Does anyone of you people ...

[Torie]

My mother was blind, so yes, she had assistance. At one point, my Dad in his mid-50's, let his ego get in the way of his good judgment, and bought a mansion (for 85K), and hired a Jamaican couple who lived in the chauffeur's quarters above the garage. That all came to an end after about 5 years, when my Dad could not make ends meet, including dealing with my mother's hideously high medical expenses, as he searched the planet for a way to more effectively deal with my mother's mysterious disease (about which next to nothing was known then).

And what did I do at about the same age? Bought a house to be built in the desert, got the builder to redesign it and flip the footprint, built a pool that comported with my idea of how a pool should look, and basically sort of did the same thing. I rent it out - to make ends meet (well in my case to make my cash flow cover my expenses with a cushion rather than sell assets, since my legal services income is about half of what it once was, in my semi-retirement). It may be a life cycle thing.

I have a bi-weekly cleaning service come in, who clean up the filth, in and amongst the clutter.