heh, you're talking to someone whose living room contained two beanbags, a tv, and a modem for like 6 months :P it did suck, true.
I had my keyboard, monitor, and mouse on my carpet for like a month and a half before I finally got a desk. I think it was mainly the creeping back pain that finally inspired me to get around to moving up the one I had left behind in storage.
I do and I don't have a lot of stuff. I have regular clear-outs and aren't afraid to throw things away but things do accumulate rather quickly.
I love how simplistic, clutter-free rooms look. I still seem to have quite a few things of a practical nature, though, which take up room. Things I really do honestly use - for example, I know my chest of drawers right now has an incense burner, a couple of framed photos, a jewellery box, a hairbrush, a pot full of pens and a smaller set of drawers containing hair bands and hair grips. Too much clutter - but at the same time I use all of those things (well, minus the photo frames) on a near-daily basis.
I also don't throw away many books or DVDs. The DVDs are of films I love or were £3 ones I've been meaning to see (and buying them for £3 is cheaper than renting, thanks, Tesco!) I could get rid of the £3 ones but my friends appreciate my collection and I lend them out quite often. Anyway, so long as you have enough shelves I think books and DVDs can look neat and be unobtrusive.
I give or throw away tatty books or ones I don't like.
When I emigrate later this year, I know I'm going to have to really think about what I want, otherwise shipping is going to cost a fortune. I just can't sell anything on ebay, though. It always seems too much effort and I end up giving away to charity shops or just throwing it in the bin instead. I'm probably missing out on money making opportunities that would pay for the shipping of the other items.
Clothes? I don't have that many in the first place, but I still have a bagful of ones I've worn out or grown out of. I just haven't been around to taking those to the charity shop. I have no idea where the nearest charity shop is now and I don't have a car. I'm waiting for a friend's offer since to throw them out seems like a waste.
I agree with the premise of this thread I just think that (within reason) books, games and cds should never be thrown out.
It makes me feel good that regardless of how much knowledge is in my head there can at least be knowledge in my room.
That is a good way of putting it. I know my memory isn't fantastic and the thrill I get from re-reading a book that I'd last read five years ago and have almost completely forgotten is well worth it.
I used to use a library as a child a lot and now I find myself wishing that I could remember the names of some of the books I used to borrow as I'd love to read them to my future children.
When I emigrate later this year, I know I'm going to have to really think about what I want, otherwise shipping is going to cost a fortune. I just can't sell anything on ebay, though. It always seems too much effort and I end up giving away to charity shops or just throwing it in the bin instead. I'm probably missing out on money making opportunities that would pay for the shipping of the other items.
Don't worry too much about this. For incidental money making, it's worth selling reasonably valuable items on eBay like old computer parts or electronics goods but selling every single book you don't want for 50p each isn't worth it. Sure, you might have £50 worth of books that you could shift but the time spent listing, selling and shipping each one individually isn't going to be worth the money you make. It might be worth it if you were geared up to do it as your main source of income, buying in second hand books in bulk and reselling them at a small markup, but trying to do it in your spare time is a wasted effort.
Nothing is sadder than someone who spends so much time scrimping and saving that they don't have any time left to actually enjoy the benefits of their labour.
Have you tried selling small items at work, J? I've done that a few times, since my workplace is large enough to have a bulletin board in outlook for that sort of thing.
I have to move in 2 months. And in a few more months, possibly to England. I am terrified of saying goodbye to all of my things. For instance, my 5 seater hand-me down couch that's been in the family since I came to Australia. I remember being 3 years old and falling asleep on it. It is the most comfortable couch I have ever sat in and is the perfect place to crash after drinking.
That's going to be the hardest thing to say goodbye to.
I live in a fairly sparse environment at the moment, as I'm in university halls of residence - my faculty is two miles away from my room, and most of my friends live in the city as opposed to the fringes, so I only really use my room for cooking, sleeping and work. The Internet provides most of my leisure activities that don't revolve around friends, so I don't even need that many DVDs, and my bookshelf mainly gathers dust as I don't have much time for reading for pleasure.
However, I'm a massive packrat at home, especially with paperwork, mainly because I always get paranoid about throwing something out that will eventually be needed for my studies. Coupled with a shockingly simplistic organisation model (one box per subject, vague chronological order if I'm lucky), I tend to have a room strewn about with paper, as well as clothes I slough off every night like a snake shedding its skin, rather than leaving them neatly on hangers or whatever.
