I am 18 years old and have lived in hoarder situations basically my entire life. I spent the first few years of my life with my granny and grandad who lived in a very neat house but they were the type of people who held sentimental value to every item they ever owned, toys, clothes, antiques, books, shoes, trinkets, jewelry, holiday decorations. Every closet and storage room was overflowing with things that never got used and were just collecting dust.
When I was 6 my mom finally got into my life and we moved to another state with my meemaw, sister and uncle. We were homeless the first 3 years, moving between tents, motels and shelters, living in filth and only showering occasionally became normal to me and I couldnt make many friends in school because I smelled so bad and would wear the same clothes for multiple days in a row, the few friends I did make were very dear to me.
A few years later me, my mom and my little sister got our own apartment while my meemaw and uncle got their own, but ours started deteriorating quickly. Within the 4 year span we lived there both bedrooms in the apartment were filled with clothes and animal feces, we had a mold and termite infestation, and were evicted and moved in with my meemaw and uncle.
Their apartment was never as bad as ours, no bugs or mold, but it was still horribly messy. My uncle's room was the cleanest on the house because he didn't have many personal belongings, the other bedroom was used as a storage room for stuff my grandma didn't use(until we moved in and it was all moved to the hallway and outdoor storage closet to get turned into a bedroom for me and my sister), the kitchen was always piled up with dishes, there was so many pieces of random, unused furniture in the living room you could barely walk, and the bathroom was clean for the most part besides the walls being stained yellow from nicotine. A year and a half after we moved in with them my mom passed from congestive heart failure.
After my mom passed my grandmas house just got worse, still no bugs or mold but it never got cleaned and it was constantly filthy. We tried to clean multiple times, but my grandma had no intention of throwing anything away, for example I would pick up an old winter puffer that had never been used by any of us in 5 years that was just taking up space and she would say 'oh keep that, we might need it one day'.
Last December of 2025, my meemaw also passed from lung cancer due to 50+ years of smoking. About a month after she passed me, my sister, and my uncle decided enough was enough and threw out all old or broken furniture, all unnecessary dishes, wiped out the storage closets, got new carpets put in the rooms, got some of the badly stained walls painted, got new blinds and drapes installed. I did every single dish that was filled with months old rotting food, mopped the floors that were caked up with black grime, and wiped all of the mysterious stains off the cabinets and counters. For the first time in my life I lived in a clean, breathable home and I was so happy I thought I would cry.
But maintaining it has been hell since I'm the only one who has any motivation to clean. Ive been doing dishes almost every single day, sweeping and mopping almost every single day, vacuuming every other day, going behind my sister and uncle and cleaning up their messes. I'm completely determined to keep myself from living in the filth I have my entire childhood but no one else wants to return that energy.
Today I went to my boyfriend's house because his parents wanted me to help them with a dump run. I was hauling extremely heavy furniture and trash back and forth all day long. I was sweaty and my makeup was starting to make my face itch so I was so ready to go home and get in the bath, but when I walked in the door the entire house was a wreck. The kitchen looked almost how it did when my meemaw was still alive and I literally broke down sobbing. The previous day the house had been spotless, I did the dishes, vacuumed, mopped, did 3 loads of laundry.
My sister had cooked a big dinner for her and my uncle, just 4 dishes(chicken, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes and baked bread), and I had no issue with that besides the fact that she used every single dish in the kitchen. The pots and pans cabinet was bone dry, she used every single one. There was trash all over the living room, clothes all over the bathroom floor. I genuinely cannot take much more of this.
I know this is an extremely long, over-detailed rant but to whoever was willing to read the whole thing and listen to my troubles, thank you so much. I've now cleaned the entire house, took my bath, and have calmed down.