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A place for my stuff.

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Nettdata, Aug 30, 2011.

  1. Nettdata

    Nettdata
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    Mr. Toast

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    Ahhh, George Carlin.... we miss you.




    "Stuff" is an interesting thing. Some people don't have any stuff, others have too much. Some really rich people bought so much stuff that it took over their lives and as a result they lost all their stuff. Other people collect useless stuff, or, to go to the extreme, hoard so much stuff that it's an unhealthy obsession.

    But just about everybody has some weird stuff that they wish they never bought in the first place... that "it seemed like a good idea at the time".




    FOCUS: Tell us about stuff you bought that made you wonder why the fuck you bought it in the first place, or stuff that other people have tried to sell you.

    ALT-FOCUS: Discuss your views on "stuff". Do you have lots? Are you a hoarder? Are you a minimalist?
     

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    #1 Nettdata, Aug 30, 2011
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  2. hooker

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    I grew up in a cluttered home. My mother is not a hoarder, but she does have a lot of shit she doesn't need. She is arguably the least domestic person I've ever met. She doesn't cook and she doesn't clean. Because of that, I was always a bit crazy about keeping a clean room. It was my only reprieve from the rest the house.

    Now, I'm a product of my past. If I haven't used it in over a year, I throw it out. If it doesn't fit because it's too big or too small, I throw it out. If it's outdated and falling apart, I throw it out.

    I hate keeping things I'll never need or use. I think part of it is also that I'm scared fucking senseless of turning into my mother.
     
  3. Kubla Kahn

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    The weird stuff you collect in college. Whew. I am not even talking buying. Since most of the time your broke, when stuff comes up for grabs it seems like a good idea at the time to take. Then for some fucking reason, you cart it place to place. There were a few dirty fucking couches and a 7,000 lbs TV that we carted from place to place because it was free stuff. We also helped remove some stuff from an old school discount store up the block when it closed, we got a huge sixties style wooden display case we took thinking we'd turn them into beer pong table. We left that at that apartment, unfinished. A huge inflatable Woodchuck can was given to us by the Woodchuck drinking stand at the Taste of Cincinnati. That sat in the corner of my room for a long time.
     
  4. sartirious

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    I have a lot of stuff - most of it is tools, but they are still heavy as hell and a pain to move from one place to the next. I used to be even worse though, and throughout college collected and kept just about anything that other family and friends offered to me: food, furniture, computer parts, etc.

    Since then (and probably as a result of having to move a couple of times) I've become absolutely brutal in my retention criteria. If I haven't used it in a while, it's getting trashed. If it's still useful and I just don't want to deal with it, Goodwill.

    The only thing I honestly regret buying is my kite. It's a 12 meter Cabrinha with the Recon 2.0 lines and bar that I bought on a clearance when I learned to kiteboard out in Hurricane Country (aka, the Outer Banks, NC). Yeah, there are plenty of places to go kiteboarding in MN...I just don't ever get out and actually do it. So it sits, taking up space - because I keep convincing myself that one day I'll get out on the lake and justify what I spent on it.
     
  5. audreymonroe

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    I like having stuff. I'm very good at making things feel like my home - even my little area I have set up on the floor of my old room before I move feels very cozy - and, to me, that has a lot to do with being around My Stuff. I have my little collections and knick-knacks and art and books and clothes, and any place can feel like my own. The most important things for me to have in a new place are my rug - which always makes things feel so much more comfortable, my bookcase, and my little toys. They give my room my personality, which I think is nice. I am definitely not a fan of the minimalist look. It just feels clinical to me. I like my room to be homey and feel lived in.

    The only Stuff Collecting habit I wish I didn't have is I tend to keep mementos of things, like tickets or maps and the like, but I don't have any method of storing them, so my rooms tend to end up being littered with what even I consider the most pointless memorabilia. Yeah, it's kind of nice to be rooting through a drawer for something else and come across something that reminds me of a fun event I went to the year before, but after a while it just gets silly. This move I was the least emotionally attached to my stuff for whatever reason. I threw out I think 6 garbage bags worth of stuff, and either gave away or sold two huge bags of books and clothes. It felt really good. Maybe that will stick with this new place.
     
  6. Harry Coolahan

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    Alt-Focus: This is a timely thread because I am moving tomorrow. It took me about an hour to pack all my stuff this afternoon. Three boxes of books, a box of climbing gear, a box of clothes, and one box misc. And a bed, desk, and bookshelf.

    I'll be subletting for three weeks before moving to my permanent place, so all I'm taking with me tomorrow is clothes, computer, and
    bed.

    It feels really good to not own very much stuff. It feels like a burden to own shit I don't really need. I'm not a fanatic about it, I just don't buy stuff I don't need, and I throw stuff out if I realize I never use it. Works well for me.
     
