Vault: Listeners Open Up About Their Hoarding Problems

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Bert Show – Vault: Listeners Open Up About Their Hoarding Problems

Date: January 27, 2026
Host/Panel: Bert, Kristin, Abby, Cassie, Tommy
Platform: Pionaire Podcasting

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Main Theme / Purpose

This episode delves into the phenomenon of hoarding, exploring its causes, emotional impact, and personal stories from both the show’s hosts and their listeners. Prompted by news of Delta Burke checking into a psychiatric program for hoarding-related OCD, the conversation turns toward the everyday realities and deeper psychology of living with—or witnessing—hoarding behaviors. Listener calls and the hosts' own anecdotes ground the discussion in humor, empathy, and genuine curiosity.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Delta Burke and High-Profile Hoarding (00:00)

• The episode opens with discussion about Delta Burke checking herself into a UCLA psychiatric ward, reportedly due to hoarding behavior driven by a form of OCD.
• The hosts joke about celebrity psychiatric facilities and note that hoarding "is fascinating, right? But a lot of people have it." (Host A, 00:19)

2. Listener Stories: Personal Encounters With Hoarding

Jessica's Deep-Rooted Attachment to Objects (00:33)

• Jessica calls in to discuss her inability to part with sentimental items.
  • She keeps mementos like a piece from her first car:
    • "I broke the door off just so I could keep it." (Jessica, 00:49)
  • The hoarding extends throughout her life:
    • "When I moved out of my house, my parents packed, like, 200 boxes." (Jessica, 01:23)
  • Her possessions include schoolwork from middle school, hundreds of shoes, and more.

The Disgust and Disorganization: House Overrun by Stuff (02:11)

• The hosts comment on the mess seen in Delta Burke's home as depicted in media, connecting it to extreme cases featured on shows like Oprah, where "they can't even throw away leftovers [...] They can't sleep on their bed because it's like, you know, stuff stacked up six feet on their bed." (Host B, 02:26)

Amber’s Outsider Perspective (02:59)

• A listener named Amber shares about her best friend's family:
  • "I just want to clean and I don't like cleaning." (Amber, 03:13)
  • The family is described as keeping everything, particularly newspapers:
    • "They have like, Zelpa courts, newspapers, they hoard newspapers, they hoard everything." (Amber, 03:32)

3. The Psychology of Hoarding: Fear, Trauma, and Generational Patterns

Childhood Loss as a Root Cause (04:47, 07:00)

• Hosts and callers discuss why people save items compulsively. One proposes hoarding might arise from things lost in childhood or traumatic events. Rachel calls in:
  • "Our pantry is literally half full ... of plastic bags. That's because we might need them. And I think it happened a long time ago when our house burnt down and we lost everything." (Rachel, 07:00)
• The hosts debate whether keeping items is generational, referencing Depression-era parents and post-war scarcity:
  • "Are we... because I'm almost wondering... grandparents who had to deal with depression and stuff like that... maybe [that's why] our parents grew up with, don't throw it away." (Host C, 05:22)
• Some hosts believe the opposite: "I think something of theirs, sentimental value was thrown out when they were little or they lost something. I think it's the complete opposite." (Host B, 06:15)

Is Hoarding About Control? (05:14, 06:44)

• Suggestion that it's more about a desire for control than mere thrift; anxiety can drive both saving and discarding.
  • "I think in the cases that we're talking about with...Delta Burke, I think it's a control thing." (Host A, 05:43)
  • "It's a control thing, too, right?" (Host C, 08:39)

Moving as a Cure? (06:24)

• Moving house is suggested as a way to break hoarding tendencies:
  • "Anytime you have to pack that stuff up and move, ...you learn to not be...as sentimental as it used to be." (Host F, 06:24)

4. Everyday Hoarding: Clothes, Magazines, Plastic Bags (04:53, 07:00)

• Listeners admit to keeping childhood clothing, stacks of printed articles, and excess household items.
• Hosts poke fun at over-organized vs. compulsively clean personalities, suggesting a “buddy system” for OCDs of different flavors (08:13).

