[birds tweeting]
Oh my God.
Oh.
I'm Michelle.
I'm 67.
And I'm a homemaker.
I've been into birds now, I guess about 20 years.
Hi, DC.
Hi, Chibi.
Hi, pretty girl.
It's like potato chips.
You can't just have one.
You've got to have more.
You just get attached.
[birds tweeting]
I'm Jason, I'm 32, I am Michelle's son.
[birds tweeting]
I hate those birds.
Those birds are dirty, they're nasty, they're--
I mean, I've got scars from those birds on my hands
where I've been bitten by birds.
[birds tweeting]
Are you all nesting?
[birds tweeting]
Come on.
Here you go.
Come on.
My name is Kim, I'm 28, and I'm Michelle's daughter.
After both my brother and I went away to college,
she just turned to the birds.
[birds tweeting]
I'm Frank, I'm 69 years old, and I'm married to Michelle.
It got to the point where I couldn't
walk in a straight line down the hallway because of the clutter.
One day, of course, I lost my balance and I fell.
I told my mom that while he's healing,
I want you to clean this house.
After my dad's leg healed, nothing had been done.
It was still the same.
My dad has been with me for the last three years.
I've been caring for him while working and going to school.
MICHELLE: He knows my daughter wants to get on
with her career, so he wants to come home, too,
so he won't be a burden to her.
I don't blame my dad wanted to go back home.
He wants to go back to the home that he worked for all
of his life to purchase.
You know, he wants to be with my mom and--
MICHELLE: He knows that if he doesn't come here,
he might end up in a nursing home.
And I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to go there.
KIM: I can tell there's a lot of animosity between my parents
with the hoarding, because of my dad
trying to get her to change, and her
trying to get him to change.
I put the blame on my husband and he put the blame on me.
And we told the kids, you know, try to get the kids to clean up
their mess, you know, and they said,
well, you know, why, you aren't cleaning up yours, you know?
So it was kind of, like, push back and forth.
JASON: It was obvious that both of them
were guilty parties in it and neither one of them
wanted to accept responsibility for it.
But the reality was, is it was taking over the house.
When I was old enough to leave the house, I was gone.
A lot of my complaints were just met with hostile glares,
or whatever.
And so, you know, that-- that would
be about the extent of it.
KIM: I kind of feel like he checked out
from that whole situation with the clutter,
because it just ended up in arguments between my parents.
Sometimes, I don't know how much of it she does see.
Because by, maybe, acting like it's not a big deal,
she might be trying to convince herself
that it's not a big deal.
We just kind of ignore things when
it's bad hoping to get better.
Good morning, everybody.
(IN UNISON) Good morning.
I'm Matt Paxton, an extreme cleaning specialist.
We have a lot of work to do in two days.
And every time we have a challenge getting rid
of something, we're going to remind you what your goal is,
which is to get that pathway to the kitchen
so we can get it cleaned.
OK?
It's also cool that if we get the rest of the house clean,
your husband can come back.
That's also a benefit, correct?
OK.
I'm Dr. Suzanne Shabelle, and I
specialize in OCD and hoarding.
I don't think Michelle really wants help.
And Michelle is not all that excited about having
her husband back in her home.
All right.
You ready?
Yes.
Thank you for trusting us.
OK?
All right.
Let's do it.
She is almost paralyzed by making decisions.
Where are all the VHS tapes.
What's up with them?
They're blanks.
They're not blanks, there's probably something on them.
Her head's swimming with details.
Absolutely swimming with details.
And the human voice cannot get through that.
Michelle?
JASON: I have no nostalgia.
[inaudible]
Michelle?
--stuff, yeah?
She clearly goes on overload.
And so we had to like, whoa, let's bring it in.
Yeah.
You got to decide--
Oh, yeah.
--about what's in your hands before
you go through something else.
Yeah, I was trying to get them all together
so I can hand them.
[laughs]
MATT PAXTON: Here's my solution to this.
This room we're looking at right here, your TV room,
I don't think it's realistic.
It's not going to get cleaned.
So let's just fill bags with Michelle's stuff
and fill this room.
It is what it is.
We're running out of time.
So what belongs to her.
MATT PAXTON: Whatever belongs to her for her to go through
later, we're going to pile this room
right back up to the ceiling.
Once everybody is gone, I mean, it's gone.
I'm going back to Maryland.
Kim can't spend time here.
She's got to go to nursing school.
She's got--
I know that.
That's why-- that's what I'm saying.
This-- this place is going to be a mess after everybody leaves.
It's going to be a worse mess.
But why-- why is it going to be a mess?
What's holding it up?
This is taking a lot of time yakking.
It's a fire hazard.
Well, Michelle--
It has to be discussed.
I think we have to establish something
this is taking a lot of time with you
looking at every single thing.
Mom, she's talking to you.
I hear her.
You need to make eye contact.
Mom.
Michelle, would you look at me just a second.
I know you're getting nervous.
You go back to what is it that you really
need to function in your life.
And this videotape held us up for a few minutes here.