  7. ghettoastronaut

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    My mother`s side of the family is Dutch. They give Jews a run for their money on sheer cheapness. What they do isn't so much hoarding, but rather, just never throwing anything out. Find a piece of plastic on the floor? You can't throw it out, you don't know where it came from and as soon as you throw it out you'll find out where it belonged. This happens with everything. Something sitting in the basement untouched for 20 years? You can't get rid of that. Hockey equipment for five year olds? Mattresses? We have cousins we could give those away to. Old paint? We might be able to use that again some day! Not that anyone ever does, or that saving $5 on a thing of paint is worth having old paint cans sitting around the basement for several years.

    It's a struggle for me to throw things out. I've been getting better at realizing when I'm just keeping something around because I'm simply unwilling to admit that I don't use it anymore, or the thing is broken, or what have you. My mom freaks out over using a paper towel to wipe up a spill because it's "waste". Your laptop not working anymore? She's offended that such a thing could happen, and insists that you keep it so that you can maybe put linux on it. Printer broken? It's not broken, it's practically brand new! Nevermind that it doesn't actually print, it's practically brand new! Clothes that I never wear? If they are in the range of "fitting", keep them. If they aren't, keep them in the basement for a few decades, we have cousins we can give them to. They're still in the basement. My childhood bedroom closet was filled with my mother's clothes from well before I was born. Can't get rid of that shit, right?

    I'm better than her at getting rid of things, but there's still way too much crap sitting around that I simply don't need and is taking up too much space.
     
  8. Dcc001

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    I have some advice for any wanna-be hoarders, or people who have an unnecessary large collection of Stuff:

    Move.

    Move often. Move across the country three or four times in a four year period. Then maybe backpack for a year. You will rapidly realize how much crap you do not need. My house is comfortably outfitted right now. Pictures on the walls, some knickknacks, not too full, not too empty. And I'm already plotting how I'm going to get rid of 40% of this shit before I move again, because no way am I continuing to haul this Stuff.

    So yeah. If you move, and move well, you cannot be a hoarder.
     
  9. BrianH

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    I have a "two week" rule when it comes to buying anything over 100 bucks. If I really want it, I wait two weeks to buy if. If I still really want it after two weeks, I'll go ahead. Because of this, I don't tend to make a lot of impulse purchases.

    My house is really spartan. Other than my military gear, clothes, big ass TV, stereo, bed, couches, and assorted high-end bullshit like watches and guns, I don't really have anything. I have NO knick knacky stuff at all.
     
  10. Dcc001

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    Knickknacks drive me crazy. The ones I have are inherited from dead relatives and kept on a single shelf for dusting. I give it two more moves before I get fed up enough to throw them away.
     
  11. Crown Royal

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    Not many knick-knacks in my house, but it has been somewhat overtaken by an unholy army of children's toys designed specifically for impaling the bottom on an adult male's foot.

    Any clutter and such I keep in my shed, a gigantic beast the previous owners used as a u-winery (I don't know the name, sorry). Half of that is packed with Rubbermaids filled with Halloween decorations, which I build up by the dozens every year since I have moved into this house. It takes me three full days to decorate the front yard.

    Any other "stuff" that is mine personally I keep in my mini-mancave that my wife titled "The Ugly Room" because I intentionally made it a living eyesore: royal purple walls and zebra/cheetah furniture and lamps from the 1950's, scary, weapon-like antique tools hanging off the walls, my Coca-Cola merch collection, my records and turntables and a lava lamp, of course. It's probably the biggest "Fuck you" I could possibly give my parents, since I grew up in the cleanest house in the entire solar system. A piece of dust hitting the floor would sound like cymbals crashing together to my parents. A bed was never unmade, an article of clothing never on the floor, you could eat off the floor of the garage. Not using a coaster was punishable by beheading with a dull saw. Trust me: only child households are weirdsometimes..
     
  12. PIMPTRESS

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    Alt Focus:I tend to like to keep things simple, although lately we have been acquiring knick knacks. Not into the Precious Angels type collection, Mr. P and I like to collect curiousities from thrift and antique stores. Normal things like cool bottles, anything skull related, old school action figures and comics and bizarre figurines.

    The one thing I have always collected compulsively is books. I have way too many, they fill all of our bookshelves and even the linen closet. I like having them until it's time to move. Ugh, they are fucking heavy...


    Focus: Something bizarre that is in my possession is a copy of Twilight. My neighbor gave me a bag of books and I can't throw a book away, no matter how bad it is.

    I also found an awesome skeleton surfer figurine.

    Something way cool is an art piece I comissioned for Mr. P. It's a watercolor pair of zombies embracing. It's not something many people could expect in a living room, apparently. Actually, it does seem like they* re always looking at you....


    *The zombies.
     
  13. benny lava

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    Alt Focus: Fucked up clothes from Halloween costumes or theme parties.

    Judas fucking Iscariot, I have tons. Whenever I needed attire for some themed college mixer or for Halloween, I perused through the thrift or goodwill store and waited until I was inspired... From complete cliche things to completely random things. I've NEVER taken any of this back to goodwill because I think I will use it again at some point.

    How much of it have I used again? ZERO.

