My Dad hoards car parts and crap in a barn.

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This is a strange on going situation that's been a part of our family for decades. Everyone where my parents lived my Dad would have a large garage or eventually barns to store his "Projects". On many of those hoarding shows you see the extreme unmanageable problems. With my Dad it's been managed since it's been out of the house, though it does spillover to the garage.

The situation more closely resembles what you might see with the more out of control collectors on American Pickers. Although, I'd be surprised if there really are valuable treasures buried in there.

The strange thing is my dad nearly has a defensible position. This stuff is in "his space" and not in the house. It's not literally garbage exactly, but piles of tools and parts. It all has inherent value I guess even if it's just what you get for scrap.

Anyway, my parents have been looking to move up north to be closer to my brother and my mom is despairing every time she looks in the barn. There is a pile of suitcases in the barn she wanted to toss out but my dad says those can be used like boxes for the move instead of buying more cardboard boxes.

I feel like it's a tug of war between pinching pennies or spending a little to more money to pack and move in a practical way. Oh well, I'm living with them as a dependent while going to college and wondering when the s**t will hit the fan.

I'm reading an article about this kind of thing. I'm wondering if in some way my Dad enjoys a strange 'vicarious' sense of participation in car culture when you combine watching on TV and owning it. It's like his memorabilia.

Compulsive hoarding is a harmful pattern of behaviour that absolutely must be curbed. I've seen a lot of TV shows actually come on about this and it's insane seeing how people end up cluttering their houses to the point that's there's about 3" to move around in the entire house! Here's an article on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsive_hoarding and a video explaining how damaging it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCfpT5oB6Fk - I would definitely recommend trying to get him to stop this behaviour, but it can be incredibly difficult to convince someone that they're not just saving "a few things they need". Good luck to you.

This this has been ongoing for decades and not something he suddenly started doing.

Also, I sometimes think there is a spectrum here that goes from car collecting to car hoarding. Somewhere in the middle is just being eccentric. I mean a rich guy like Jay Leno has the means to keep up a massive car collection. On the other end is the guy with rustheaps on blocks in his yard. Somewhere in the middle are eccentric types like on American Pickers.

For a long time, I think my Dad was in the middle. It was annoying but it stayed in his space. Unfortunately, his space and his barns got bigger every time they moved. He is in his 70s now to.

Iam glad Iam a hoarder, fitting my uprated shock absorber inserts today I discovered they where too short to bolt down, the supplier told me you have to pack them out, looking through my parts I found some spacers that where just the job.
Would have taken me a long time to figure out what I needed or have to make something.

I wish I had done a lot more hoarding when younger, the price Iam paying for parts nowadays that used to be virtually given away, sometimes such parts are no longer even available.

Sounds like your dads doing the right thing, as long as he does something with his parts, even if its just insurance for an old motor he might be running.

I know someone who hoards. Does your Dad consider his stuff an extension of himself? It is very distressing to such people to throw their stuff away or part with it. They still remember their stuff after they disposed of it. I wish I had some good advice that would solve your problem but I don't. I think the best thing you can do is insist he keeps his things away from the living space of the rest of the family - try to contain it some how.

If you force him to throw it away he is unlikely to forgive you. He may understand on an intellectual level the importance of downsizing his collection but psychologically his junk is extremely important to him. You may have to take it with you but force him to keep it out of the house and out of sight and to get regular pest control etc in the area.

The only way to address the hoarding it to understand the reasons he might be doing it in the first place. That is not easy because such people do not see themselves as needing the help of a therapist.

Improving relationships helps. Focus on your father son relationship and not on the hoarding.

I think it's affecting my mom a lot more than myself. I'm hoping to wrap up this college thing so I can start over and move out.

Well things are moving forward to dig out the barn. I removed 5 old lawnmower motors and all kind of ancient electronics like old radios.

I still recommended my Mom consider finding some kind of counseling service. Even if the mess is getting cleaned up I think we're just treating the symptom of whatever the real underlying problem may be.

what are you doing, people, throwing away antiquities like that? old car parts cost a fortune. he could open his own shop, selling old radios or whatever. the man has a hobby, why destroy his asylum?
I understand that all the damn reality shows about extreme hoarders are messing with your opinion, but you have to have some common sense about this. People who like certain things, collect things. It's not necessarily a sign of a mental disorder. relying on whatever is being told on television is, though.
typical western consumerist way of thinking - throw out things to get new things to move things. have fun living in a house full of standard walmart (or whatever is the most popular american supermarket called) stuff.
I would actually love to find some proper old suitcases, just for the looks of it. there where some in my grandmothers old garage, but they were full of oily, old car tools. I also found a wooden treasure box full of my grand-grandfathers notes, books and documents. and people even throw out whole families histories like that, I'd call it modern stupidity.

if you still want to get rid of someone else's stuff, try freecycling. give lawnmover motors to teenage engineers. make these things useful again, don't just throw them in the garbage.