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• Jessica on attachment:
  “I broke the door off just so I could keep it.” – Jessica (00:49)

• On extreme hoarding:
  “They can't even throw away leftovers…they can't sleep on their bed because it's, like, stuff stacked up six feet on their bed.” – Host B (02:26)

• Amber on visiting a hoarder’s home:
  “I just want to clean and I don't like cleaning.” – Amber (03:13)

• Rachel on trauma and plastic bags:
  “Our pantry is literally half full ... of plastic bags. That's because we might need them. And I think it happened a long time ago when our house burnt down and we lost everything.” – Rachel (07:00)

• On hoarding as control:
  “If it's a control thing why people hoard, what's your deal with throwing everything away immediately?” – Host C (08:32)

• On discarding a partner’s things:
  “If you were to make a list right now of things of his that you've thrown away that he doesn't have any idea are gone right now. Multiple pages.”
  “Yes. It's like a Bible, but he hasn't noticed…” – Host C and Host B (09:00)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:19 – Delta Burke’s hoarding and OCD explained
• 00:33–02:10 – Jessica’s hoarding journey, including car and shoes
• 02:26 – Description of severe hoarding (as seen on TV)
• 03:00–03:39 – Amber’s experience visiting a hoarding household
• 04:04–04:47 – Newspaper stacking stories; referencing for future use
• 05:07–06:15 – Generational and control theories; moving as a break from hoarding
• 07:00–07:56 – Rachel’s story: trauma, family hoarding, and secret purging
• 08:13–09:15 – Banter on pairing cleaning OCD with hoarding; throwing away partner’s possessions

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Tone and Takeaways

The Bert Show approaches the topic with empathy, playful banter, and genuineness—balancing seriousness with their trademark humor. They highlight that hoarding is complex, often related to trauma, control needs, or learned behaviors, and affects not only hoarders but also families and friends. Listeners and hosts alike reveal a spectrum from mild attachment to objects to the chaos of all-consuming clutter, showing that hoarding crosses lines of gender, age, and background.

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For further engagement, listeners are encouraged to call in or visit thebertshow.com, continuing the conversation around personal spaces, memories, and the things we keep.

Transcript

[A]

The Birch Show. So Delta Burke yesterday, checks herself into. I think it was the same hospital that Brittany was in.

[B]

Yeah, the UCLA psych ward.

[A]

Yeah, she.

[C]

A lot of people. That dude from Grey's Anatomy checked in there, too. Like, everybody wants to be near Brittany.

[A]

It must be in Beverly Hills where he lives or something.

[B]

It's that one or the Cirque Lodge in Utah. Everybody checks out.

[C]

Thing to do. I'm gonna go to the Circle Lodge for vacation this year.

[A]

And this one didn't have anything to do with drugs or prescription drugs or anything like that. She's got, like, this form of ocd, and she just hoards everything and can't throw anything away. It's fascinating, right? But a lot of people have it. Hey, Jessica, you're on Q100.

[D]

Hi, Bert. Oh, my gosh.

[E]

I can't believe I'm on the radio.

[A]

I'm glad you called. So you have the same type thing.

[E]

Oh, my gosh. I can't help it. Let me tell you. When my car was, like, breaking down, it was my first car, and I got it back in 2004. That's the year I graduated. And I broke the door off just.

[D]

So I could keep it. Oh, my gosh.

[E]

And then, like, I.

[C]

What do you mean, you broke the door off? What?

[E]

Yeah, like the inside of the door. Like, you know, the part where you roll up the window.

[C]

Oh, so you have a memento from your first car?

[E]

Yeah. And I can't throw. Was such a crappy car. It was a neon.

[A]

Now, do you live your whole life like that? Like, you have to have these kind of symbols from your past?

[D]

Yeah.

[E]

My parents were always like, throw it away. Throw it away. You don't need it. And we moved down from New York back in 1998, and they got a dumpster and, like, threw out my whole bedroom. And then ever since then, when we moved down, I've kept everything. When I moved out of my house, my parents packed, like, 200 boxes.

