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Culture Study Podcast

What It's Like to Grow Up With Hoarders

Culture Study Podcast

Culture Study Podcast

Arts, Society & Culture

4.5789 Ratings

🗓️ 29 October 2025

⏱️ 86 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

People are fascinated by hoarding culture — in part because it presents a reality that's not that distant from our current accumulation habits. Like, turn one screw in my brain slightly more to the left, and my dahlia collecting habit becomes something that's widely understood as a social problem. When I heard about Amanda Uhle's Destroy This House, a memoir of growing up in a hoarding household, I knew listeners would want to explore that fine line between "proper" consumption and hoarding, the stories we tell about why people hoard, and the real difficulty in navigating hoarding behaviors by people you love. Culture Study is now on Patreon! To read about why we moved, go here.Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!Use code CULTURE to get 10% off your next order at Bookshop.orgGet $35 off your first box of wild-caught, sustainable seafood—delivered right to your door. Go to:  https://www.wildalaskan.com/CULTUREGet 15% off OneSkin with the code CULTURE at https://www.oneskin.co/Use code CULTURE at jonesroadbeauty.com to get a Free Cool Gloss with your first purchaseShow Notes:GO BUY DESTROY THIS HOUSE: https://bookshop.org/a/56144/9781668083444Follow Amanda's work here: https://www.instagram.com/amanda.uhle/?hl=enI reference Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things: https://bookshop.org/a/56144/9780547422558I reference my interview with Emily Mester about American Bulk: https://annehelen.substack.com/p/american-bulkThe episode we did on "over-consumption" of books: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/all-the-latest-book-publishing-trends-explained/id1718662839?i=1000718656026We’re currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:BIG KOREAN ENERGY with Mash-Up Americans (Their framework for questions: What is this Korean vibe everywhere in culture, in food, in beauty, in politics? Definitely not complaining, but maybe confused? Well. Do we have the explainer for all of you Korean Americans, Korean Koreans, and everyone who is adjacent to Korean culture -- which is everyone. What are YOUR questions?)Contemporary Dating Culture!!! Why does it suck, how can it suck less! (with Jonquilyn Hill)Eldest daughter discourseThe sociology of NAMES (naming trends, naming assumptions)WEIRD ENGLISH WORDS (where do they come from!) with Colin Gorrie, who writes explainers like this one on the word DOGAnything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment!As always, you can submit them (and ideas for future eps) hereFor this week’s discussion: What is YOUR relationship to stuff? How did this conversation reframe it?

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey everyone. I have some really big news for the culture study community. We have moved over to

0:05.5

Patreon. I wrote a whole newsletter about why I made the switch and I'll link to that in the show notes.

0:10.7

And if you stick around for the ask-in anything, we'll talk about it there to all of the grizzly details,

0:16.3

which are actually very exciting, not even that grisly. But if you're already a paid subscriber to the podcast,

0:21.9

you should be receiving an email about your subscription migrating to Patreon. Just follow the

0:27.1

instructions in that email and you should be good to go. If you go in your email and you search,

0:32.2

claim your free months, you should be able to find it right away. If you're not a paid subscriber to the podcast,

0:38.8

we're now able to easily bundle the newsletter in the pod for just $8 a month without any

0:44.0

complicated promo codes. It's just this is a dream come true for Melody and I. You can also

0:49.1

subscribe to just the podcast for $5 a month, just like it's always been. There might be some hiccups in the next week or two as we carry out this transition,

0:57.2

but the great news is that Patreon support is staffed by real live humans, not a bot,

1:03.5

unlike some other platforms that we've been hosted by.

1:06.4

So we'll also drop a link for anyone who's dealing with any sort of tech issues.

1:10.4

We're coming up on the second anniversary of the Culture Study podcast, and we are so grateful for your support.

1:16.8

So with that, enjoy today's really fantastic episode.

1:26.9

This is the Culture Study podcast, and I'm Anne Helen Peterson.

1:30.1

And I'm Amanda Yule.

1:31.7

I'm author of The Memoir, Destroy This House, which is about my very outlandish and

1:37.4

sometimes wonderful parents.

1:39.0

My mom was a hoarder, and my father was a schemer.

1:43.1

And I wrote this book to memorialize them and celebrate them in a way.

1:48.1

Tell us about deciding to write this book because I feel like it's one of those books that

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