When I finish studying and leave home, I'll probably sell my knicknacks and buy another hard drive, then transfer all my DVDs onto it so I don't have to carry them to my new place. Hopefully digital books will be more common by then, so I don't have to take my library - books are the hardest thing for me to get rid of, because I know that I'll want to reread them eventually. I've read each Discworld book at least five times.
My mind is gradually transitioning to this viewpoint, and I’ve taken some steps to clean up my waste. I really should go through my digital media and see what can be eliminated—I expect the answer will be ‘most’.
About half my stuff is in storage right now, and I haven’t really missed any of it, aside from the occasional wish for a book. One of these days I’ll have to see about that stuff, too.
amateurhourOne day I'll be professionalhourThe woods somewhere in TennesseeRegistered Userregular
edited January 2008
I am not a packrat, and my girl is, so it's difficult. Up until last year everything I owned to my name could fit in the back of my pickup, and that was more than enough shit to keep me happy. My only prized possessions are my golf clubs, firearms, comics, and guitars. I've got a teevee, a fouton that's about eight hundred years old now, some mattresses that I always just laid on the floor (never used bedframes), a teevee, and some consoles. I'd always either buy a cheap entertainment stand or build one.
My biggest problem is that in addition to being someone who throws shit out all the time I'm also an impulse buyer. I'll be in wal-mart and be all like "wow, I need a cotton candy maker, and a snow cone maker, and a new toaster oven!" and I'll spend $100. Then six months later I'll move and I will have used all of that shit once so I'll throw it out (give it to goodwill, I don't actually toss much stuff into the garbage, other than garbage)
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Irond WillWARNING: NO HURTFUL COMMENTS, PLEASE!!!!!Cambridge. MAModeratormod
edited January 2008
I live in a tiny condo and I generally have done this every few years, generally between girlfriends. I ache to do this now. But Frankie's a damn pack-rat and really pushes back every time I suggest "hey let's get rid of all our stuff!"
Maybe one day I will just take a day off of work and when she gets home I'll be all "yeah I threw everything away"
I live in a tiny condo and I generally have done this every few years, generally between girlfriends. I ache to do this now. But Frankie's a damn pack-rat and really pushes back every time I suggest "hey let's get rid of all our stuff!"
Maybe one day I will just take a day off of work and when she gets home I'll be all "yeah I threw everything away"
I just moved and have been going through my things as I unpack them. Yesterday was clothes day. I did throw out many clothes, but I also had much fun with the memories springing forth as I would look at a shirt I wore in high school, or that I got from an ex-girlfriend, or that a friend left at my apartment after a party.
While I think there is great benefit of just tossing out the shit, I also really love to go through a box of things I haven't looked at, really looked at in years, and just cherish the musty memories as they come. Memories I know I would never think about if they weren't attached to an object.
As I've been going through my things I've been throwing out a few nostalgia items out of pure practicality. It's rare, but on occasion I'll regret throwing out some things. Old artwork that was just too delicate or cumbersome to move, for example. On the whole I feel the experience of going through things is beneficial. Objects from the past can remind of us who we were, where we were, when we were.
I live in a tiny condo and I generally have done this every few years, generally between girlfriends. I ache to do this now. But Frankie's a damn pack-rat and really pushes back every time I suggest "hey let's get rid of all our stuff!"
Maybe one day I will just take a day off of work and when she gets home I'll be all "yeah I threw everything away"
You and me, we are like one.
My wife is a fucking packrat. Me, the only things I really tend to hoard are books and DVDs, because I'm a bibliophile and a videophile. Knickknacks I can take or leave, and I love cleaning out my dresser.
Julie gets upset with me when I throw out junkmail. Like, I will toss a giant catalog full of cheap and useless shit that nobody would ever want, including her, and she'll be all, "But I wanted to look at that!" Which she never would've, of course. She just wants the option. I've started getting the mail so I can toss it all before she gets to it.
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Irond WillWARNING: NO HURTFUL COMMENTS, PLEASE!!!!!Cambridge. MAModeratormod
I live in a tiny condo and I generally have done this every few years, generally between girlfriends. I ache to do this now. But Frankie's a damn pack-rat and really pushes back every time I suggest "hey let's get rid of all our stuff!"
Maybe one day I will just take a day off of work and when she gets home I'll be all "yeah I threw everything away"
You and me, we are like one.
