Can you walk thru the basement?

[CourierDriver]

Hoarding is not the same as collecting. In general, collectors have a sense of pride about their possessions and they experience joy in displaying and talking about them. They usually keep their collection organized, feel satisfaction when adding to it, and budget their time and money.

Those who hoard usually experience embarrassment about their possessions and feel uncomfortable when others see them. They have clutter, often at the expense of livable space, feel sad or ashamed after acquiring additional items, and they are often in debt.
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At 67 I have started giving my junk to the kids. Why? I can't take it with me. So now the living room is slowly being cleaned out of chairs and such. No one sits there anyway. The basement is slowly being cleaned out and now I can walk in there.
How many paint and oil cans do I need, noneeeeeeeeeeeeeee. boxes of [censored] that I was gonna save, but now cannot remember for what.

You can't take it with you and there is no room in the grave for it. It's really just impulse stuff or family heirlooms you don't need and it keeps you trapped in the past, so to speak. I think this give junk away and such comes with age. At 67 I have been to to many funerals, way to many. None of the buried people took their cars, the goblets, the stored funiture with them , imagine that.

So, if you've got some treasure you can't take with you, give it to the kids, or a good neighbor, or and a friend. PS- you don't have to be dying to do this, just get rid of stuff, you will feel better and (( you can walk thru the basement ))...

 

[Donald]

I agree. I have a lot stuff but in most cases only one of an item. If I come across something thats a duplicate or broken and I will never fix it, then I sell or throw away. I am not a person to have a yard sale. Either CraigsList or maybe Ebay or the trash can.

A lady once had her house filled with old newspapers. When asked why she had the all she said, "simple, I have not read them yet".

 

[DoiInthanon]

Originally Posted By: CourierDriver

...Those who hoard usually experience embarrassment about their possessions and feel uncomfortable when others see them...
Ouch! That hurts.

 

[tc1446]

If its usable stuff, give it to Goodwill and deduct value of it off your income tax. We give a bunch of stuff, like books, good clothes, tools, computer screens/keyboards, etc every year. Keep a list of what and you put the value on it.

 

[eljefino]

"Hoarding" is just collecting for those who aren't millionaires.

When it looks like a pile of junk, it's just its low point. You need the strength and resolve to continue hoarding/collecting until everyone else has thrown out their version of same. Then you have a unique antique on your hands.

Different things have different life cycles. Toys for example become collectible after only a generation, when parents seek out the "He-Man" in its original packaging they wish they had when they were kids.

Furniture, with a 50 year life span, isn't an antique until it's 100, but this varies geographically. The Northeast is chock full of antiques and one can make money dragging the stuff out to Arizona etc.

The next generation of collectibles can't really be predicted. The only thing to really be sure of is that the junky plates and hummels in "Parade magazine", marketed as collectible, will be hoarded all over, and always in plentiful used supply.

 

[matrass]

some good advice here. If you are not using it donate or sell it . my father in law hates to throw stuff out but every time I need something he has it. who else would have a new 7 foot copper grounding rod laying around when you need one lol !

 

[MONKEYMAN]

I come from a long line of hoarders. My grandfather grew up in the depression. When he died there were cigar boxes filled with aluminum foil, etc. It took a long time to clean out the basement.

His oldest son lives in Joplin. When the tornado hit it exposed a building he was storing his hoard in. I found out he would pull things out of dumpsters that looked good. Instead of one space heater he had 6. Many things were not in working condition. The city made him clean up.

Recently I have had to clean the basement. It is hard to believe how much stuff you collect or just leave in place when not needed or you are busy with the next task.

I still have to clean the garage. One thing that is staying is my oil collection.

The training I had as a child is you might need that some day. Some things you learn as a child cause problems as an adult.

If something would happen tomorrow I don't want others to have to deal with my mess.

 

[GreeCguy]

I've been a hoarder/collector all my life. It's come in handy more times that I can count. I used to pick up washing machines and dryers that others were throwing away and use the parts to keep my machines running, (that's how I kept our 40 year old Kenmore washer and dryer running for years). Likewise car parts, you would be amazed at the number of parts I've kept that I finally got around to using years after they came my way. I always have a pile of lumber somewhere and a pile of steel and scrap iron that I pick up here and there, (that's how I was able to rebuild our Churches Food Pantry trailer for free).

Someone might look at my pile of scrap metal and think it's a pile of junk, but I see a piggy bank waiting to be used for something useful.

I have a standing rule that I adopted years ago, if you need something and I have it, you can have it for the asking. But if you make fun of my junk and then later have the sand to come and ask, "hey, do you happen to have such and such?" No way will I give it to you for love or money. And when you do ask, I'll tell you why you can't have it. I'm weird that way.

 

[dparm]

I actually find it quite liberating to simplify and not hang onto random stuff.

Over the last month I cleared out my closets and storage of things I either don't use or decided are unnecessary, and made a few hundred bucks on eBay/Craigslist.

 

[Win]

Is it hoarding if you just never sell anything?

I have a building, literally, full of stuff. Sometimes stuff actually comes out of retirement. Last month I found a new need for a combo washer dryer I'd taken out of service twenty or so years ago.

