Having STUFF...anybody identify with me here?

[Nasty135]

I must be living the dream !!!
I have been owned by my Stuff for years now and this quote nailed me right between the eyes...

Roy, I am a pack rat, but an ORGANIZED pack rat...but my spouse is a DISORGANIZED pack rat....

My poor wife has a great heart to put up with me, but boy Ohh boy opening a cupboard door is like lets guess which one is booby trapped tonight door #1 or door #2 :confused2:

I Recently retired seem to have less time now then before I retired, I've heard people say it but now I understand. Some of this time could be used for "ridding up" (Pa. term) but it a touchy subject around my house. So more little projects for everyone else but my own little projects just sit there in the back of my head wasting away.

I would love to unload some of my old stuff in a slow gentle fashion and help my wife pry her tight gripped hand free of the stuff she needs to feel comfortable...Maybe I'll send her on a Vacation and load her truck up and take her stuff for a ride??
But, Alas she would just find more stuff, :mur:

I feel better now, Thanks

 

[Egon]

Good olde Stuff!

First you work hard to get some, then you work hard to keep it maintained and finally you end up with a bunch of stuff you can't physically use anymore and have no inclination to replace and can't even give it away.

 

[sailorman]

I 'm on the low side of 60 's approaching mid- range .Many a time I 've wished I 'd built a smaller home and mine ain 't that big . Could be happier now with single story cabin kitchen, a bed room and full bath . Sure would lighten up my property tax and cut down on my up keep time . Little did I know many years ago I would not have children to house . But at a point wife and I decided no kids . But we had planned a house for them in just in case .

I got dining room, master bedroom and bathroom, small full bathroom, kitchen, bar room, cathedral living room, 2 spar bedrooms ( now offices ), small laundry room, and front porch . Sounds big, but not . Just designed well .

I spend most of my day and night time in only 3 rooms . Same for wife .

 

[Fixemall]

I am blessed to have a serious pack rat for a best friend...gives me an outlet for my unneeded stuff and if I need anything I know where to look...just don't go for a ride with him on trash day, I once had to take my truck to town for it's yearly inspection and had him drive me home...who knew a ten minute ride takes an hour if you go thru almost everyones trash.

 

[two_bit_score]

San Antonio has a lot of flea markets. Most cities have them. Load up a truck load of stuff and spend a day and about $50 bucks at the flea market. You'll probably have fun, sell out, make some money and what you not sell take to Goodwill....... or the dump.

Just try not to go around buying anybody else's junk while at the flea market.:laughing:

 

[Dano5509]

Last winter I was down in our workout room in the basement and after looking at three different batteries I had on the conditioner/charger I said to myself, what am i doing maintaining all this?? We had a 2011 Jayco 5th wheel (battery number 1), a newer Sea Doo waverunner (battery number 2) and a Kawasaki 650 Brute Force ATV (battery number 3)...

We put everything in our neighborhood garage sale (except the RV) and it all went along with a bunch of other stuff I just had to have over the last few years. I ended up putting the 5th wheel in the RV Trader and sold it to an out of state buyer in September and couldn't be happier. After owning rv's, boats and every other toy out there, it was refreshing to not have to buy the RV antifreeze or haul some other overpriced toy to the dealer for winterization. It was the first time in a long time I didn't have anything to "prep" for winter storage.

It feels great and I am 42 years old so I am starting to make that turn in my life! :laughing:

 

[bruceha2000]

but my spouse is a DISORGANIZED pack rat....

I have one of those. And everything that gets taken out never seems to go back. Not even things like a can opener. Seems like if you can open the drawer and use the opener without moving, you should be able to put it back!

 

[bruceha2000]

trying to Decrapitate now rather than try and do it when we sell.

My MIL did that. Started 2 years early. It was AMAZING how much stuff they had, though in general, I would say it wasn't all the "we'll never us that" kind of thing that we have. They had a 4' crawl space off the finished basement that was Mary Poppin's carpet bag. The grand kids came along and she'd pull out age appropriate toys as they got older. VERY organized that woman. Wish it had rubbed off on her first born.

 

[bruceha2000]

but cant give them away..."They were my grandfathers".

Get her a woodworking book with plans for XMas. If you can't toss the tools, you should get some nice work out of them

 

[CompactTractorFan]

Have you ever watched the cable show..." Hoarders " geez, ya sure don't want to be like those folks on there...I don't know how they stay alive in some of that filth and garbage..I mean, saving and being a pack rat is one thing but when it means your house is not livable that is another..

Just watching that show makes me want to get rid of stuff...:confused2:

 

[Mounted Madness]

After watching all of the various apocolypse movies in recent years, I have occassionally asked myself what should one take if you had to leave all that 'other stuff' behind.

Clearly, it would depend on what has happened, and what forced such a requirement. George Carlin did a stand up routine on travelling with 'stuff' and it truly is applicable today.