My wife is a fucking packrat. Me, the only things I really tend to hoard are books and DVDs, because I'm a bibliophile and a videophile. Knickknacks I can take or leave, and I love cleaning out my dresser.
Julie gets upset with me when I throw out junkmail. Like, I will toss a giant catalog full of cheap and useless shit that nobody would ever want, including her, and she'll be all, "But I wanted to look at that!" Which she never would've, of course. She just wants the option. I've started getting the mail so I can toss it all before she gets to it.
I think that maybe I will do it while she's home. And if she says no I want to keep that thing and digs in her heels I will spray her in the face with a spray bottle.
In undergrad I did this basically by necessity (I moved often enough that having too much crap around was a hassle.) The habit has sort of stayed with me, though, and aside from some clothes I should probably toss and a box of computer parts and cables (which I actually do need something out of every six months or so), I don't have much crap that I don't use regularly.
Honestly I think it's a generational thing. My mom was a huge packrat; like, the queen of all the local packrats. It was so ridiculous that I think I still, semi-consciously, don't want to be that person.
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Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
My fiance and I are both packrats. We are descended from packrats, as well. I'm of the kind that if I see something I want, and it's a good deal, my first instinct is to get more than one. I tend to think I will need a "backup" if the first one breaks or gets lost. That has been my struggle the past few years, and overcoming this overwhelming desire to have backups. I'm very thrifty, and usually get things at a deal, but it negates it if I buy more than one.
She, on the other hand, tends to never want to throw anything away. There's a mountain of receipts that she keeps, as well as all of her high school, and college materials. ALL OF THEM. Like, everything she ever did. Because, somehow that might come in handy?
I used to be so organized, but ever since college where I was pretty much on my own, and had to make a dollar stretch, I've taken to hoarding. Our house can become quite the mess sometimes. I think I will do some organizing after I get off work today.
Over Christmas my computer more or less died (it demanded that I log-in, when I had no password set). After getting some functionality out of it - enough to save my pictures and old school papers - I formatted it, something I've never done before. It was surprisingly hassle free, and the feeling of having an empty computer start up, even though I'd lost so much (but little that was important) was awesome.
My girlfriend and I cleaned out our closets last weekend and are getting rid of about a garbage-bag of clothes (mostly her's) once we feel like lugging it down the street to the Salvation Army. I think half of my pants are going and about a dozen shirts and sweaters I never wear anymore. it's great. Next up I think will be my desktop.
A neat thing about our apartment building is that there's a table in the laundry room where unwanted stuff can be left, and you can take what you want. For me, putting stuff in the garbage feels really wasteful, so it helps a lot when I'm feeling iffy about throwing something in the trash or keeping it when you know that someone else could use it - or at the very least make the decision themselves as to whether it is in fact crap.
Though I have to wonder about the people who actually take some of the junk that's left down there . . .
Add me into the group of people who are bummed this isn't about Thoreau.
I make it a goal only to have one car-load worth of shit at any given point in time, so that if I ever have to move, I can do it quickly and easily. That said, I just moved and discovered to my horror that I have accumulated about three times as much crap as I want. Once I was in the new house, however, I just started throwing things away. I love doing this, and it felt awesome to get rid of a bunch of crap.
Add me into the group of people who are bummed this isn't about Thoreau.
I make it a goal only to have one car-load worth of shit at any given point in time, so that if I ever have to move, I can do it quickly and easily. That said, I just moved and discovered to my horror that I have accumulated about three times as much crap as I want. Once I was in the new house, however, I just started throwing things away. I love doing this, and it felt awesome to get rid of a bunch of crap.
How large a house is this? I’m having trouble visualising a house with one car’s worth of goods.
I recently moved. I fit everything I could into my car and left the rest. Needed new furniture, etc. and stuff anyway, so I just waited until re-locating.
It's been great. I have 1/2 the crap, twice the happiness and lots of extra space.
I guess this just isn't for me. I've lived simply before, with pretty much nothing in my apartment other than a bed and a toaster oven. It really didn't make me any happier than living in my current cluttered place. Maybe its just because i'm not particularly attached to any of my stuff, if I had to move tomorrow and leave it all behind it wouldn't bother me, but it certainly doesn't make any happier not to have it, and I really don't have any need for floorspace anyway.
I'm married to the world's biggest packrat - he still has Man. U. football programmes from the 1960s! I made him throw out his NME collection from the 70's, just couldn't stand the piles of crap in the house.
But, my stuff's different.
