HOARDING USELESS STUFF!

[MikeInWimbledon]

I am somewhat embarrassed to say that we took 160 sacks of clothes over the space of a month or so.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

I've been in this place for 7 years and the crap has started to build up. I recently had a significant birthday recently and my wife said "why don't you get the gazebo out". My heart sank as I knew it was stuffed in various locations behind 6 overflowing floor to ceiling shelving units in my once-pristine shed. "Oh", she added, "can you make sure the guests can get down the side passage in case we can't hear the door bell". FFS...

I reckon I was at it for three days in the end; I ended up pretty much emptying each rack one by one then sorting though all the stuff before putting back only the essentials. I got rid of loads of old paint tins, an entire box containing a series of pumps for long-gone inflatables, knackered old kids toys, two lawnmowers, a shitty gazebo and loads of bric a brac. The side passage was another excavation project with vast amounts of timber offcuts (140kg at the weigh in), two vast sheets of rotting hardboard, bits of soffit, a roll of felt and other left over roofing supplies, an old basket ball hoop, etc etc etc.

Got there in the end, had a great party and now my side passage is pristine again. I can once again walk through my 4m shed from and to end and admire the organised racking full of stuff I can find and which I'll actually use and lots of neat, labelled boxes. Pretty much as it started out 7 years ago. Hard work but satisfying.

And the next time my wife wants that gazebo up it'll take 3 hours not 3 days.

I hate to think what they'd find if they put a camera up my side passage.

"Best not go there" is my motto.

(My American friend disagrees, she has a basement bigger than most English houses full of stuff that she doesn't use and can't bear to throw away).

 

[MrGreedy]

This thread is reminding me to actually sell a lot of the stuff I am hoarding as I could get some worthwhile dosh for it from ebay etc

 

[Londonscottish]

I hate to think what they'd find if they put a camera up my side passage.

"Best not go there" is my motto.

It feels quite liberating to have it cleared.

It means I can get all my gardening gear down the side once more rather than dragging it through the house and over the rather expensive oak flooring. I once dripped some 2 stroke premix on it. Gulp. After we had the floor re-oiled, you'd never know....

 

[BTB 500]

Rubbish expands to fill the available space.

100%

I had a huge clearout almost 20 years ago when I had to put most of my stuff into storage for a while. At my next house I had a loft, a small garden shed, a garage, and a room in the house that I used as a workshop. Yup, full of clutter after 15 years. Now I have a loft, a bigger room in the house that I use as a workshop, a much larger garage, a barn, a smaller barn, an old brick barn, stables, etc. And I'm running out of space After 3 years here I have yet to fully organise my stuff ... I was looking for split pins this week and knew I had some somewhere but darned if I could find them

My parents lived in the same house for over 50 years and clearing that out after they died was an enormous task.

 

[optimusprime]

Bit like Halfrauds ..you go in, look around , and come out without buying anything ..You go in the garage start by pulling lots of things out to throw them away .And in the end after thinking about it , put them all back in place without throwing anything out .. i am now filling up the kitchen cabinet in doors , it hosts a full set of brake discs and pads at the moment .

 

[TC350]

A high percentage of my garage is taken up with empty boxes that I’ve hung onto incase I need to return the item that was originally in there. I dread to think how many boxes are still loitering in the eves years after I’ve disposed of whatever was in them in the first place.

Mrs TC is away overseas for a few weeks and I promised to get rid of a few boxes while she’s away. I haven’t started yet. You never know when you might need a bit of cardboard. There’s probably essential polystyrene and plastic bags in several boxes too.

 

[GeeJayW]

This thread is very ‘close to home’…

We had something of a sort out during one of the Covid lockdowns when we cleared the loft to add more loft insulation. Sad to say that whilst some ‘stuff’ found its way to the dump, more than a bit went back into the loft. As for the garage… not going there, though in fairness some of the concrete floor is visible.

 

[baxlin]

Woohoo! I actually keep a car in my single (but extra long) garage! OK, it is only the rather small 3 wheeler. But the garage is one place I keep tidy, and know where everything is.

The only trouble is if I go to get something and it’s not where it should be…
Odds on I’ve lent it to somebody, but can’t remember who.

 

[190]

We've been in the same house, well bungalow for 31 years and the loft is like a cathedral at 64ft long by 30ft wide. One day someone will convert it but in the mean time it stores my junk. I do try honestly I do, any week there is space in the black bin I scout around for something to throw away. but I won't throw away good materials like timber which is just too expensive these days.

