Fess up...are you one of 'them' ?

HAL9000

Honorable
Went through a (mildly) traumatic experience today.

For years I had a weekly subscription to 'New Scientist'. I never throw away any copies, so I had accumulated a few shelves of them.
But recently I have been thinking that I really should get rid of the stuff I never use. I haven't looked at any of these old issues ...for ever. So, it was off to the dump and into the re-cycling with them. And it was hard to just throw them away. After all, I had spent hundreds of Pounds acquiring them. But I can get a on-line membership and access any of the issues via the archive if I want to look something up.
Next is a sorting out of all my old computer equipment. That will be harder. And my shed/workshop is crammed with stuff relating to cars I no longer have. Also I don't do repairs for anyone else these days.
Difficult, but it has to be done. I'm getting old.

So, does anyone admit to being something resembling a hoarder ?
 
Well... I was just in my garage, trying not to get hurt while sidling about amid the awful combination of my own crap and the junk I inherited from the previous owner, may he rest in peace. I really need to rent a 40 yard dumpster or something. I was looking for something out there, but can't recall what it was. Probably forgot about halfway in. I'm sure I found some things I'd been looking for, picked them up and put them down somewhere else. I keep trying to tell myself, Less is more.

I'm getting to know the crew at the local landfill pretty well. I've taken several pickup loads of yard art and useless crap there already. Previous Owner's son told me he thought his folks bought the place in 1955. County records are surprisingly vague.
 

HAL9000

Honorable
Funny thing about the 'yard art'.

A couple of year back one couldn't leave anything metal in your yard or the 'scrappies' would steal it. Garden furniture, bicycles etc.I actually caught one guy loading the alloy wheels for my Citroen onto his truck. Fortunately I got his number as he drove away. Called the cops and they got him.

Now, I placed a few old scrap items outside the gate (the approved method of enticing a scrap man) hoping that they would disappear. Two week later they are still there. Looks like the age of the scrap man has gone. Now I'll have to take it up to the dump.
 

Sheltie

Fratty and out of touch.
In the city where I live you used to hear the "can hustlers" (usually homeless men pushing shopping carts) going through the cans and dumpsters looking for aluminum cans at least once a day. These days it's rare that you see anyone collecting cans because the price for scrap aluminum has dropped significantly.
 

Standingstones

Celestial
Went through a (mildly) traumatic experience today.

For years I had a weekly subscription to 'New Scientist'. I never throw away any copies, so I had accumulated a few shelves of them.
But recently I have been thinking that I really should get rid of the stuff I never use. I haven't looked at any of these old issues ...for ever. So, it was off to the dump and into the re-cycling with them. And it was hard to just throw them away. After all, I had spent hundreds of Pounds acquiring them. But I can get a on-line membership and access any of the issues via the archive if I want to look something up.
Next is a sorting out of all my old computer equipment. That will be harder. And my shed/workshop is crammed with stuff relating to cars I no longer have. Also I don't do repairs for anyone else these days.
Difficult, but it has to be done. I'm getting old.

So, does anyone admit to being something resembling a hoarder ?

When my father-in-law passed away the family had to go and clean out the house so it could be sold. For two months of Saturdays and Sundays we managed to fill two large dumpsters full of “junk”. That house was small but there was 50 years of stuff accumulated. My wife and I are now trying to start cleaning out the house somewhat to prevent that sort of thing happening again.
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
I’m pretty neat but always seem to be the one stuck with cleaning up other people’s stuff. No problem tossing junk but the rule of thumb says if you moved some useless dust collector for twenty years you’ll need it the day after you throw it out
 

HAL9000

Honorable
I’m pretty neat but always seem to be the one stuck with cleaning up other people’s stuff. No problem tossing junk but the rule of thumb says if you moved some useless dust collector for twenty years you’ll need it the day after you throw it out

Yes, there is always that fear lurking in the back of your mind.
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
I'm not a hoarder but was caught off guard cleaning out my friend's Mom's house who was. A bunch of my stuff from when I was a kid wound up over there. Boxes of old old Popular Science magazines and the like. Would you believe I had to argue with him to throw away MY stuff that I thought I already threw away like, 40 years ago?
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
crammed with stuff relating to cars I no longer have

This isn't helpful to someone trying to clean out, but think twice about some of those car parts. That stuff can go for a fortune if you know where to peddle it. I've had excellent luck on various forums with private sales.
 

HAL9000

Honorable
This isn't helpful to someone trying to clean out, but think twice about some of those car parts. That stuff can go for a fortune if you know where to peddle it. I've had excellent luck on various forums with private sales.

I've been considering this for a while. Maybe I'll have to get into it .

This applies as much to the old 8 bit computer stuff I have.

What price an Apple II with the two disk drives. Working.

It is the transporting of the items that is holding me back. Most of this stuff is heavy.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
I have very few things stored away and around the house I don't like cluttered spaces, tables are usually clear of clutter, no big piles of clothes on the floor like I've seen at friend's houses lol...

In my workshop I keep functional computer parts and software going back 20 years stored away, all wrapped in foil in a cool dry place...Another thing I store which is more important than computer parts is food and water, mason jar canned foods which has a long shelf life and used by oldest date first and I add to that storage with freshly canned foods like I'm doing this season...Also have freeze-dried food in mylar that I've purchased with a 25 year shelf life, emergency water and water filtering equipment all stored away and I have been adding to that stockpile as well...

