Decluttering During Corona

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 07/29/2020 at 11:58 • Filed to: None

2

38

Yeah, it’s pretty much like that.

I just threw out a box that had all the receipts, extra programs, plume pen, etc. from our wedding thirty years ago. My wife’s mom had kept all of it, and then sent it to us when she decluttered her house. Sure, I hadn’t looked at it in 30 years. Hell, I didn’t even know it existed. B ut it was still tough.

MonkeePuzzle > ttyymmnn 07/29/2020 at 12:03

12

sentimental crap can go, but do NOT throw out any old computer connection cables. yes USB became standard for most things, but you never know when a serial printer cable might help out!

Thomas Donohue > MonkeePuzzle 07/29/2020 at 12:06

7

Me:

Buys USB- to- SCSI converter. Still keeps SCSI card and cables just in case.

Has never hooked up any of it to pull old files off SCSI drive.

jminer > ttyymmnn 07/29/2020 at 12:07

2

This is exactly us - we did the same with old wedding stuff a couple weeks ago.

We looked around the house and kept earmarking large things to go so we actually ordered a dumpster and filled it.  That was extremely satisfying. 

ttyymmnn > MonkeePuzzle 07/29/2020 at 12:08

4

I’ve got a technology museum box in the garage full of cables, mice, etc. However, I recently threw away my old RF modulator. Then just last week a guy on our neighborhood group was giving away a working  classic Atari, with games, to anybody who had the means to connect it.

HammerheadFistpunch > ttyymmnn 07/29/2020 at 12:09

2

I’ve gotten so many small packets of pictures from my mom since March

Dr_Watson > ttyymmnn 07/29/2020 at 12:11

6

Big downside to owning a house is you have so much room to acquire and store shit. I’m terrified of ever moving again. 

MonkeePuzzle > Thomas Donohue 07/29/2020 at 12:13

5

me: I’ll never use this older motherboard/cpu/memory combo *toss*

friend on FB the next day: I am seeking an older PCI compatible motherboard so I can connect this specific PCI card for a specific CAD architectural project thinger. 

TheRealBicycleBuck > ttyymmnn 07/29/2020 at 12:15

2

When we were clearing out my mom’s house, we found a letter from my great aunt which contained the only picture I’ve ever seen of me as a baby with my mother and father. It was in a random box of stuff. That prompted us to look at every single piece of paper in the whole house. Box of receipts? Don’t chunk it until we can look at everything to make sure it doesn’t contain something important.

HammerheadFistpunch > ttyymmnn 07/29/2020 at 12:17

7

Thats the rule, like washing your car to summon the rain gods, if you throw it away it will immediately become valuable.

RallyWrench > MonkeePuzzle 07/29/2020 at 12:17

1

Never know when you might need a PS1 memory card. 

MonkeePuzzle > HammerheadFistpunch 07/29/2020 at 12:18

3

two birds one stone, cover your car in old tech and it’ll never need a wash again, all the paint is protected by computer parts

user314 > ttyymmnn 07/29/2020 at 12:19

1

Oh my god, the stuff my cousins found when they decluttered after my uncle passed away last year. Photos and 8mm film are one thing, but there were boxes of pamphlets and Styrofoam DC-9s from the old USAir S how T eam. The box from their original Apple 2gs Woz was up in the attic. Just boxes and boxes of stuff . I think they wound up pulling out at least one Bagster, maybe two, of stuff. The eldest is still trying to get all the pictures and films digitized.

Worse yet, I see that hoarding gene (and it is genetic) in myself....

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > ttyymmnn 07/29/2020 at 12:20

0

That’s me and my wife. I’m a sentimental SOB, with a terrible memory. The objects help me a lot with bringing bad old memories.

She’d pitch it all. LOL

MonkeePuzzle > RallyWrench 07/29/2020 at 12:23

1

I went threw and tossed all my smaller micro SD cards, that I had been using in a variety of older phones.
then got a cheap android phone for my kids to use, turns out it would only address an SD card if it was 2gb or smaller, and I didnt have any anymore

Michael > jminer 07/29/2020 at 12:40

1

My parents’ house was so cluttered, after about 35 trips to goodwill with the van, I ordered them a 20 yard dumpster. They filled it.

The house started re-settling with the change in weight in the attic, tape joints that had been cracked and repaired, cracked again due to shifting back to their original position.

Tripper > ttyymmnn 07/29/2020 at 12:41

1

Yo, organizing/de- cluttering is my sanctuary, I love it. When my wife and child are away for a few days,  I get SUPER high and organize everything.

That said, I only hang on to the really important sentimental stuff. Movie ticket from my wife and I’s first kiss, couple notes etc... It’s all organized chronologically haha

shop-teacher > ttyymmnn 07/29/2020 at 12:42

1

I feel like we’re perpetually decluttering. We regularly throw away/sell/donate things ... and yet still there is SO. MUCH. STUFF!

Right now I’m going through my diecast car collection ... yipes did that ever get out of hand!

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > ttyymmnn 07/29/2020 at 12:50

0

We have only been in our house less than 3 years and live pretty minimally, but we could use a dumpster for all the crap that we need to 86. Buy nothing groups, Amazon, and my wife’s drive to get stuff for our son has created sufficient clutter that it’s bothering us, especially since we’re now there 99% of the time.