There are still toys up there from when when my kids were in their teens 30 years ago and some have had a 2nd life with my grandchildren. One of my grandsons got interested first in Lego and then later in War Hammer of which there was a lot in my loft. These things can be quite valuable, a Lego pirate ship if complete can be worth £1000. He's kept the Lego but he made hundreds of pounds selling some of the War hammer stuff he didn't want.

So there you go, hoarding can be worthwhile if you hoard the right stuff.

 

[TC350]

Woohoo! I actually keep a car in my single (but extra long) garage! OK, it is only the rather small 3 wheeler. But the garage is one place I keep tidy, and know where everything is.

The only trouble is if I go to get something and it’s not where it should be…
Odds on I’ve lent it to somebody, but can’t remember who.

So you’re the other person who uses your garage for your car. I used to keep two cars in our double garage, but the Porsche was unused so had to go when our daughter was born. It’s amazing how quickly that side of the garage filled with ‘stuff’ after the space became available.

I used to know where everything was in my garage, but then my wife decided to “tidy up”!

 

[PXW]

I have both good and bad experience of the “keep it or chuck it” conundrum. A few years ago we moved house after about 12 years and came across a sealed box marked “Peter’s stuff” which had been left untouched from the previous move. I did the brave thing and binned it unopened. Haven’t been able to find my A Level or Degree certificates since.

On the other hand, I was wiring in some Cat6 cable to a new point in my study and struggling to get the little wires into the right slots, when I remembered that I had a little widget from the days when we all wired in telephone extensions around the house…and I knew where it was…and I found it and it did the job perfectly. I am now resolute that I will never dispose of any of my thousands of random fittings, screws, bolts, nails or other general tat, because I now have proof that it will be needed one day at which point it will save me a good 75p or so….

 

[BTB 500]

So you’re the other person who uses your garage for your car.

We have two cars in our double, but it's quite big (6.8 metres wide, 6 metres deep) so there's a fair bit of 'stuff' in there as well The previous owner had a Land Rover and based the height on that, so our Vito would actually go in there if necessary!

I always kept the SL in the garage at our previous house, but with two cars inside getting in or out of either would have been a challenge So we kept cycles, camping stuff, etc. on the other side.

 

[HappytalkAgain]

So you’re the other person who uses your garage for your car…..

I’m another one. And the van goes in too.

 

[BTB 500]

I’m another one. And the van goes in too.

Our Vito normally goes in the barn. There's a lot more 'stuff' in there as well now, including 80 bales of hay

 

[Chrishazle]

We've downsized more than once in the last 20 years. It started in about 2004-5 when we decided to sell the family 1 1/2 acre home we'd owned for 24 years, took us over 12 months to empty the loft, sorting into 3 piles - keep, charity shop and tip. Moved to a 12 month rental and did the same while we were there, then 12 months later moved here and did the same. Here we are 17 years later thinking we need to move a lot closer to family (currently 120 miles away) and here we go again! Not any easier, as here I've aquired a carpentry workshop with a number of large heavy "toys" (table saw, planer/thicknesser, dust collector etc_) as well as a load of wood left overs/offcuts that"might be useful" etc. etc.!! As for herself and her collection of clothes, shoes etc (she trained Imelda Marcos!!) the local charity shop has done well!!

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

like a 5 metre scaffold tower,I used it to clad the apex of the roof over the folding doors of the new extension,it

Is that 5m high? How wide is the base? I need something like that for replacing battery back ups in smoke alarms and replacing light bulbs.

Mrs D said no to a cherry picker - unnecessary apparently - easy to say when you’re looking up from the ground, and not down from the ceiling!

 

[ToeKnee]

Is that 5m high? How wide is the base? I need something like that for replacing battery back ups in smoke alarms and replacing light bulbs.

Mrs D said no to a cherry picker - unnecessary apparently - easy to say when you’re looking up from the ground, and not down from the ceiling!

Don't your "on-call" maintenance squad do all that for you Rob at BD Towers??

 

[zipdip]

The 5M Ttower bought it about three years ago served its purpose takes about 20 mins to erect,and will all go into a large Suv or estate

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Don't your "on-call" maintenance squad do all that for you Rob at BD Towers??