One other thing I have that takes up a little bit of space is hardwood, many exotic species of wood from South America and Africa that I got from a hardwood flooring company when they went out of business back in 2015, I used to be the Plant Manager there...

...
 

August

Metanoia
Hoarder.

OIP.PYmJSjpWmiysNb6lIjjjmwHaEK


Collector.

vervoordt-designed-betty-gertz-dallas-home-13.jpg
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
Duty calls. I got another hoarder's lair to clean out. No rest for the wicked or pick up trucks
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
Tools. Tools are my kryptonite. I absolutely positively hate to see tools causally tossed or abused. So I wind up hoarding all sorts of weird crap.

Trying to sort out some really nice power tools I have just been given and don't really need. I would give any of them to my brother without hesitation. But doing that means his son-in-law will have access to them. Give a gift and you have no say in what happens next. Thing is, I happen to like the man just fine but know he is an engine of destruction. He has destroyed more things - right in front of me - that I hesitate for good reason. My brother knows this but gives him the pass I don't.

I'm not going to be the one to have to admit he gave a machine gun to a chimp. So I culled out the corded really dangerous stuff - real jobsite tools. Only a couple of them but they have some serious onions. No no no no no. More no. Noooooo. This leaves a pile of nice Milwaukee 18v battery powered tools. They are from 2007 and are a dated system but are literally brand new never used. Hammer drills, impact guns, a smaller 12 volt but current Milwaukee system. Batteries, chargers, cases up the kazoo. Fook it, take 'em all and chuck 'em in the lake for all I care. That IS a likely possibility knowing what I know. Please do so before he drills out the underpinnings of the house for no apparent reason. But, I know my brother will get a huge kick out of all of it and I hope he actually gets to use it once or twice before The Destructor get ahold of any of it.

What did I keep? Old weird ****. Yankee twist drills, rusty Craftsman tool boxes, big steel C clamps. To me that's the cool stuff and I actually use it. Literally can't buy that stuff anymore, at least not easily.
 
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Kchoo

At Peace.
Our rule is, if we haven't used something in a year, we don't need it bad enough to keep it around.

We keep 5 large plastic storage containers of seasonal items, you know, holiday decorations vs summer play gear or whatever. One shelf rack in the garage keeps all the tools I still use for general house and garden upkeep.

Tools were the hardest for me, BUT I culled down to only to what I really use.

Yes, there have been times where I could have used some of those items a year or two after I got rid of them, but I realized I didn't really want to do the work when I could hire an expert with the right tools. So, I paid a guy who got the job done in an hour or two. Had I done the work, it would have taken me a few days to find the tools and parts. So in the end, I don't miss any of it.

We still have a few things of moments past. My wife has a small book collection and I still have a few old books, my crappy harmonica, a Match Box car, and an electric train set from my childhood.

Now that I am thinking about it, I should set that up old track and hook up the transformer and see if the wheels still turn on the old locomotive....
 

HAL9000

Honorable
Went up to the dump today with a rather sad load. A collection of those ride-on plastic toys small kids have. Maybe eight items including two bumble bee cars.

Why sad, Because it signifies an end of an era.

All the kids have flown the nest a long time ago, and their kids are now having families of their own.

But the great grand kids will have shiny new kit. So the old stuff is redundant.

Makes me feel very old.
 

JahaRa

Noble
Went up to the dump today with a rather sad load. A collection of those ride-on plastic toys small kids have. Maybe eight items including two bumble bee cars.

Why sad, Because it signifies an end of an era.

All the kids have flown the nest a long time ago, and their kids are now having families of their own.

But the great grand kids will have shiny new kit. So the old stuff is redundant.

Makes me feel very old.
I feel old because my oldest grandson will be 19 tomorrow. I can't imagine how old I will feel when he and his cousins start having their own kids.
 

JahaRa

Noble
Went through a (mildly) traumatic experience today.

For years I had a weekly subscription to 'New Scientist'. I never throw away any copies, so I had accumulated a few shelves of them.
But recently I have been thinking that I really should get rid of the stuff I never use. I haven't looked at any of these old issues ...for ever. So, it was off to the dump and into the re-cycling with them. And it was hard to just throw them away. After all, I had spent hundreds of Pounds acquiring them. But I can get a on-line membership and access any of the issues via the archive if I want to look something up.
Next is a sorting out of all my old computer equipment. That will be harder. And my shed/workshop is crammed with stuff relating to cars I no longer have. Also I don't do repairs for anyone else these days.
Difficult, but it has to be done. I'm getting old.

So, does anyone admit to being something resembling a hoarder ?
That would be me. I have a huge house and 2 rooms are being used to store stuff I need to go through and cull. Another room has almost all the books (book cases along every wall) and the kitchen, which needs to be remodeled is full of stuff. Not like I can't get around without tripping on something or a stack falling on my head but still it is stressful. I plan on retiring next year and will spend my 8 hours a day going through and getting rid of stuff. And if I put one more thing in the garage it will explode.
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
I actually like keeping old stuff, using it and remembering where I got it from. Sentimental. But I only have so much space and after a while fabulous crapola has to move on.
 
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