I love my stuff - its stuff my kids have made/bought me over the years, things friends have given me cos they love me, stuff just accumulates.
I've got a wooden spoon that me and LewieP made at Glasto when he was 6, a stained glass wind chime thingy his sister made the same year, just stuff, but I guess I've had years more than most of you to collect it, maybe I'll just buy a bigger house.
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I'm married to the world's biggest packrat - he still has Man. U. football programmes from the 1960s! I made him throw out his NME collection from the 70's, just couldn't stand the piles of crap in the house.
But, my stuff's different.
I love my stuff - its stuff my kids have made/bought me over the years, things friends have given me cos they love me, stuff just accumulates.
I've got a wooden spoon that me and LewieP made at Glasto when he was 6, a stained glass wind chime thingy his sister made the same year, just stuff, but I guess I've had years more than most of you to collect it, maybe I'll just buy a bigger house.
Yeah you arty types seem to be more comfortable in clutter. This is basically how Frankie is - all nested in and surrounded by things that she likes and, okay, don't have the same kind of sentimental value as something you made with your kids years ago, but still have good memories around them.
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Podlyyou unzipped me! it's all coming back! i don't like it!Registered Userregular
edited January 2008
I've spent a less then ten dollars the past two weeks, and I live on my own in NYC.
I'm married to the world's biggest packrat - he still has Man. U. football programmes from the 1960s! I made him throw out his NME collection from the 70's, just couldn't stand the piles of crap in the house.
But, my stuff's different.
I love my stuff - its stuff my kids have made/bought me over the years, things friends have given me cos they love me, stuff just accumulates.
I've got a wooden spoon that me and LewieP made at Glasto when he was 6, a stained glass wind chime thingy his sister made the same year, just stuff, but I guess I've had years more than most of you to collect it, maybe I'll just buy a bigger house.
I'm married to the world's biggest packrat - he still has Man. U. football programmes from the 1960s! I made him throw out his NME collection from the 70's, just couldn't stand the piles of crap in the house.
But, my stuff's different.
I love my stuff - its stuff my kids have made/bought me over the years, things friends have given me cos they love me, stuff just accumulates.
I've got a wooden spoon that me and LewieP made at Glasto when he was 6, a stained glass wind chime thingy his sister made the same year, just stuff, but I guess I've had years more than most of you to collect it, maybe I'll just buy a bigger house.
Yeah you arty types seem to be more comfortable in clutter. This is basically how Frankie is - all nested in and surrounded by things that she likes and, okay, don't have the same kind of sentimental value as something you made with your kids years ago, but still have good memories around them.
I have a friend like that. I don't think I could ever live in a place like that... I generally don't think I could live with someone different than myself on that front. I can't stand it, and in situations where I can't take full control and get rid of, keep, and organize at my own will, I just shut down and let it fall to mess. but inside I'm going insane.
Last year, my financial situation was dire. I was making enough to pay for essentials and eat well, but my savings were so low that any crisis would have seen me fucked. And so I, a long-time collector, packrat and waster of money begrudgingly sold everything I did not need. I'll admit that it was painful at first, but with every game, book, DVD and trinket that I sold, my quality of life improved noticably. My apartment was tidier and easier to care for, as well as easier on the eye, and the sudden influx of money allowed me to get some great furnishings and silence my computer. That, and with time I realised that I did not miss one thing that I had sold. Due to the Internet age and a fantastic network of libraries, I can watch all the movies I please, play my favourite games and loan more books than I can carry, at no cost and no clutter.
Knowing that, I continued to sell more and more possessions, no longer out of want of money. I sold every piece of media, every decoration, every piece of clothing that I had not worn for months, the hardware that had been obsoleted... I could fit all my clothing into a single armoire, so I had no need for almost all of my bedroom furniture. With no media, I needed no bookcase, so that got sold. With no media, I needed no television, so that got sold. With no television I needed no entertainment center; with no entertainment center I needed no couch or chairs; with no couch I needed no coffee table; with an empty entertainment room I needed no fireplace; with no entertainment room I would not have any guests, so all the dining furnishings and most of my cutlery were unnecessary; with no capacity to feed anyone other than myself, I no longer needed a large fridge, or a dishwasher; with so few possessions I did not need such a large apartment. And so I moved into a smaller, cheaper, better apartment, where I live a decidedly middle-class life despite my working-class income.
I could now list everything I own, down to my toothbrush, on a single piece of A4 paper. It's a wonderful life.
