Your daily adult tube feed all in one place!
You may think a 'filthy pig' made this disgusting mess in their kitchen. The trolls call hoarders all sorts of horrible names. But I know the truth
The smell is unbearable and the mess is staggering - but a top cleaner says fixing up hoarder houses like this one is the 'most rewarding' line of work she's ever been in.
Arlene Jayne Bate, from Victoria, was forced to leave her corporate job in 2019 and didn't know where she was going to take her career.
'I had a bit of a mental breakdown,' Ms Bate said.
'I was suffering from burnout and I didn't want to return to the corporate world.'
But she eventually found purpose in helping people who have 'lost control' of their homes and haven't been able to properly maintain their properties for years.
Arlene Bate found purpose in helping people who have 'lost control' of their homes because of hoarding. Above, a filthy kitchen
...And what it looks like after a deep clean - something that feels satisfying to Ms Bate
Many tend to unfairly judge hoarders - unable to see past the build up of filth and garbage, - but Ms Bate understands that it is the symptom of a complex mental health issue.
'The general perception is that hoarders are lazy slobs - which is far from the truth,' the cleaning professional said.
Ms Bate, from Victoria, started a cleaning business after being made redundant from her corporate job and says it is the most rewarding line of work she's ever had
'We get thousands of comments on our social media pages with people calling them "filthy pigs" and all sorts of horrible names.
'But what most people don't realise is that hoarding is often a condition that's usually triggered by some sort of trauma.'
Such triggers range from a death in the family to a physical injury.
Ms Bate, who now runs Mrs Muscle Cleaning, has worked hard to dismantle the damaging stereotypes about hoarders - rebranding them 'collectors' to alleviate the stigma.
Sometimes, collecting is a learned behaviour.
For instance, Ms Bate has had clients who grew up in a collector's home and then became a collector, because that's the only way they know how to live.
'People don't live this way by choice, or because they're lazy,' Ms Bate said.
During her career, Bate has worked hard to dismantle dangerous stereotypes around hoarding
Ms Bate provided an example of a young man she helped a few months ago.
'He was living with his mum, and they had a pact that no matter what he wouldn't send her to an aged care facility. But sadly, she developed dementia and it became challenging to care for her by himself.
'He eventually decided to put his mum into an assisted living facility, and she was really awful to him the first night. The mum wasn't lucid, she wasn't in the right frame of mind - she told him she hated him and that she would never forgive him.
'The client went home after the fight, and his mum passed away the same night.
'That traumatic event triggered his hoarding, and he started to collect things he thought his mum would like.'
Ms Bate admitted that hoarding can be deadly.
'Hoarders live in an environment that creates a fire risk,' she said. '
A lot of home fires are not because of the condition of the home, but because it is cluttered.'
Bate emphasised that hoarding was a complex mental condition many can die from. Hoarding is a fire risk
Sometimes people hoard objects because they have an emotional attachment. Above, a cleaned up scene
There are several different types of hoarding and sufferers collect objects for different reasons, according to Ms Bate.
Sometimes, it's because they have an emotional attachment - for example, the cleaners might go into a home that contains a lot of baby clothes, despite the inhabitants not having grandchildren.
'They believe they will have grandchildren and want to be prepared,' she explained.
'It's difficult to work with the client in those circumstances because those things aren't needed right now.
'You then have the ones who collect things that just simply might be useful one day - like jam jars. If someone has an empty one, they cannot get rid of it because, in the future, they can fill it with something and give it away. There's no ability to get rid of that item.'
Sometimes clients get obsessive about an item.
'They might have a can of beans, but they want to be able to see all four sides of it - so they buy three more and display them together on a shelf.'
The cleaning company's longest job was 200 hours and took over a month to complete.
The cleaning company's longest job was 200 hours and took over a month to complete
Mrs Muscle Cleaning consults their clients during every step of the process
'We consult our clients during every step of the process. We get two people to go and work with a client to declutter things in their home that they don't need. We typically do a large-scale empty and then a deep, industrial clean.
'Another approach is called the 'get sh*t done' method. We go in, take all the rubbish out, remove everything in the home. There's no intervention from the client - we just clean until the home is sparkling.
The one thing Bate always finds while she's cleaning out homes is spiders
'But the other type of hoarding is when you can't clean everything out because it creates additional trauma and it can trigger the disease to be worse.'
Ms Bate also revealed that it is a myth that hidden treasures are often found under piles of possessions.
'What collectors have is generally not of value. They collect cardboard boxes, old newspapers, furniture from off the streets, empty jars, tins of beans.'
The one thing Bate always finds while she's cleaning out homes is spiders.
'There aren't always cockroaches, other bugs, or rodents - but there are always hundreds of spiders,' she said.
'We just worked on a house where hundreds of redbacks came scuttling out.
'We found dozens of nests all over the place - everywhere dark and dirty. On the back of a laundry basket, underneath rubbish on the floor, they were literally everywhere.'
Ms Bate and her team relocate the spiders when they can, but it is not always possible.
Despite the hard work and difficulties, Bate revealed that she far prefers cleaning collector homes over simple domestic jobs.
'In my opinion, domestic clients are far more demanding and are never happy with the work you do,' she said.
'They are often not grateful for the hard work that goes into cleaning - unlike our hoarders.
'Now, I know we provide a service that allows clients to have a huge positive change in their life. You don't get that same satisfaction from being a domestic cleaner.
'I like that we provide an environment where clients can go from living in chaos to living in peace and calm. Hopefully the transition in their home allows them to work that into whatever challenges they are experiencing in their day-to-day lives.'
Despite the hard work and difficulties, Bate revealed that she far prefers cleaning collector homes over simple domestic jobs