    I'm moving tomorrow and I seriously just packed away fucking miner bibs, a hardhat and a Chilean flag from last halloween. All shit that I highly doubt I will never use again... It's going to storage, where I keep most of this shit. Out of sight, out of mind. Man, I'm fucked in the head.
     
  14. TX.

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    ALT-FOCUS: Discuss your views on "stuff". Do you have lots? Are you a hoarder? Are you a minimalist?

    I think I'm a minimalist. For the most part, I don't have lots of "stuff" other than books, DVDs, and prints.

    The weirdest thing I hang on to is clothes that I haven't worn in years. They're laughably 90's or just really weird and not something anyone would decide to wear, ever. I have clothes from high school for good reason. Similar to benny lava, whenever I'm cleaning out my closet I think, "What if I could use this for a theme party or Halloween? I'll be spending money and trying to find something EXACTLY LIKE THIS! I will regret this decision to throw it away FOREVER!"

    Because I really want to be a Gap Girl Circa 1997 for Halloween this year.
     
  15. BrianH

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    The only shit I have a huge collection of (well, like 20) is gimmie hats I get from gun shows, work, etc. When I was little my grandpa had a huge box of gimmie hats at his farm that we would wear when we were there; Texas Electric, Suzuki, whatever. Most were trucker-style hats, but the awesome old kind. You didn't feel at home there until you had a "Moore Plumbing" hat on your skull.

    One of these days, I'll replicate that experience for my grandkids.
     
  16. lostalldoubt86

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    I have a shoebox filled with stuff. There's some random coins, fortunes cookie fortunes, the little toys you get from the machines in the grocery store for 25 cents...

    I'm not a hoarder, I just have this box of random trinkets.
     
  17. Frank

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    Growing up my dad changed locations every three years or so for work, by the time I was 10 they got real practical whenever they considered buying stuff, already wondering how it would fit into the next home even though we had just moved in. And this was despite the company hiring movers.

    When I got out of college and the GF and I got our apartment we did the typical thing of buying too much shit because we were excited about filling our own place. Most of it has been thrown out or given away. We've also scaled back significantly on our living space, we were in a three bedroom house with two baths, two living rooms and a shitload of storage space which we quickly filled... there was just two of us. Now we live in a single bedroom place with just barely enough storage to fit the seasonal shit we're not using at the time. This has forced us to become more practical with our purchasing decisions. It's also a hell of a lot easier to clean.
     
  18. M4A1

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    Between the ages of 19 and 33, I moved over 20 times. Now most of that time was spent in the military, and PCS moves and deployments are counted in that number. By the time that I landed back in LA last year, I could fit everything I owned in a small Uhaul trailer. Usually, about twice a year, I go thru my crap and clean. The only 2 things that I've bought in the last year are a couch, and a bedroom set. Makes me feel like an honest to God grown-up. Seeing as how I will be moving in with BabyMomma soon, and she already has a furnished house, it'll be time to get rid of some of what I've got, and the rest goes into the garage which will shortly become the man cave.
     
  19. Bourbondownthehouse

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    I just got into an argument with my mother about this. I just bought a house and did some painting and what not. I also purchased a dining room set and some living room furniture. Oh and a king size bed. I had nothing on the walls anywhere and didn't even have place mats on my kitchen table. I fucking hate clutter. My mother wanted to buy me a second smaller table just to put a couple of decorative plates on for my dining room.
    I can't for life of me understand why someone would want to just eat up square footage with useless shit. Not to mention its one more thing to sweep around and dust at some point. Like when I go to older people's homes and see a china cabinet that is full of never used dishes or random shit. What the fuck?
     
  20. bewildered

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    My parent's next move will be to their coffin. If the roof ever falls in, the house will be their coffin, because the attic is literally crammed with junk. The house is full of nick knacky objects, doilies, figurines, and tons of miscellaneous junk. The laundry room has piles of crap. She had cabinets installed in the laundry room and those are filled up, too. Mom's got a bit of a hoarding problem going on.

    As for me, my bedroom seems to get messy all the time because I'm the kind of person to walk in and drop everything. I have clothes strewn around the floor, my bed is unmade, and I have bottles of nail polish and powder and such in front of my mirror. However, the living room is almost bare with a set of couches, a set of end and coffee tables, and a couple of board games. My kitchen has everything I will ever need, but not in excess. Everything has a place. The only bona fide nick knack crap I have are a couple pieces of pottery I hung onto from a ceramics class (they serve as book ends and are ridiculously heavy), some stuffed animals that El Fiance bought me, caught me (Mardi Gras), and best friend gave me that all stay on my bed, and a porcelain Christmas ornament with a music box inside that sits on my desk because El Fiance's grandmother gave it to me and I don't have a Christmas tree. Yep, that's about it.

    I don't have the energy or the money to really "decorate" this space. For one thing, the house's floorplan is an absolute disaster from being added onto several times, so it would be a difficult task. For another, I'll be moving really far away and know that many of the things that might go well in this house would have no place in our apartment. Plus, moving sucks and I have to bring as little as possible. I also don't want to expand out too far and be forced to squeeze into an apartment. I'm full of excuses as to why my house is so bare!