I've arrived at a point where I have acquired so many things, that it makes it hard to find a thing if it's been a while since I used it.
If I make a system with many boxes, that takes up too much space, and I probably can't remember what I filed a thing under anyway.
Too few though, I end up like my "gadget shelf", which is now so crowded that it's just luck if I find anything, and to drag it all out and be systematical would take an hour.
Any good tips?
10 comments:
Throw a lot of it out, you will never miss it.
Ouch, I fear you have hit upon a big weakness of mine. It is difficult for me to throw things out. I am not a horder by any means, but...
Another idea might be to move. Of course you'd need to leave the "stuff" behind.
I remember a friend telling me once, after I had complained about all the moving boxes in my attic, that if you've lived here for 10 years and they're still unopened it's most likely safe to throw it out.. :-)
"Always look in the box!!"
- Dr. Doofensmertz
(Phineas and Ferb), he had thrown out an old box without looking in it, and not long after, a highly embarrasing video from college appeared on YouTube and broke all records.
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Btw, it's not always bad. My iPhone 6 stopped working (I'd been rough with it, unusually). I had an iPhone 4, but it uses a mini-SIM instead of a micro-SIM. But I HAD KEPT THE LITTLE CARDBOARD FRAME THE CARD CAME IN, and managed to put it back into that, and got the iPhone 4 working with my card.
But all right, you guys make a good point: surely at least some of it s**t I could do without, like old computer and camera boxes. (I think a camera box in the pictures will make the camera look more well taken care of on eBay, but I don't know the average gain, I just know I myself feel a bit more trusting.)
I live in an apartment - all shipping boxes go to recycling asap. However the 'stuff' in them is a challenge and at an advanced age I could leave the job to my executor ... however, Eo, there may well be value to others in what you have - for example, after my retirement, I donated a whole lot of textbooks I had hoarded and seldom looked at to my local university, and they were glad to have the historical documents in their library; I got an income tax receipt for the donated value. Only you can decide what to keep, but nibble away at it - some stuff is 'no longer important' to me and yet may attract value from others.
Thank you, Mark.
I have a couple big boxes of comics from the eighties/nineties. Some sorted into series, some not. I wonder where I could donate those?
Re: the comics - I Googled 'UK second hand comics sale' and this came up: http://www.megacitycomics.co.uk/acatalog/Comic_Collections_Bought_For_Cash.html
The pricing they mention is equivalent to a donation, especially if you have to ship them to Camden Town in London. But you could perhaps enjoy (part of) a day in London?
Make a rule: If I've not picked it up for then I'm unlikely to in the near future. Like all rules, there to be broken, but provides a basis for keep / sell (get rid ) of something.
Try a year or 2 years as a starter, and be quite ruthless.
The logic of that is clear.
I think it would result in something very minimalistic.
But I don't think I can do it. Take my large (bookshelves in every room) collection of books and DVDs. I have culled it down at least three times over the last ten years, and given many boxes to charity and neighbors. It is now quite difficult for me to find any more I am sure I want to get rid of. Despite the fact that 95% of it I have not used for several years. They comfort me just being there.
And, say, Allen Keys. Do you throw them out because you haven't used them for two years?
I think the method is good for people who lives their real lives outside of the home. But needs some modifyers for people home people.
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