[A]

200 boxes filled with what? Just everything.

[E]

Just everything from stuff to animals to clothes to books. I kept all my schoolwork up from, like, middle school when I moved down.

[C]

Why?

[A]

So was like. Yeah, I guess why? And was the whole house just consumed with all this stuff?

[E]

Yeah, my whole bedroom. It was everywhere. And now it's in the basement, and it's. I mean, it's taken up almost the whole basement. And I don't know why, but when I was single, I'm married now. When I was single, I used to go out and buy, like, three pairs of shoes maybe three or four times a week. So I've got like over 300 pairs of shoes.

[F]

Well, that's not uncommon.

[A]

Some women would honor that.

[F]

Yeah, they're like, go, girl.

[A]

When they showed the inside of Delta Burke's apartment, or house, whatever it was last night on tmz, it wasn't confined to just the basement. There were. Every closet was consumed with stuff. And it was disgusting. It was so disorganized and just thrown.

[B]

They've done this. They've done specials like this on Oprah. They've done whole, you know, hour long specials focusing on these people. And they can't even throw away leftovers that are in the refrigerator. Things are like rotting. And then, I mean, they can't sleep on their bed because it's like, you know, stuff stacked up six feet on their bed. They have animals with feces all over the house because they just can't. They just can't get it together enough to clean it out. They never take out the garbage. Like it's a sick disease.

[F]

It would drive me crazy.

[A]

I mean, you're already crazy. It would be a different kind of crazy. Hey, Amber. Good morning. You're on Q100.

[D]

Hey, guys.

[E]

How are you?

[A]

Good. How are you?

[D]

I'm good. I just. My best friend, her family hoards everything, and I mean, everything they've ever bought, ever had. It's. It's disgusting. And I. I mean, I think she kind of knows about it and I don't want to hurt her feelings and be like, your family is crazy. But it's like I walk into their house when I'm going over there and I just. I just want to clean and I don't like cleaning.

[A]

And they can live with this kind of mess. It's just like things that are just strewn about and there's no organization to it. Right.

[D]

It's ridiculous. Like, they have like, Zelpa courts, newspapers, they hoard newspapers, they hoard everything.

[A]

I've been in a house like that before. When I went on that, I think I was last year, my tour guide brought me to this dude's house. He was like 65, 70 years old. And literally the walls of his house have become newspapers. Like, they're stacked so high and he can't let them go that you have to sort of like jimmy yourself around the little aisle to get through the papers. The newspapers that he's compiled over the last like four or five days.

[C]

Now that I never thought of it, but there was a guy in high school that I remember would go over to his house. And this guy's mom was a writer. And, like, the argument was she needed to keep everything that she ever got that was printed in case she needed to reference it. So it was all referenced. In his house was this same exact way. Like, stacks of stacks and stacks and stacks of newspapers. Like, and they're all in her mind. They're in all some sort of order. But magazines. She never threw away junk mail in case she ever needed it to help. Look at Tracy. Tracy's throwing up.

[A]

She's so horrible.

[B]

In my mind, I'm thinking you might need to reference it one day. But it's gonna be such a pain to actually find it that you'll never use it as a reference. And people that hang onto magazines or newspapers because of references go to the Internet.

[A]

Do you ever really go. Right. You don't need that anymore. Good morning, Q100.

[D]

Oh, is it me?

[A]

It's you.

[C]

Yep.

[D]

Oh, my God. Okay. I've got just, like, I can't stop collecting clothes. Like, my closet is ridiculous. Like, stuff from when I was five is still sitting in my closet. And sometimes, like, I just can't even walk in. It's so bad.

[F]

Why are you keeping clothes from when you were little?

[D]

I don't know. I just. Like, my mom tells me, like, never throw that kind of stuff away. So I never have.

[A]

Is it, like, a control issue thing?

[D]

I don't know. I don't know if it's, like, sentimental or if it's just, like. I don't know.