Last year, my financial situation was dire. I was making enough to pay for essentials and eat well, but my savings were so low that any crisis would have seen me fucked. And so I, a long-time collector, packrat and waster of money begrudgingly sold everything I did not need. I'll admit that it was painful at first, but with every game, book, DVD and trinket that I sold, my quality of life improved noticably. My apartment was tidier and easier to care for, as well as easier on the eye, and the sudden influx of money allowed me to get some great furnishings and silence my computer. That, and with time I realised that I did not miss one thing that I had sold. Due to the Internet age and a fantastic network of libraries, I can watch all the movies I please, play my favourite games and loan more books than I can carry, at no cost and no clutter.
Knowing that, I continued to sell more and more possessions, no longer out of want of money. I sold every piece of media, every decoration, every piece of clothing that I had not worn for months, the hardware that had been obsoleted... I could fit all my clothing into a single armoire, so I had no need for almost all of my bedroom furniture. With no media, I needed no bookcase, so that got sold. With no media, I needed no television, so that got sold. With no television I needed no entertainment center; with no entertainment center I needed no couch or chairs; with no couch I needed no coffee table; with an empty entertainment room I needed no fireplace; with no entertainment room I would not have any guests, so all the dining furnishings and most of my cutlery were unnecessary; with no capacity to feed anyone other than myself, I no longer needed a large fridge, or a dishwasher; with so few possessions I did not need such a large apartment. And so I moved into a smaller, cheaper, better apartment, where I live a decidedly middle-class life despite my working-class income.
I could now list everything I own, down to my toothbrush, on a single piece of A4 paper. It's a wonderful life.
I think the way you accumulate stuff (and this is probably stating the obvious) is a function of how often you moved growing up. For instance, my parents moved frequently, and so love throwing away stuff and don't accumulate anything. Did they pass this on to me? No. I lived in the same house for 21 years, and accumulated a fuckload of trash that I don't need. Then I moved out into a tiny box apartment and I still collect crap that clutters up space and isn't particularly useful.
Anyway, yes, cleaning and throwing out stuff and having more space does make me feel better. I think that's just part of general human nature, it makes you feel as if you're moving on and leaving the past behind and generally being a better, less materialistic person. Like cleaning a bathroom. You know you have to do it sometime, and it isn't pleasant while you're doing it, but after you've done it you know you won't have to do it again for a (week/couple of weeks/month depending on your preference) and it's nice to have a clean shitter to show you partner.
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I don't know where he got the scorpions, or how he got them into my mattress.
See, I'm the kind of person who keeps games and books saying 'I'll want to play/read that again later." But then I actually DO play/read it again later. So.....yeah.
A while back, my wife was watching some show about people wih terrible houses. The "expert" said something that bears repeating. Paraphrasing: Everything you own steals your time away from you. How much time and energy do you spend moving your junk around to get to the things you actually use? If you own something you don't use, that's a net loss.
Basically, it's applying cost of ownership to your time.
One strategy I use is to let items that I think I might use "age" over time. I'll stick these items in the closet. If enough time has passed and it hasn't been touched it's more likely I'll toss it. Bigger items are more likely to bite the dust as well. More valuable items need more time to age before I can bring myself to trash them. I like the system because you're keeping items on a trial basis and actually putting your storage space to work.
My other strategy is everything going digital. Steam is my best friend here. No CD, manual or box to bother me. Eventually I'm going to figure out how best to rip my DVD collection and just throw all of the physical DVDs on a spindle. This has already happened with my music collection.
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I take it you're not a Man U. fan - I think we'd be heading for the divorce courts if I tried to burn them, and as I like being married to LewieP's Dad I think I'll have to put up with his clutter.
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I love how simplistic, clutter-free rooms look. I still seem to have quite a few things of a practical nature, though, which take up room. Things I really do honestly use - for example, I know my chest of drawers right now has an incense burner, a couple of framed photos, a jewellery box, a hairbrush, a pot full of pens and a smaller set of drawers containing hair bands and hair grips. Too much clutter - but at the same time I use all of those things (well, minus the photo frames) on a near-daily basis.
I also don't throw away many books or DVDs. The DVDs are of films I love or were £3 ones I've been meaning to see (and buying them for £3 is cheaper than renting, thanks, Tesco!) I could get rid of the £3 ones but my friends appreciate my collection and I lend them out quite often. Anyway, so long as you have enough shelves I think books and DVDs can look neat and be unobtrusive.