I have found in recent years, that I can now walk through Home Depot, Princess Auto, Canadian Tire, etc without buying something. That aspect is frightening in that it appears that I now have everything...that I need at least. Sure, there's 'stuff' that I'd like, better 'stuff' that could replace 'stuff' that I already have, but frankly, I have 'stuff' that I hardly use and it would be a waste of money to upgrade when minimal use is the likely outcome.

Today, in preparation of finally moving my 'stuff' from the basement workshop and putting it all into my new shop, I hired a couple of young guys to move the 'stuff' from the basement and into the garage. While packing and sorting through this 'stuff', I was amazed at;

1. the 'stuff' I forgot I had.
2. the duplicate 'stuff' that I had.
3. the junk 'stuff' that I STILL had and should throw out.
4. the fact the rest of you have experienced the same thing.

Mixed into all of this 'stuff' was 'stuff' that I had gotten when my Dad died, 'stuff' I'd gotten when my father-in-law moved into a seniors residence, and 'stuff' that I have held onto just in case I needed it down the road.

My Dad was great with his hands, made a lot of stuff and had far fewer tools then I have...yet he was exceedingly happy to have what he had. Many of the power tools that I have today didn't exist when Dad was busy doing his thing. Hand tools were the norm for him...along with patience.

I guess being happy with what we've got is something that takes time and and that 'stuff' called life experience to actually learn.

Ah well...life is good.

 

[Ilikeurtractor]

The test of having too much stuff for me is when I find out I already had what I just bought - I've been failing that test miserably lately :ashamed:

 

[Professor Marvel]

I can't find my stuff sometimes when I need it. So I buy new stuff then go to put it away and find the old stuff right where I go to put the new stuff away.
At least I seem to be consistent.

 

[grsthegreat]

The test of having too much stuff for me is when I find out I already had what I just bought - I've been failing that test miserably lately :ashamed:

Thats my lifes story

 

[JDgreen227]

Mounted Madness hit THAT ONE right on the head when he said he can walk thru places without buying anything...same here. From that one box of tools I had 40 years ago, I now have a 24X36 fully equipped workshop in my basement, a huge collection of tools in my garage workshop (mechanics and carpentry both) two workshops, one on each floor of my 2 story barn, one in my big barn, one in my garden shed...I now carry a toolbox in my GMC that rivals my entire collection from 40 years ago...plus a set in both cars, my motorhome...

STOP LAUGHING....

Oh yes, I should admit I stole that "STUFF" term from George Carlin....

 

[KYDan]

Thanks for all the good posts, they brought a smile to me this morning. Yes, I can identify with almost all of these posts. Then I thought about the US and decided what a great country this is even with all our issues and that our system has worked pretty well and the government has a lot of the same problems that we do. I have so much good stuff that needs to be maintained that I spend way to much time servicing, maintaining, winterizing, de-winterizing, ad nauseum! I have 3 barns and a hangar and all of them seem to be bursting at the seams! I was considering a bagging system for my zero turn mower and this convinced me that I don't really need or want it! However, I can't seem to part with a lot of this stuff as it is like an old friend that I treasure and it has been so useful in the past, and that I may need it tomorrow! I, like many of you am in my early 60's (Anything below 65 is early 60's!) and need to start shedding some of this stuff, but I find that I seem to find things to replace the diminishing physical abilites that keep mounting! Now, if I could just find some miracle drug to do that for my diminishing mental abilities! Happy Sunday guys, I sure am glad that we don't have enough snow to warrant a snow blower!

 

[JDgreen227]

No snow blower....??? My collection:

'86 vintage Sno-Burst single stage
'89 vintage Craftsman dual stage
'92 vintage Craftsman single stage
'04 vintage " " " "

And all run and work fine...yet when I see the new ones advertised I still have to exercise will power not to run out and buy another "just in case"...

 

[Tony_S]

I can't seem to part with a lot of this stuff as it is like an old friend that I treasure and it has been so useful in the past, and that I may need it tomorrow!

yes...YES!!! And then, if it gets so bad....so crowded... that I MUST part with something, it really is usually less than a week until I have a genuine need/use/want for whatever it was that I had forced myself to get rid of! That is probably the main reason I have so much STUFF....because I know I will need it as soon as I get rid of it...even though I have not touched it in 5 months, or more likely, 5 YEARS! :laughing:

 

[foggy1111]

All this talk about STUFF reminds me of the movie "The Jerk"......where Bernadotte Peters says to Steve Martin...."I don't care about the money.....I just want the Stuff". :laughing::laughing:

One of my favorite lines. :thumbsup:

 

[CrownHawg]

I have many times gone and gotten a whole bunch of stuff to complete a project only to find I had bought the same thing at least once (sometimes more) with the intent of finishing said project only to get sidetracked and it would be "postponed" until later. I have gotten to the point that I no longer will go to the store to start a project, I plan my projects on what I find laying around! As for stuff, it is absolutely AMAZING what you can accumulate in a mere 20 years at the same house. However, it can turn into a windfall as well, have you seen the price of scrap metal lately? HA!