If this went away, what difference
is it really going to make in your day to day life?
Do you enjoy it the way it is?
Maybe you do.
Well, I enjoyed it a little bit more than I am now.
Well, do you like it this way?
No, but now, it's more messed up than it was before.
No, it was pretty darn messed up,
Michelle, from the beginning.
Yes.
Pretty darn messed up.
It's really messed up now.
Well, Michelle--
[laughing] I just got to look down there.
Do you think that that-- we did that?
No.
But I'm looking at it all this stuff down here and everything.
Michelle.
This, you did.
That is a--
Yeah.
Would you say that's a mess?
Now, think about it.
Yes.
Well, that's-- I'm not talking about that.
I'm talking about all this stuff I've
got to go back and go over now.
SUZANNE SHABELLE: Do you think you were ever going
to go through it, Michelle?
Do you think you were ever going to go through that stuff?
No, but the reason I want to keep that--
I hate to go and, especially, order something
and then have to throw it away.
SUZANNE SHABELLE: Let's look at the big picture.
Yeah.
But I still want to keep that tape,
I'm getting rid of this whole bag.
Listen, I'm holding it.
It's not going anywhere.
Well, that's what I said.
I'm getting rid of this whole bag, so.
But do you think you were going to work through all
of this on your own?
Oh, no.
This will be would be a lot healthier.
This is going to be very hard for you.
OK.
Let's get going.
OK.
I'm tired.
Let's get going.
MATT PAXTON: Here's the deal.
Kim!
Come here.
Since you got me into this mess.
KIM: Yes, mommy?
I told you this was going to happen.
What?
About the birds.
Doctor Fergie would like to leave some.
He wants to have some adopted, because he
thinks there's too many to come back to this space.
You're not going to live this down.
You know this, don't you?
So this isn't Kim's fault. This is not Kim's fault at all.
Oh.
No.
This is your fault. This is your choice.
You've brought the birds in here,
you've brought the trash in here.
This has nothing to do with Kim.
I was taking care of the birds.
OK. Time out.
Why does this have anything to do with Kim?
None of this is Kim's stuff.
Because she wanted this more than anybody.
Do you want to bring him in the truck
and you choose which ones?
I'm going to have to, aren't I?
OK.
If that's the best option, then yes.
Just do it.
I told you.
I kept telling you.
You wouldn't leave me.
KIM: But mom, if it's not safe, they can't come back.
No, I told you you weren't going to move this.
Kept telling you and telling you.
You wouldn't believe me.
If I had to spend the money, I would take them to my vet
and see what she says.
And what would you do if she said the same exact thing?
No, ask her if these birds are sick?
No.
She's this before, mom.
They can't make a good diagnosis.
[inaudible] on darn TV anymore.
Filming every damn thing.
You just shut up about it.
So what do you think she needs from you right now?
Think about it.
I don't know.
But she wants this hurry up and cleaned, but I don't know,
even, you know, it takes almost a miracle to get all this stuff
[inaudible] in a hurry.
She needs you to try, Mom.
Not just today, but she needs you to try every day.
For us, it's important that she looks at this,
not just as you know us ganging up on her.
I just want to see her do something
about it, and Instead of just saying that she knows about it.
Look at your mom, please, and tell her.
I just want you to keep trying, mom.
Don't give up.
Please, mom.
Don't give up.
She needs you.
You wanted people to need you for the good stuff.
This is the good stuff.
I haven't really talked to her about my feelings
with my dad in a way that she could see that I
was really hurt about it.
Suzanne just wanted us to put it all out on the table for my mom
so she can see what we were feeling.
I'm hard about showing emotions.
I don't get real gung ho and excited.
Would you like to show and feel more emotions?
Yes.
But I want the other person to do it too.
Meet you halfway.
What we saw that as more stuff started to leave her house,
the more she came forward as a real person to all of us.
When I call them on the phone, I want them to talk to me
Instead of saying they're busy.
OK.
Because all the times I call, you always
had to go do something else.
It hurts, Jason.
I know.
OK.
So talk to me more.
Yeah.
I've never seen my mom opened up as she wants
me to share more of my life with her
and it's kind of a new revelation.
This is the kind of things that I want to see from her.
These deeper emotions, you know, the fact that,
you know, she wants to be involved with her life.
Do the bear hug.
Aw.
You're all right.
Hi.
Hi, there.
Hi, [inaudible].
Hi.
The final out come of this house
is that we did not get half of what we really wanted to do.
And the most important goal which
is getting the house cleaned for Frank to come back
was not even remotely reached.
KIM: I'm not going to expect a really big turnaround.
I'm happy with just a small progression along the way,
because it means she's moving forward.
She's not moving backwards.
JASON: I'm hopeful that she'll stay with it.
But I'm also very fearful that it'll
go back to just how it was.
KIM: I'm disappointed that I couldn't get my father in here.
That's really what I wanted to set out to do.
MATT PAXTON: This is a woman you should feel very, very sad for.
This is probably the saddest house I've ever been in.
[music playing]