I give or throw away tatty books or ones I don't like.
When I emigrate later this year, I know I'm going to have to really think about what I want, otherwise shipping is going to cost a fortune. I just can't sell anything on ebay, though. It always seems too much effort and I end up giving away to charity shops or just throwing it in the bin instead. I'm probably missing out on money making opportunities that would pay for the shipping of the other items.
Clothes? I don't have that many in the first place, but I still have a bagful of ones I've worn out or grown out of. I just haven't been around to taking those to the charity shop. I have no idea where the nearest charity shop is now and I don't have a car. I'm waiting for a friend's offer since to throw them out seems like a waste.
It makes me feel good that regardless of how much knowledge is in my head there can at least be knowledge in my room.
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I pretty much agree, and the best part is, as was said a couple posts above, they are easy to keep neat.
That is a good way of putting it. I know my memory isn't fantastic and the thrill I get from re-reading a book that I'd last read five years ago and have almost completely forgotten is well worth it.
I used to use a library as a child a lot and now I find myself wishing that I could remember the names of some of the books I used to borrow as I'd love to read them to my future children.
Don't worry too much about this. For incidental money making, it's worth selling reasonably valuable items on eBay like old computer parts or electronics goods but selling every single book you don't want for 50p each isn't worth it. Sure, you might have £50 worth of books that you could shift but the time spent listing, selling and shipping each one individually isn't going to be worth the money you make. It might be worth it if you were geared up to do it as your main source of income, buying in second hand books in bulk and reselling them at a small markup, but trying to do it in your spare time is a wasted effort.
Nothing is sadder than someone who spends so much time scrimping and saving that they don't have any time left to actually enjoy the benefits of their labour.
That's going to be the hardest thing to say goodbye to.
However, I'm a massive packrat at home, especially with paperwork, mainly because I always get paranoid about throwing something out that will eventually be needed for my studies. Coupled with a shockingly simplistic organisation model (one box per subject, vague chronological order if I'm lucky), I tend to have a room strewn about with paper, as well as clothes I slough off every night like a snake shedding its skin, rather than leaving them neatly on hangers or whatever.
When I finish studying and leave home, I'll probably sell my knicknacks and buy another hard drive, then transfer all my DVDs onto it so I don't have to carry them to my new place. Hopefully digital books will be more common by then, so I don't have to take my library - books are the hardest thing for me to get rid of, because I know that I'll want to reread them eventually. I've read each Discworld book at least five times.
About half my stuff is in storage right now, and I haven’t really missed any of it, aside from the occasional wish for a book. One of these days I’ll have to see about that stuff, too.
My biggest problem is that in addition to being someone who throws shit out all the time I'm also an impulse buyer. I'll be in wal-mart and be all like "wow, I need a cotton candy maker, and a snow cone maker, and a new toaster oven!" and I'll spend $100. Then six months later I'll move and I will have used all of that shit once so I'll throw it out (give it to goodwill, I don't actually toss much stuff into the garbage, other than garbage)
Maybe one day I will just take a day off of work and when she gets home I'll be all "yeah I threw everything away"
While I think there is great benefit of just tossing out the shit, I also really love to go through a box of things I haven't looked at, really looked at in years, and just cherish the musty memories as they come. Memories I know I would never think about if they weren't attached to an object.
As I've been going through my things I've been throwing out a few nostalgia items out of pure practicality. It's rare, but on occasion I'll regret throwing out some things. Old artwork that was just too delicate or cumbersome to move, for example. On the whole I feel the experience of going through things is beneficial. Objects from the past can remind of us who we were, where we were, when we were.
You and me, we are like one.
My wife is a fucking packrat. Me, the only things I really tend to hoard are books and DVDs, because I'm a bibliophile and a videophile. Knickknacks I can take or leave, and I love cleaning out my dresser.
Julie gets upset with me when I throw out junkmail. Like, I will toss a giant catalog full of cheap and useless shit that nobody would ever want, including her, and she'll be all, "But I wanted to look at that!" Which she never would've, of course. She just wants the option. I've started getting the mail so I can toss it all before she gets to it.
I think that maybe I will do it while she's home. And if she says no I want to keep that thing and digs in her heels I will spray her in the face with a spray bottle.
This is what it means to be a man.
Honestly I think it's a generational thing. My mom was a huge packrat; like, the queen of all the local packrats. It was so ridiculous that I think I still, semi-consciously, don't want to be that person.
Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
She, on the other hand, tends to never want to throw anything away. There's a mountain of receipts that she keeps, as well as all of her high school, and college materials. ALL OF THEM. Like, everything she ever did. Because, somehow that might come in handy?
I used to be so organized, but ever since college where I was pretty much on my own, and had to make a dollar stretch, I've taken to hoarding. Our house can become quite the mess sometimes. I think I will do some organizing after I get off work today.
My girlfriend and I cleaned out our closets last weekend and are getting rid of about a garbage-bag of clothes (mostly her's) once we feel like lugging it down the street to the Salvation Army. I think half of my pants are going and about a dozen shirts and sweaters I never wear anymore. it's great. Next up I think will be my desktop.
A neat thing about our apartment building is that there's a table in the laundry room where unwanted stuff can be left, and you can take what you want. For me, putting stuff in the garbage feels really wasteful, so it helps a lot when I'm feeling iffy about throwing something in the trash or keeping it when you know that someone else could use it - or at the very least make the decision themselves as to whether it is in fact crap.
Though I have to wonder about the people who actually take some of the junk that's left down there . . .
I make it a goal only to have one car-load worth of shit at any given point in time, so that if I ever have to move, I can do it quickly and easily. That said, I just moved and discovered to my horror that I have accumulated about three times as much crap as I want. Once I was in the new house, however, I just started throwing things away. I love doing this, and it felt awesome to get rid of a bunch of crap.
It's been great. I have 1/2 the crap, twice the happiness and lots of extra space.
Wayne
But, my stuff's different.
I love my stuff - its stuff my kids have made/bought me over the years, things friends have given me cos they love me, stuff just accumulates.
I've got a wooden spoon that me and LewieP made at Glasto when he was 6, a stained glass wind chime thingy his sister made the same year, just stuff, but I guess I've had years more than most of you to collect it, maybe I'll just buy a bigger house.
For paintings in progress, check out canvas and paints
"The power of the weirdness compels me."
Yeah you arty types seem to be more comfortable in clutter. This is basically how Frankie is - all nested in and surrounded by things that she likes and, okay, don't have the same kind of sentimental value as something you made with your kids years ago, but still have good memories around them.
I totally win.
Man. U? Burn it all! :P
Or when i actually have some fucking free time.... This may be months away
I have a friend like that. I don't think I could ever live in a place like that... I generally don't think I could live with someone different than myself on that front. I can't stand it, and in situations where I can't take full control and get rid of, keep, and organize at my own will, I just shut down and let it fall to mess. but inside I'm going insane.
Knowing that, I continued to sell more and more possessions, no longer out of want of money. I sold every piece of media, every decoration, every piece of clothing that I had not worn for months, the hardware that had been obsoleted... I could fit all my clothing into a single armoire, so I had no need for almost all of my bedroom furniture. With no media, I needed no bookcase, so that got sold. With no media, I needed no television, so that got sold. With no television I needed no entertainment center; with no entertainment center I needed no couch or chairs; with no couch I needed no coffee table; with an empty entertainment room I needed no fireplace; with no entertainment room I would not have any guests, so all the dining furnishings and most of my cutlery were unnecessary; with no capacity to feed anyone other than myself, I no longer needed a large fridge, or a dishwasher; with so few possessions I did not need such a large apartment. And so I moved into a smaller, cheaper, better apartment, where I live a decidedly middle-class life despite my working-class income.
I could now list everything I own, down to my toothbrush, on a single piece of A4 paper. It's a wonderful life.
This is fucking amazing. You, sir, win at life.
Anyway, yes, cleaning and throwing out stuff and having more space does make me feel better. I think that's just part of general human nature, it makes you feel as if you're moving on and leaving the past behind and generally being a better, less materialistic person. Like cleaning a bathroom. You know you have to do it sometime, and it isn't pleasant while you're doing it, but after you've done it you know you won't have to do it again for a (week/couple of weeks/month depending on your preference) and it's nice to have a clean shitter to show you partner.
http://newnations.bandcamp.com
Basically, it's applying cost of ownership to your time.
My other strategy is everything going digital. Steam is my best friend here. No CD, manual or box to bother me. Eventually I'm going to figure out how best to rip my DVD collection and just throw all of the physical DVDs on a spindle. This has already happened with my music collection.
For paintings in progress, check out canvas and paints
"The power of the weirdness compels me."