Okay, there's preppers, there's collectors, and there's hoarders. There is overlap in some cases, but the motivations of preppers, collectors, and horaders are different.

Preppers store stuff up because it has a practical use and may come in handy in a disaster situation, like canned food, bottled water, and toilet paper. Preppers also collect up stuff that's useful for a more self-sufficinet lifestyle, like canning jars, heirloom seeds, and possibly parts for vehicles that could survive an EMP attack. Preppers who are not hoarders keep their stuff relatively organized, and their houses are funtional to live in. How can you work on self-suffiency projects if there's no room in your house to do anything? Preppers are practical-minded people, and generally keep things with practical value, even if it doesn't appear that way to others. I would fall into the category of prepper. Yes, I save up empty toilet paper tubes, but they're in a neat box in the bathroom, not scattered all over the house. Why do I save them? Redneck peat pots for starting seedlings! They also make good cutworm collars for newly-germinated squash plants in the garden. My house is relatively clean and organized, and I have practical reasons for keeping stuff.

Many collectors save things for their aesthetic, sentimental, or nostalgic value. For others, it's just a hobby, interest, or in the case of many of us on the austim spectrum, an obsession. Like preppers, collectors keep their stuff relatively organized, and their homes are generally kept presentable. Whether their thing is old record albums, art, books, sports memorobilia, model cars, or whatever else they're into, collectors generally have their stuff displayed in a way that's aesthetically pleasing and enjoy showing it off to guests.

Hoarders keep junk that has very little practical, monetary, or aesthetic value, and their homes become so cluttered that they're dangerous and unsanitry to live in. Horading is a psychological condition that needs to be addressed. Most haorders don't think there's anything wrong with their mess, so getting them to part with their stuff, which they have a strong attachment to, is difficult. I admit that I have some hoarder tendancies, but I've learned to discipline myself to keep it under control. I keep stuff, but I watch myself to make sure I only keep stuff that has practical value, and I've devised a system to keep my stuff organized and my house presentable that works for me. Last time I moved, since the move wasn't hurried, I took advantage of the opportunity to sort through EVERYTHING and throw away the junk, donate the stuff that I didn't need but someone else could use, and organize everything else. I made a decision to keep my current house clean, and I've lived here almost a year and have been doing a pretty good job at it.

There is some overlap in some cases. For example, I have a friend who's both a prepper and a hoarder. His stuff is useful, but it's so disorganized that it's difficult to get to anything, no less get around in his house (very little floor space), and his house hasn't had a good cleaning in decades. I've offered to help him clean, but he doesn't want help.

I think in your dad's case, it would probably be good for him to scale back, organize, and contain his stuff to a barn or shed. When getting rid of stuff, encourage him to sell or give it to someone who can get some good use out of it, not throw it away. It may be hard for him to part with it, but at least he can be assured that it's going to a good home, not going to waste. Also, offer to help him organize the stuff he can't part with. Remind him that if his stuff is organized, it will be easier to find and get to should he find a use for it. He has done good keeping it in a barn and out of the house, so as long as he keeps it contained, don't bother him about it once the move is completed. Scaling back and organizing will probably be a practical neccessity for the move, and moving may be the perfect opportunity to turn over a new leaf and keep his stuff more organized, but if he eventually reverts back to his old habits, as long as he keeps it contained to the barn, leave him alone about it.

It may also be a good idea to let your mom read some of these posts so that she can get other perspectives.

My father was like this, although I can't see that he would have gotten to the point he'd be living in a mound of garbage like some of the people you see on Hoarders. I think it was partially anxiety related as he was a young child during the great Depression. He did save ridiculous things though, like empty toilet paper rolls.

In this state lots of men hoard old cars,trucks,parts,etc.Part of this is because of it being a poor state and you may can reuse some of those old parts.But it does attract rats,wasps,snakes and breed mosquitoes..They think an old Chevy cab is prime real estate.
Got the s@*t stung out of me by red wasps helping to get a door off an old Chevy Luv.