About half of it probably needs to go to a landfill, but which half? The '79 Caddy with less than 60K miles? The Osborne portable? The stacks of dried lumber? Thousands of new vacuum tubes? Old coffee makers?

 

[Kira]

Hello, Thousands of new vacuum tubes likely have absolutely no value. Look around for a buyer. After finding none, toss 'em. The equipment they go into was found to be too heavy to transport to second hand or even charity end use points. If you have no way of inquiring in Russia, remote India or Africa, chuck 'em or sell 'em to a vintage radio/juke box repair outfit.

What's an Osborne portable?
Old coffee makers...are they new ones which are old or old used ones? Give 'em away.

I travel along a quiet stretch of Interstate highway frequently. I put good looking, clean stuff on a table at the test stop/visitor center and walk away. Kira

 

[Win]

I see you are unfamiliar with the prices of some vacuum tubes!

The Osborne was the first "portable" computer.

 

[Kira]

Hello, Good. Progress. See if your tubes are the expensive ones you referred to. I did think vacuum tubes were absolutely outdated. I remember some value minded whistle blower holding a vacuum tube claiming, "The federal government was the only customer for these tubes left in the world". And while he didn't make a solid case, it did point to the likelihood of a vanishing market for the bulky, fragile technology which so resembled Edison's light bulb.

Please, tell us (me) about valuable vacuum tubes. Heck, I go to garage sales too. Kira

 

[eljefino]

Vacuum tubes have mercury so they aren't making them anymore in 1st world countries. Russia still makes some.

Audiophiles like them because they don't clip when overloaded like transistors do. Audiophiles with money like "some" tubes, but not necessarily the Russian onces, because they're readily available, and nothing to brag about.

Set out a table of vacuum tubes at a ham radio flea market, and folks will pore over them and ask if you have any (insert model # here.)

Twelve years ago I got a coolant temp sensor for my cutlass ciera for $20, and it came with a pigtail because apparently some cars had a different connector.

I saved said pigtail and needed it a year ago for an ABS sensor for a cavalier. Couldn't find it, but robbed a pigtail off a junk saturn engine I was hoarding/ collecting.

Then this spring I needed the same pigtail for my BIL's Malibu ignition module. Firstly, I'm happy GM stuff is so common and interchangeable! Secondly, I had to buy this pigtail... at $20.

There's a punchline, if you've read this far: I found the needed pigtail a week later; disorganization cursed me. I then put it in my "electrical drawer" which is full of fuses, relays, bulbs, and pigtails I steal off cars I send to the junkyard.

I just picked up a saturn for $400 that's held together with a strut, belt tensioner, ignition wires, spark plugs from various other saturns I've had.

 

[Shannow]

Half of our clutter comes from parents "this is too good to throw away, so we're giving it to you"...and then expecting it to be here next time they come.

Half our clutter comes from the previous owner.

The last half is our stuff..

Yep, three halves in a two half home...although in the last 5 months I've moved an E30 "cubbyhouse", and a couple of old carbs on ebay, and freed up nearly a grand.

 

[Michael_P]

There comes a point in many peoples lives where the things you own starts to own you. I reached that point a few years ago and started to thin out. I Craigslisted many things and pocketed some cash. The other day, I needed something that I knew I had that I got rid of. It took me a week to locate a replacement. I still have no regrets. Having a clean house is awesome. Besides, if I were to die tomorrow for whatever reason, I'm not going to burden my wife and kids with cleanup and stuff they have no clue what to do with just for others to pick through it. Its bad enough I have four cars, two boats and a big oil stash. If its not in use, it goes. I went from barely being able to walk through my basement to being able to play racquetball down there. My pole barn is very clean too.

 

[eljefino]

The hardest stuff to throw out:

35mm film SLRs and equipment. At least nikon lenses are still good, but the rest are rubbish.

Old computers. Might need some data. Don't want ID theft. They were expensive. Same with old camcorders, VCRs, CRT TVs, etc.

Wedding presents. These are their own joke. Fondue!

Photos and negatives. So many awful ones! Scan the best at high res, they can be printed later. Unless an EMP wipes out all the computers.

 

[CourierDriver]

we are all keeping to much stuff,,maybe we need to sell our stuff to each other in here.

 

[Silk]

My wife does clutter clearing for a living - people need someone to hold their hand when letting go of stuff. But she is no help to me, I have a double garage and workshop that can't fit a single car, it's full of my junk. Mostly motorcycles and all it's associated stuff, bikes that haven't gone for years, and are never likely too, spare parts, spare parts, spare parts. I have stuff I used 30 years later...it all comes in handy someday. I was at my daughter's building site yesterday - I was picking up screws and nails and took them home, I'm sure they'll be handy someday....

 

[supton]

I've slowly stopped holding onto the smaller bits, especially if they are the sort of thing I can easily and cheaply buy. Small house, so I "save" money if I buy when I need as opposed to when it is a great deal.

But I can't walk thought the basement. It still piles up. In some ways I am glad for a small house; it can get filled to the brim yet still constitute not that much.