Decluttering a hoarder’s study tips?

[u/Cool-Alfalfa]

My father has reluctantly agreed to let me declutter his study.

It is stuffed with old machinery, houseware, technology etc - half the room is inaccessible.

Do you have any good tips on being ruthless when disposing of unnecessary items?

So far I have:

• If you haven't used it in a year it can probably go
• If you haven't "got around to fixing it" in a year you probably won't

Thank you

[u/Cool-Alfalfa]

Thank you for this long reply, avoiding excessive emotion will be a priority. Good point about putting rubbish straight into black bags. You sound like a very compassionate person in how you help your brother.

[u/CatCafffffe → u/Cool-Alfalfa]

Aww thank you. Yes, I really try to help him and he is very appreciative. You are a compassionate person to help you mom and dad too! (ps if you can manage it, another trick, best used with collected papers & such, is to say "let me take this and go through it & I'll bring back anything important." Then you can go home and quietly toss everything--BUT, important: bring a few things back to prove that you're honoring your word!)

[u/Cool-Alfalfa → u/CatCafffffe]

Your advice was very useful, I used black bags, let him go at his own pace and accepted that there would be some attachments I don’t understand. 

Today went better than expected in some ways, with a few exceptions, he was happy to toss the genuine rubbish and I convinced him to part with a large pile of useless items and duplicates.

Unfortunately a few boxes went into the designated “junk room” but at least they left the study so I’ll take it as a semi-victory for now.

The study is still messy by my standards, there’s some junk left and the books and papers lack organisation but it no longer looks like a hoarder’s study.

Thank you again for highlighting the importance of compassion in this process, I made him cups of tea as we sorted and drew attention to how the bookshelf was now accessible to easily store his history books and how I could now reach his late parents’ oranaments to dust them. We then drove to the dump together listening to his favourite station.

We are both tired but it was worth it and my mother is delighted at the improvement. A step in the right direction.

[u/CatCafffffe → u/Cool-Alfalfa]

Oh, this is so wonderful to hear!!! I'm so happy! This is ENORMOUS improvement. You can slowly chip away at the remaining "junk." And maybe organize the so-called "junk room" but getting some nice storage bins, etc, which really help make things not look so junky.

It ends up being quite a lovely day, doesn't it? That's what happens with me and my brother. I bring him a nice homemade sandwich and drinks, same thing, and we stop occasionally to just visit, and yes, show him how he can now enjoy the things he really enjoys. Your cups of tea sound PERFECT! (I will also mention however that I'm EXHAUSTED for the whole next day, so that's totally normal if it happens to you.) What an excellent job you did!

So glad to hear this. Thank you so much for coming back to post this!

[u/Cool-Alfalfa → u/CatCafffffe]

No problem, I’ll be taking it easy tomorrow for sure.