Obsessive thrifting and estate-sale-ing

[shopgirl61]

OK! no time to post as I googled out 4 thrifts last night, (I strategically mapped them out and printed out driving directions) Had my am coffee and the morning is all mine!!!

Some people drink alcohol others smoke ciggys to sooth themselves...

Me, well? look at my name, it says it all lol

Bye, gotta RUN!!!!

 

[Foofoogal]

Lizzie. We would get arrested if we even could come close to a dump to pick.
As fast as you dump anything the machines are right behind you to cover it all.

I really swear to this day it is a big part of why I do what I do.
As a child we could pick the dump or it was not against the law.
I found a half burned doll baby and wanted it so bad. My mother made me throw it back in the pile. I cried for hours.
Must of scarred me for life to rescuing stuff. lol
Now as an adult I understand it but.....
----------------------------

I started out as a doll collector. Had up to 40 dolls at one time as an adult and still have quite a few but finally shared..

 

[BoPeep]

We do the dump picking too, although we're technically not supposed to. My husband's got an *in* with the Dump Guys, and they turn a blind eye to it. He picked a 20s vintage Singer (Egyptian decals) in the cabinet one day! Presented that to me like it was the crown jewels! lol

 

[Miss Neecerie]

I was much more into doing this in CA.....but have not yet gotten started out here..

I may try to resist as my place is lots smaller, and I still have stuff to get shipped from CA to fit in it someday..


I must limit self to one or two collections (modern priscillas, fountain pens, compacts) and then stop picking up random things....

or I will soon be that lady with the paths around the house in between the piles of stuff...


erm good thing I have 15 foot ceilings...

 

[Wire9Vintage]

BoPeep, I can imagine your purse very well!

Lizzie, I'd love to be able to pick the dump. My old town still did "bulky pick up," so folks would cruise the curbs looking for goodies. I snagged a good deal of amazing stuff just for the taking. But here, they do "bulky drop-off," and don't allow pickers. Which just seems dumb... think of all the stuff the city wouldn't have to haul to the dump! I just don't get it...

And folks, for the tenacious, there are still goodies to be found. Granted it isn't like in the old days (!) when I could walk into any thrift store and leave with arms full for a few bucks.

I just got a very old and gorgeous Oster Continental AirJet hair dryer on stand...perfect working order and simply a stunner to look at, for three bucks at the St. Vincent de Paul in Austin. And that was marked "antique," and in Austin! The baby is a marvel and I love her. Yes, I LOVE her! [huh]

 

[Jish1969]

I usually get to two of my local thrift stores a week looking for goodies but I hadnt been to an estate sale before this year. The wife wanted to go to an estate sale this past May and since then we have been to about thirty and are on three mailing lists!

 

[Foofoogal]

Presented that to me like it was the crown jewels!

Goodness BoPeep. It practically is.
--------------------
Jish1969
Welcome to the FL. Mailing lists for estate sales will get you in real trouble.

 

[Claireg]

This little story has been pinned up on my fridge.....

Las Vegas Hoarder Found Dead in Her Cluttered Possessions

Hugh Collins
Contributor

AOL News (Aug. 28) -- A Las Vegas woman who had been missing for four months was found buried beneath a mountain of garbage and clutter in her own home.

Bill James brought the search for his wife Billie Jean to a horrifying conclusion on Wednesday when he spotted her feet sticking out from the pile of junk that filled the room from floor to ceiling.

The collected clothes, trash and knicknacks in Billie Jean James's house was so vast that sniffer dogs had searched the home without finding her corpse, The Associated Press reported.

"For our dogs to go through that house and not find something should be indicative of the tremendous environmental challenges they faced," police spokesman Bill Cassell said.

Julie Jacobson, AP
The corpse of 67-year-old Billie Jean James was found in her clutter-filled home in Las Vegas, four months after she went missing. A spokeswoman says it could take weeks to determine when and how she died.
Billie Jean, 67, went missing from her home in April, according to a local ABC affiliate. Bill James says he woke up from a nap and could not find his wife anywhere.

He assumed that she had wandered away. She had recently had a mini-stroke that left her disoriented, and he worried that she had suffered another.

Authorities launched a massive hunt for the woman, using sniffer dogs and even helicopters equipped with infrared to search the desert. Meanwhile, Bill set up a Facebook page to promote the search and offered a $10,000 reward.

Little did they know that she would eventually be found exactly where she was meant to be -- at home.

Family friends told the Las Vegas Review Journal that Billie Jean was a compulsive hoarder, with a passion for shopping for trinkets and clothes. One friend said that Billie Jean referred to the room where she was found as "her rabbit hole."

Sari Connolly, a friend of' Billie Jean's, said she had become so obsessive in her hoarding that she kept people out of her home, even refusing to let them use the bathroom.

"She became this hoarder person, and she wouldn't let anyone come in her house," Connolly said.

Cassell told the AP that the house had only small amounts of clear space so that people could get around, and that the home was filled with strong odors from animals, garbage and food.

Billie Jean is not the first person whose hoarding instincts proved fatal. In May, an aging Chicago couple was trapped for two weeks after being buried in their belongings. When they were rescued, they were found to have rat bites on their bodies.

In 1947, police found a body inside a Manhattan row house. Brothers Homer and Langley Collyer had filled the house with possessions, including a Model T chassis, 14 pianos and more than 25,000 books.

Both brothers were found dead among the clutter.

Michelle Carro, an assistant psychology professor at the University of Nevada, told The Las Vegas Review Journal that hoarding happens when people find it impossible to make decisions, organize themselves or focus on immediate tasks.

Billie Jean's death is "an example of what can happen when your hoarding behavior is out of control," he said.

 

[Nice Boots]

Yikes! I'm not quite that OCD.......yet

 

[BoPeep]

Goodness BoPeep. It practically is.

Well, the cabinet had a good smattering of chicken poo on in it and was delaminated. We were able to save the drawers and iron legs. After much deliberation we decided to trash the machine, just too far gone (and I've done rescue work of this type before).

 

[Foofoogal]

Hmm... yes, I am not a hoarder. Never can imagine me being. I am a neat freak and cleanaholic. Those shows do scare me. So sad.
If anyone does think they may be there is much info on the internet about the 5 levels of hoarding.

 

[FountainPenGirl]

I seldom ever buy anything new. If I ever need anything, except for the obvious personal items one needs, I always try to find an old one. It is usually better quality than new and usually less expensive. It used to be that most of what I've looked for was just considered out-dated everyday stuff that nobody wanted. Over the years its gotten to where there are other silly people like me that are now looking for the same stuff and some of them are willing to pay pretty good money for it. My basic philosophy of life has been "Old Good New Bad". I've found this to hold true most of the time.