[music playing] ANNIE: My name is Annie. I take care of my
disabled husband. We have been married
for 32 years. He's had blood pressure
and-- and diabetes issues ever since I've known him. About a year ago,
he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. He is totally dependent on
me to do everything for him. I've tried to clean
house a lot of times. I can't get anything done. My name is Sarah
and Annie is my mom. My dad fell down on the driveway
and he broke his rotator cuff. And my biggest fear is that,
if he were to fall again, with the amount of stuff that's
there, he could break a hip, or worse. He could literally
die from that. My name is Freddie
and Annie is my mom. There's a lot of stuff in there. Most of it is useless junk. I guess you could
say I'm used to it. SARAH: My brother Freddie,
we've been concerned about him for a while. He seems to be depressed. He doesn't have a lot
of real motivation to do things like get a job or
buy a car like other teenagers his age might have. I think a lot of
that stems from this, you know, just sort of
learned helplessness. FREDDIE: I don't think
it's all that big a deal, but that can be 'cause most of
the time, I'm just taking naps. SARAH: The truth is, I'm
afraid for their lives. ANNIE: Some of the houses
I clean, I just go in, and there's just
a weekly routine-- sweeping, dusting,
mopping, vacuuming, and I just get in and get it done. SARAH: The reason
that she doesn't do more in her own house is
because it just seems hopeless. You work for hours,
and you look around, and it all looks the same. ANNIE: The previous TV got
fried from roach infestation. I have put out the
foggers, I have sprayed, I had put out the
boric acid powder. My dad and my brother both
have really bad allergies and asthma problems. And we know that roaches and
stuff that they leave behind is really the worst
thing for asthma. This is not a situation
that is OK anymore. ANNIE: I tried to do
the best I could but it didn't seem like very good. SARAH: It's not a situation that
I'm gonna step back and pretend like it's not there. Good morning! ALL: Good morning. I'm Dorothy Breininger. I'm a professional
organizing expert and I specialize in hoarding. This is one big group. Thank you for all being here. To meet Annie and know that
she cleans homes for a living, and then to go into her house-- unbelievable. Incongruent. You folks have been
living in this house. We haven't. So you're used to things
that we're not as used to. The minute we start
moving things around, dust and mold starts kicking up. So I want the team
to wear masks. Any questions? ANNIE: One thing to say. You have one
more thing to say? Let's get her done. Let's get her done. Go! I am coming across so many
little families of roaches. And even my 1-800-GOT-JUNK guys
are completely creeped out. But apart from that,
I see lots of broken or deteriorated furniture. This couch, did I hear you
wanted it to go to trash? ANNIE: I did say that. DOROTHY BREININGER: Annie has
really never made a decision. ANNIE: It-- it will
go, eventually. FREDDIE: I'm usually
pretty organized. MARK PFEFFER: I'm
thinking of you choosing one out of that bin to recycle. My name is Mark Pfeffer. I'm a licensed psychotherapist
and specialist in a treatment of compulsive hoarding. Freddie's behavior almost
mimics his mother's behavior. FREDDIE: Uh-- I-- I-- maybe-- I-- I'm not gonna-- I'm not gonna say
a definite yes. MARK PFEFFER: This is a family
that can't make decisions. Indecision has
become a lifestyle. Mm. FREDDIE: D'you need help with
this thing or you got it? Nah, that's pretty light. Oh, well, there's some-- that's not healthy-looking. [chuckles] No. DOROTHY BREININGER: So-- so--
- Here's what-- DOROTHY BREININGER:
--I'm gonna be You're gonna be-- DOROTHY BREININGER:
--in the dumpster. My team accidentally
empties one drawer. And guess what? It has to be the drawer
with the wedding band in it! I think it's [muted] It's
just degrading to watch my mom dig through a dumpster. If we don't find that ring, I
think Annie will be very upset. I think it will
be the very thing that will make this project
seem like a horrible idea. Our first task this
morning was to go through, with a fine-tooth
comb, in the dumpster to find a wedding band. Everybody was so
ridiculously upset with me because, who really
wants to do that? They called me over
and said, can we stop? We're sweaty. We're full of
roaches, can we stop? And I said, can you go
for another half hour? I-- uh-uh-- I
think we found it! Oh, my god. Woo-hoo! Oh, my god. Yes! You've got to be kidding. Give me five. All right! Found it! Woo-hoo! GIRLS: We found it! DOROTHY BREININGER: Yeah,
that's a gold wedding band. Are you guys crying? We called Annie over, praying
that this was her wedding band. Please-- Please-- --Annie. --tell me this is it. DOROTHY BREININGER:
The organizers said, Annie, is this it? And she opened up the
jar and she said-- Please, Annie. This is it. [girls gasping and cheering] DOROTHY BREININGER: Because
we found the wedding band, that engaged the trust again. I was so happy. DOROTHY BREININGER: We found
a whole family of, you know, little roaches crawling. And they're-- they're collecting
over here by the food. ANNIE: That can go. Look at you.
ANNIE: Go. What do you think of that? I'm just so happy for
her that she's gonna have-- you know, she's such a
great cook, and she's-- You know what? SARAH: --actually great
housekeeper and everything. Tell her-- you
tell her that, man. That is great. Having the incident with
the wedding band allowed us to all grow together,
because yesterday, it was us versus them. Today, it was a
full-on team approach. [music playing] I think Annie did a
fantastic job today. There were 15 of us working-- both organizers, 1-800-GOT-JUNK,
and family members. 15 people times eight hours. We did 2 and 1/2
months worth of work. I'm feeling pretty good today. I think the new room
looks really good. It's a lot better than
the old one, you know. There's not a lot of junk
lying around like before, and, uh, I don't think
there will be in the future. SARAH: I absolutely do
not regret my decision. My dad actually told
me thank you today. My mom has sort of
shrugged, [laughs] you know, that I can't see how she could
be upset when now she has a floor that she can walk on. ANNIE: I-- I know that the
shame of not, you know, being able to have people, even
fa-- you know, other family members come in, will keep-- keep this from happening again.
