How much stuff do you have?

[Markbo]

After living in my house for 20+ years we decided to downsize. Lynda has a bum knee and couldnt handle the stairs to the upstairs Master anymore. Long story short we found a really nice 1 story in the same subdivision! No learning new stores, traffic patterns, etc. We are familiar with everything.

One thing I have learned is that you do NOT know how much crap you have until you have to box it up and move it yourself. Just ammo, bullets, brass and lead almost killed me. Not to mention the yard size trash bags of shiite I threw away. I honestly didnt know what a hoarder I was until I packed everything up. Now we are moved and the real work begins...unpacking! I dont have the same storage space as before so have had to scramble to put in cabinets and floor units for storage. Thank God the safe movers took my 2 drums of wheel weights (for a very nice tip) that would have taken me 2 days to do by myself.

I work construction for a living and I have worked harder in the last 2 weeks than I have in the last 2 years. Do yourselves a favor... get rid of the flotsom and jetsom now before you move. Youll thank me later.

[45MAN]

AN ATTORNEY FRIEND OF MINE TURNED TO A SIMPLER UNCONVENTIONAL LIFE ON SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, TEXAS, AND ENDED UP DRINKING HIMSELD TO DEATH. I RAN INTO HIM ONCE AT A BAR AND WE VISITED FOR A WHILE AND I HAVE ALWAYS REMEMBERED THIS COMMENT FROM HIM, WHICH HE ATTRIBUTED TO SOME CHINESE PHILOSOPHER: ITS THE STUFF THAT WILL GET YOU. WE ALL HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF, STUFF WE DO NOT USE, STUFF WE DO NOT NEED, STUFF WITH NO BIG VALUE.

[x101airborne]

"When you own stuff, stuff ends up owning you."
LOL. I aint no better. We are packing our house up getting ready for a remodel. It is kinda fun and kinda scary at the same time. I ended up getting a 6 yard dumpster delivered. Full every week.

[Ken O'Neill]

At 77, and in the same house for 35 years, I have WAY WAY too much stuff. Including projectile throwers. Come see me. Bring money.

[bullseye]

Entirely too much! I regularly dig out stuff that I have, didn't know I had, & have long since forgotten the origin of. I've been contemplating selling off & heading South to a milder Winter climate, then I look around & conclude that it'd be MUCH easier to just stay put & bear it.

[clintsfolly]

Last week I was package Some lead to ship and ran out of tape. Run to the local Staples store buy tape. Sunday was cleaning a storage area up and see a box. What is that box? So I grab it and open it! Yep! Packing tape a case of tape setting on another case of tape! So two case of tape and I just bought a few more rolls! Time to clean out!

[alukban]

I’m in purge mode meself.

When my parents turned about 60 yo, they decided to get rid of “everything” and divest. They put all their treasures/possessions into suitcases and lived out of them. They distributed/gave away the “inheritance” to the children while they were alive to prevent animosity between siblings. It had happened in my father’s family and he wanted to spare us children from it - all eight of us.

They travelled and lived with us children, here and there - living out of suitcases and liquid assets.

When my father died a couple of years ago, it was pure and simple mourning.

No complications of who gets what. No wierdness of who is going to clean up what and who has to go through “stuff” and legalities.

Only the man was considered and not his possessions. It was a true gift.

I have a ways to go but I will get there.

[harveylogan]

I moved ~2 years ago,
I got into putting all my ammo, bullets, powder, primers, just about anything sporting goods related that can fit into a Ammo Can. “My Stuff”
Mostly 50 cal, 30cal, 20 & 40mm,
End Labels for the contents.
I had them in a storage closet, garage, under beds, strung thru the entire residence.
I had no idea how far out of control my obsession had got until they all ended up at our new place, stacked in one location
My wife counted them to try and tell me something is out of control....107 total.... I was a little surprised myself, however I was impressed how organized it all was with the end labels, sizes, etc.
Now I’m in the process of building some steel cabinets to stack them, enabling me easy in/ out access.
Since being here have added 11 more.

There still was a sizable purge. Felt good.

[JM]

BOOKS!

Do not load boxes full of books in the front. Books & ammo need to be centered over the axle(s).

[magnumwheelman]

We live in my wife's family century farm, & she is one of the last 2 living members of the original family... we had to haul everything out of the basement & build the master bedroom & bath down there, just so we had room for our stuff ( big 2.5 story square farm house ) all the closets & bedrooms were full of stuff that we couldn't get rid of, from great grandparents, up to her brother ( was a couple years older than my wife ) who died when he was 16 )... FIL went through the depression, & would go to the farm auctions & buy 3 legged chairs ( in all fairness he did buy some good stuff ) but when he died, all the outbuildings & the basement were totally full of things he bought for a dollar, & could fix if someone needed it... The original auction had 3 auctioneers, 16 hay wagons full of boxed stuff, & stuff spread out over the whole farm yard... & still if anyone thinks they have "stuff" come on over, I'll show you "stuff"

My gun collection evolved from FIL's collection, & at a point 8-10 years ago, required that I build a 2 room walk in gun safe room... a couple years ago, we took a vacation ( between the farm & the small manufacturing plant I manage, I rarely take a vacation ) like anyone, we got back from a great vacation, & MRS said... we should just sell the farm, & move up there...

GULP!!! too much gun stuff, farm stuff & family stuff, to just up & move... so I had a big sell off of out of my collection ( goal was to try to get down to a couple large gun safes worth of stuff... ( I didn't get there ) & MRS has begun going through a billion old family pictures, having cousins, 2nd cousins, & such, coming & taking anything they want, before they get compacted into real storage boxes, we both made a valiant effort to reduce the "stuff" and yet, still could star in a reality TV "stuff" show

[dougader]

Hauling ingots of lead from one house to the next gets old very fast! Guns and ammo are heavy, too. Only small boxes for books.

My hats are not heavy but take up way too much space.

The garage is full of junk. The only thing in there worth a darn is a washing machine and my roll-away tool box.

[45MAN]

HAT STUFF: HOW MANY BASEBALL HATS DO YOU HAVE? HOW MANY DO YOU NEED? AND MOST TIMES WE GET THESE CAPS FOR NOTHING.

[magnumwheelman]

come on man... everyone has seen Doug's hats in postings... those don't squash as flat as a boat load of old pictures

[blacktailslayer]

Same issue when my folks moved off of their small farm a few years ago. Way too much stuff "accumulated" over their 44+ years there. Had a tough time separating my Dad from his stuff. After that 3 month fiasco I looked around my place and there are definitely signs of his influence on me even though I periodically do a purge in my shop and outbuildings to get rid of the crap.

Another sign for me was during the fires here in September when we had to pack-up stuff in a hurry to evacuate. I had my truck pretty much full of guns and related stuff - ammo, reloading supplies, parts, tooling and my library. Flatbed trailer with tractor and a few implements. The other stuff that we needed to pack went into my wife's van and it was very tight. Stuff may be nice to have, until you have to move it.


Don D.

[bigbrowndog]

Apr 6, 2021 13:58:39 GMT -5 magnumwheelman said:

come on man... everyone has seen Doug's hats in postings... those don't squash as flat as a boat load of old pictures

I got some very good hat info from those posts, and bought a nice Rand felt.  

Trapr