[C]

Can it be a generational thing? Like, are we. Because I'm almost wondering. I'm trying to think of, like, our grandparents who had to deal with depression and stuff like that. And then the rationing that went on during the war, World War II and all that stuff. Like, maybe not that it started there, but, like, maybe they just. Our parents grew up with, don't throw it away. Recycle it. Keep it.

[A]

I think that's too simplistic. I think in the cases that we're talking about with, like, Delta Burke, I think it's a control thing.

[C]

I know, but I'm wondering if that's where, like, this. What this girl just said was her parents said, save that. You may need it someday. Like that. That's like a mantra of my dad's. He's like, he's not a big thrower away. So we have an attic full of stuff. Now. He doesn't keep, like, random newspapers and things, but, like, just stuff that he probably could have sold at garage sales. Or on ebay or in Craigslist or whatever he keeps. And I almost wonder if it's because his parents were like, can't throw anything out. We have to keep what we have.

[B]

I think it's the exact opposite of that. I think something of theirs, sentimental value was thrown out when they were little or they lost something. I think it's the complete opposite.

[F]

I think the cure for it. Not for the ocd, not the Delta Burke's. But I also would ask people, how many times have you moved? Because I think anytime you have to pack that stuff up and move, because in the case of your father or people who've been in their house for 20 years, well, of course you're going to compile stuff. But if you've had to box that stuff up and move from apartment to apartment, you learn to not be. It's not as sentimental as it used to be.

[A]

And this is. And this is a totally different thing we're talking about. We're talking about just things being thrown in the corner and then piling up. And that's the kind of hoarding we're talking about. And then it just consumes your entire house. Hey, Rachel, you're on Q100.

[D]

Hey, guys.

[F]

Hi.

[D]

I have to agree with what you were saying about it could be something in the past, because my mom will collect everything we've got. Our pantry is literally half full. Excuse me, of plastic bags. That's because we might need them. And I think it happened a long time ago when our house burnt down and we lost everything.

[A]

Sure. You can see how that could do something to you.

[D]

I think that might have been a traumatic experience, because now I'm 20 years old, but I still live with my parents. And there are times when I want to get rid of things from my childhood. That way I can make room for, you know, more things. And my mom will come into my room and see me, and she's like, what are you doing? And I'm like, well, I'm kind of getting rid of it. She's like, no, don't get rid of it. I have to take it out in secret. That way she doesn't know that I'm getting rid of it, because that's just the way that she is.

[A]

That's your next step, Tracy. This is it for you, this OCD step. This is the next one for you.

[B]

I hope Haas got all their phone numbers, because I want to go clean their houses.

[A]

If you're a hoarder, you would. It would be way more organized, like you would have all these magazines from 1984 or whatever, but you would know exactly where they were in chronological order.

[F]

Match one OCD person with another one with a different thing, like Tracy's ocd about being clean, and these are about hoarding, and just match them together and be like buddies, like the buddy system and everything. All right.

[C]

That's the worst insult. You can call Tracy. You're a hoarder.

[D]

Hoarder.

[A]

How dare you.

[C]

I got a hoarder.

[A]

I will cut you now.

[C]

If it's a control thing, why people hoard? Why are you. What's your deal with throwing everything away immediately?

[B]

I just think it's the complete opposite.

[C]

I mean, it's a control thing, too, right?

[B]

Oh, it's definitely a control thing. I mean, if I honestly.

[C]

How often do you and Scott get in a fight because you throw something away of his?

[B]

A lot.

[A]

A lot.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Weekly.

[B]

We put it in the attic, and then if he doesn't need to go in the attic after like, a month or two, I'm like, get rid of it. There's no need to have it.

[C]

Do you say get rid of it, or do you get rid of it?

[A]

You're just throwing his stuff away, aren't you?

[C]

Both.

[A]

You're just throwing his stuff away.

[C]

How many. If you were to make a list right now of things of his that you've thrown away that he doesn't have any idea are gone right now. Multiple pages.

[B]

Yes. It's like a Bible, but he hasn't noticed. What he doesn't know can't hurt him.

[C]

Let's hope he passes.

[A]

He hasn't worn it in months. He'll never know the Birch Show.