I have recently moved in with my 58 YO mother who has had a stroke and is unable to take care of herself completely (though she would argue otherwise). My mother has OCD Hoarding but it has gone undiagnosed as yet since she is lying to her doctors about it. I can easily recognize it. She obsessively buys things from QVC and Infomercials, rarely opens them except to get the 'receipt' out for filing. She has squandered her entire retirement fund by doing this in the last 5 years. She even has the body of her old cat, burried in a large pot with a plant. I have started purging the house and for the most part she allows me to throw some things out (I am "donating" it all) but I come across many things she simply won't tolerate me touching at all. She fabricates stories about why the item is important.. So-and-so gave it to her for example. These are mostly lies as I can SEE the receipt paid for with her own credit card. I avoided calling her out on these little lies at first, but then I just got tired of hearing it and told her I knew she was lying. At that point, she became defensive (obviously!) and told me that I needed to help her in a more positive way than I was. I have now resorted to purging only when she is either sleeping, or out to her doctor's for an appointment.

There is also the fact that my mother is legally blind. I am able to purge stuff quietly while she sleeps or is out at the doctor's office and she doesn't notice if I do it slowly. The problem is... How can I stop it? I have blocked the QVC channel from the TV, but she falls into the infomercial sales every time. I figure... If I pack it up and keep returning it, eventually.. Maybe they'll stop selling to her? What about the lies she does to cover the hoarding, how do I handle those?