Its been a long time on here but my attempts at decluttering have not gone in vain. We have purchased a new house. and been redecorating BUT not moved in yet. A new blank canvas... a fresh new start free of clutter and dust.

So we made a few rules: told my dad under no cirumcstances will his clutter including books be allowed in the house. So far agreed and adhered to.

Second rule books can go into the new garage (bonus!) but things have to be thrown away before stored in the garage. This was a very difficult one for my dad and is still udnergoing. He spent over 4 hours putting books neatly into boxes (according to size not subject), and only one was ready to go as the boxes got to heavy to carry books.

As a result of the above very little has been done in the last few months as my dad clings onto his belongings. Spending hours sifting through book marathons (and sneezes to follow) and then a tirade of justifications for keeping the book. It goes something like this

"I saw this book in WHSmith for £9.99 and you know how much i got it for?"

Pause (nobody cares)

"20p! what a bargain"

and i think to myself yes and now its not worth the paper its printed on and is probably on Amazon for 1p.

Have tried explaining that books loose value and are cheaply available. But no, my dad insists on keeping them-i really don't think a GCSE Letts revision guide form 1989 will be a huge benefit to anyone. Seriously if i had an exam i would want an uptodate book not one that is 20 years old, yellowing pages, written in a boring manner, and probably before colour books were even published. Im sure the dust mites would also trigger and allergic response. Am thinking of maybe taking books to one of those recycling companies that pay for a tonne of paper...will need to look that up.

Would like to hear from any hoarders and if they moved houses how did they decide or come to terms with with what to keep and what not.

Have you helped a hoarder? what advice would you give?