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TV show alert -- Peter Walsh back on Oprah

teacats
16 years ago

Today -- Oprah is featuring another organizing-the-home show with Peter Walsh ....... just thought I'd pop in and mention it in case folks want to watch!

Jan

Comments (9)

  • graywings123
    16 years ago

    I watched the show. Sure, that was a family of - let's face it - slobs. But to take the drawers of cooking implements and just dump them in a box - I would have sent him packing if he did that in my kitchen. And the kids having to sort through the stuff in their room in 20 minutes - by themselves? They had no clue to what they were doing. They ended up ditching virtually everything in their room - that's not how you declutter.

    It seemed to me that the unsupportive husband got off scot-free.

    Not a good show at all, IMO.

  • duluthinbloomz4
    16 years ago

    I'm with graywings on this one. Unfortunately, life threw a few nasty curves (kidneys failing, etc.) at the wife, but it was turned into a giving up type laziness rather than the real "hoarding" type psychosis. But I was a little annoyed, too, at the dumping of the kitchen implements - decluttering can also mean going through things and doing away with duplicates, things that are broken or that have no useful purpose - not a wholesale garbage canning of everything one owns.

    Oprah gave this bunch a cleaned up, cleared up, space repurposed home - I'd wager the effects won't last long.

  • teacats
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Yes -- I must admit that I was surprised that Peter did not take the non-supportive husband to task about helping out around the home! And I guess that he felt that a "shock organizing spree" would get him onto to Oprah a few more times.

    BUT it will be interesting if they re-visit this family and home six months from now!

    The final makeover was incredible -- the family gained 1,000 extra feet of living space (family space, craft area, gym area and office area) when they re-did their basement! And the kids got their own rooms too when they re-did the former home office for the boy's bedroom! :)

    BUT I did think that it was interesting when they asked the little girl how she felt about the re-done living room and she said: "It looks like a loving family home" :) Just shows that kids really do notice when their house looks more like a dumping ground!

  • alisande
    16 years ago

    I agree with the above posters. I thought it was very telling when the wife tearfully took the husband to task for saying the food in the freezer was three years old. She pointed out that he never helped with the shopping or anything else. I also understood the wife's reaction to having the contents of her kitchen drawers dumped.

    I felt Walsh's theory connecting clutter and weight problems was a gross oversimplification. There are lots of factors in each that he didn't even touch on. Nevertheless, I found the show rather inspiring. While I watched/listened to it, I decluterred a couple of small but stubborn areas.

    I missed parts of the show. Did the kids start out by sharing a room? They seemed a little old for that. I thought those kids were very appealing. I hope things work out well for the family.

  • teacats
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Yes -- the two kids had shared a room -- so in the final makeover -- each child now had their own room. I do hope that Oprah checks on this family's progress -- that will be truly interesting!

  • jannie
    16 years ago

    I didn't see it, sure wish I did. My husband and I both have chronic illnesses (he has MS, I have kidney failure and get dialysis). Over time, our home has sunk into clutter/neglect. I think I just need a kick in the pants to motivate me! I'm not a hoarder at all, I'm basically just lazy!

  • maryliz
    16 years ago

    I saw the earlier episode, with the married couple whose house was full to the ceiling in most of the rooms, and this episode, too. I agree with greywings (and others) that dumping all the kitchen utensils into the trash was not the way to go. How about carefully sorting, keeping only the tools that actually get used and are indispensable? Pare down, instead of starting all over from scratch. Perhaps they did exactly that, and it got edited out. After all, they kept her red bowls. They must have done the same with other kitchen implements, but it doesn't seem like that in the final version of the show.

    I always wonder what happens after those home makeovers. Are the people who have gotten themselves into such a disorganized state suddenly able to change every single tiny daily habit in order to preserve the order imposed on them by the reorganization?

    All the pretty containers in the world cannot make up for the lack of established routines. Routines do not spring up overnight. They have to be established a little bit at a time.

    I made long lists of all the things that ought to be done, and noted to myself when I hadn't done the list perfectly. I was constantly not living up to my high standards. And you know what? I was not giving myself credit for the things that I HAD accomplished.

    Then I discovered FlyLady, who wants us to start with just ONE new habit at a time. That has worked for me. And when I backslide, I just start over again, and don't try to make myself feel guilty. Instead, I try to make myself HAPPY by caring for myself and my family and my home.

    Sorry to ramble on and on, but I don't think a quick rescue will work in the long run, even though everybody involved has the best of intentions. Of course, a little outside help might be all that family needed to get back on the path to a happier home. Good luck to them!

  • emmhip
    16 years ago

    This lady really bugged me! And I agree with the above posters that decluttering and weight may have something to do with one another, but there are other issues as well. It can't just be an umbrella cure-all. Look at Oprah, she has had weight problems her entire adult life, and she has people who clean/declutter for her, I'm sure. Did the husband even speak, because if he did, I missed it. I also thought it was cruel to weigh those children on national television, they still have to go to school mighty O! The house looked beautiful, but really what they needed was a basic declutter and more space, which they got in the form of a completely re-done basement. If Peter Walsh showed up and re-did my basement, I'm sure 99% of my space problems would be gone. I just don't really see how this had anything to do with weight problems.

    I disliked the first clutter show and the way they coddled crazy-eyes as well.

  • Frankie_in_zone_7
    16 years ago

    I would just want to know whether they did a dramatic neatspree for impact, but in a week the family will be at Wal-Mart buying a can opener, kids underwear and whatever else they threw out that is really needed. Most of us earthly beings have to go, do I keep this paring knife or that; inspect clothing for condition and fit; and so on.

    Still, if you take it as TV and not real(meaning not the way the average person would make successful changes; ), but use it to demonstrate possibilities, as some of the above posters have done, it might have its usefulness if you ignore the fact that "real people may have been hurt making this show".

    I guess I am so down on and suspicious of the popularity of all this reality TV--don't like what it seems to say about us and our culture, these days.