmypassword on October 27, 2005, at 23:16:04
I'm not sure if this would help or not, but you might want to consider hiring a maid service for a day just to get through this pinch your in. Then you can focus more on getting yourself well so you can take care of your apartment yourself.
Anyway, that's what I would do, or call my mom
for help. Do you have anyone that can come help you?
Posted by Phillipa on October 30, 2005, at 14:26:35
In reply to Re: facing eviction, help, posted by megj on October 27, 2005, at 23:25:23
Are your meds not working? Fondly, Phillipa
Posted by hawkeye on October 30, 2005, at 14:26:35
In reply to Re: facing eviction, help » megj, posted by Phillipa on October 27, 2005, at 23:27:59
What kind of a lease do you have? Month to month? Yearly???
If it's month to month your landlod can terminate your lease on 30 days notice without having any reason to do so.. HOWEVER, if you have a yearly lease, your landlord doesn't have the right to evict you just because your place is a mess.
If a landlord could evict a tenant just because his/her place was a mess, there would be hundreds of thousabds more homeless people.
Posted by iforgotmypassword on October 30, 2005, at 14:26:35
In reply to Re: facing eviction, help, posted by hawkeye on October 28, 2005, at 0:19:53
this goes beyond a simple mess, it is a complete fire hazard. and i have done damage due to tantrums. i can barely get myself to think or do anything. i can pick up something and look at it, but i cannot figure out if it is something i'll need, or if it is significant, and deciding to throw something out is an extremely exhausting task. it's ridiculous, i cannot control the hoarding effect of NPD. i look at everything i have on my person, often paper even small slips of paper, not able to calculate it's significance or necessity dump it all in my apartment... even garbage... its the same thing with writing this message making words, sentences all the fragments and ideas, typing them, it's like everything i do is trying to fly some huge complicated jumbo jet or something. this is so terrible. yet i am so numb to even grasp how terrible this whole situation is.
Posted by Phillipa on October 30, 2005, at 14:26:35
In reply to Re: facing eviction, help, posted by iforgotmypassword on October 28, 2005, at 1:20:28
Are you able to work? If not I think you need to contact Social Services or Community Mental Health. Maybe temporarily you need to live in a controlled enviornment. And what type of meds are you on? And are you currently seeing a pdoc? If so does he understand the seriousness of your illness? Fondly, Phillipa
Posted by 4wd on October 30, 2005, at 14:26:36
In reply to Re: facing eviction, help » iforgotmypassword, posted by Phillipa on October 28, 2005, at 17:51:07
Does your landlord know you are ill? Is it possible to explain that you are simply unable right now to deal with it? Are you working with a doctor who could help explain the situation?
Marsha
Posted by iforgotmypassword on October 30, 2005, at 14:26:36
In reply to Re: facing eviction, help, posted by 4wd on October 28, 2005, at 20:46:20
they know. it's just what i say all the time. this has come up before. i really don't think this is going to blow over. the real problem is i can't touch my stuff. i don't know how to look at things, and asess them. and i have some very important sentimental things here and i have no idea where they are. probably damaged. :( god, i need to be able to do things. :( i dont want to lose them.
Posted by Tamar on October 30, 2005, at 17:29:47
In reply to Re: facing eviction, help, posted by iforgotmypassword on October 29, 2005, at 9:29:53
> they know. it's just what i say all the time. this has come up before. i really don't think this is going to blow over. the real problem is i can't touch my stuff. i don't know how to look at things, and asess them. and i have some very important sentimental things here and i have no idea where they are. probably damaged. :( god, i need to be able to do things. :( i dont want to lose them.
Is there anyone (family member or friend) who can go through your stuff either with you or on their own, and decide for you whether you will need things?
Almost nothing is as important as you might think it is. I've known people who lost everything in a fire (and if your place is a fire hazard, then that's a risk you're already taking). I would suggest the really important things are:
* documents (bank documents, birth certificate, tax and insurance documents)
* photographs (keep all of them in boxes if you like, but don't leave them lying around)
* items that belonged to your parents or grandparents (but if you have dozens of such things, pick 12 that are particularly special to you)
* your 20 favourite books, if you like books
* your 20 favourite CDs, if you like music, and a CD player
* furniture
* fridge
* plates, cups, knives, forks, spoons, glasses; pots and pans
* sheets, blankets, pillowcases
* shampoo, soap, cleaning materials
* basic clothes (enough for a fortnight: pants, socks, shirts, trousers, shoes)I may have missed something… those were the things that occurred to me.
It sounds to me as if you have too much stuff to deal with by yourself, and perhaps you just can't imagine sorting it all out.
A temporary measure might be to box it all up and put it in storage (apart from the items I mentioned above). A friend could help with that. But you’d have to look through it all at a later date, because storage is usually too expensive to use for long periods. However, it might help with the immediate situation.
The more I think about it, the more I think this is something that’s very difficult to do alone. So ideally you need help from someone you know. Is there anyone you can trust to help?
Tamar
Posted by TexasChic on October 31, 2005, at 16:34:21
In reply to Re: facing eviction, help, posted by iforgotmypassword on October 29, 2005, at 9:29:53
I SO understand! I have the same problem (except the landlord hasn't been in to see my mess). I've read alot about it on the internet. It seems to be an actual illness, or at least a part of one. The only thing that has semi helped for me is to just put everything into big boxes. Then it won't be messy except what's in the boxes. The next step is to go through the boxes, but I haven't gotten that far yet.
Here's what I consider the best advice of what I read: Once you begin going through the stuff, you're supposed to have three big boxes to sort stuff in labeled: Garbage, Give Away, Put away later. That way, you don't feel guilty about throwing out perfectly good stuff, because you have the 'give away' box. That seems to be the sticking point for most people with this problem. You hate to throw something away because its still good.
As for the sentimental stuff, once you have it all together, its easier to decide if you really want to go to the trouble of storing all this stuff. You might see it in a different light when you have to figure out where to put everything (or pay to have it stored).
Like I said, I haven't gotten to the sorting phase yet. But getting everything out of the floor definitely made me feel better. It's a start.
I just saw this British show on tv this weekend that kind of deals with this. They took all of this women's belongings and boxed them up. Then they brought them to this baseball field and layed it all out. Then with the help of a friend she went through all the stuff. It was funny because she would fight to keep something like some old raggity bunny slippers, but they eventually convinced her to let them go. Then they put all the stuff to throw away in a shredder(!) and brought the other stuff home and put it away and redecorated everything. It was pretty cool. It was also nice to see someone else overly attached to something there was no rational need for. The bunny slippers and shoes she never wore anymore were the main things for her.
Anyway, I hope this helps a little. If nothing else, know you're not alone. I'm trying to figure all this crazy crap out too.
-T
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