Luckily my nerdy stuff is just a corner of a closet because I already purged the majority of it a little over 7 years ago when I downsized and needed to move what I owned over a thousand miles. But I still have over 20 years of old laptops, a handful of old motherboards, quite a few drives, numerous embedded device boards (everything from specialty boards to multiple generations of Raspberry Pis) , an original C64 power supply, and some other really weird odds-and-ends that I acquired over the years . The hardest thing is cables, because I tend to purge those overloaded boxes more frequently and end up needing one later .

The stuff that’s hardest is really sentimental or heirloom stuff as mentioned in the cartoon . I got rid of some of the stuff in that downsizing, but some is really hard, and for some reason parents love to dump a lot of sentimental stuff on us...

Napoli > MonkeePuzzle 07/29/2020 at 12:54

2

I stupidly tossed two 3dfx voodoo graphics cards a few years back. I looked at eBay recently and saw how much they are selling for now. So frustrating. I guess people want them to build quake 2 gaming rigs?

PatBateman > ttyymmnn 07/29/2020 at 12:54

1

Keep the 10 items out of the box that spurs the most memories and has the best stories attached to them. Then, make a nice wall piece with 10 nooks for those pieces. Every anniversary, you and your wife can take turns telling the stories and reminiscing about that day.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

Tripper > MonkeePuzzle 07/29/2020 at 12:57

1

Was SUPER pumped to find a firewire card and cable in my stash when I came across an old 8mm camera with me and my friends being idiots on it!

MonkeePuzzle > Tripper 07/29/2020 at 13:00

0

re-bought a few adapters once to get an analog video camera connected to my computer to rip some videos (of me and my friends being idiots) to a digital format. 

UserNotFound > ttyymmnn 07/29/2020 at 13:24

2

Right before the ‘rona hit, my mother in- law decided to empty her storage unit and I (foolishly but understandably) offered some space in our garage if she couldn’t fit it all in her garage and basement.

We then spent the following couple months going through that stuff and throwing most of it away, keeping some of it, and sending a few boxes of keepsakes over to her house.

But we did get a bunch of neat stuff like tools and a dresser and more Christmas lights than you can shake a stick at . And a couple weeks ago I found a rock tumbler in one of the boxes and my 4 y.o. son and I went a got a bunch of random stones from around the yard and we’ve been tumbling them. He things it’s the neatest.

ttyymmnn > Dr_Watson 07/29/2020 at 14:21

1

You never realize just how much shit you have until you try to put all of it in one truck. 

ttyymmnn > TheRealBicycleBuck 07/29/2020 at 14:22

1

That’s quite a find. We’ve still got a couple boxes of photos to go through. 

ttyymmnn > user314 07/29/2020 at 14:24

1

I’m not a hoarder, but I’m definitely a pack rat. I came across a few Boeing informational cards (letter size) for various aircraft, including the 747-400 and McDonnel FH Phantom. I can’t bring myself to throw them away.

ttyymmnn > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 07/29/2020 at 14:25

2

As I get into my 50s, I’m finding myself becoming intensely nostalgic about earlier times. Maybe it’s a midlife crisis, but without the sports car. Looking through the photos of college, when my wife and I were dating, and early photos of our life together, were kind of a punch in the gut. I love what we have now, but boy, do I miss those times. 

ttyymmnn > Tripper 07/29/2020 at 14:28

1

I think you might have a condition.....

;)

ttyymmnn > Eric @ opposite-lock.com 07/29/2020 at 14:29

1

I’ve still got all my old Mac G4 towers. Can’t imagine what I’d ever do with them. It would be fun to fire up the oldest one and see what’s on it. 

ttyymmnn > UserNotFound 07/29/2020 at 14:32

0

Haven’t heard about rock tumblers in ages. That’s cool.

ttyymmnn > Michael 07/29/2020 at 14:34

0

Damn.

Tripper > ttyymmnn 07/29/2020 at 14:51

1

several depending on who you ask

UserNotFound > ttyymmnn 07/29/2020 at 14:59

1

Me either! I remember when I was kid, learning it would take a month to finish and thinking, “A month!? But that’s FOREVER!!”

Now I look at it and think, “4 weeks? Not bad!”

Here’s the results of the first step, coarse grit (half the rocks were from around the yard and half of them were in the rock tumbler box):

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > ttyymmnn 07/29/2020 at 15:32

1

Every season of life has its beauty, some just shine a lighter brighter.

f86sabre > ttyymmnn 07/29/2020 at 16:32

1

My sister and I are going to camp out  at my parents for a few days at the end of August to go through boxes. It needs to happen. They won’t toss any of our stuff without us there. We’ve vowed to hold each other accountable.

ttyymmnn > f86sabre 07/29/2020 at 16:39

1

Get rid of it now, because when they move on, you’re going to get it all anyway. My wife’s mom sent us tons of stuff, and we got even more after she passed. We’re slowly working our way through it all. My father and step mother, thankfully, have spent the last couple of years getting rid of vast amounts of stuff: a small grand piano, my father’s enormous collection of LPs (the piano and recordings were donated to the Governor’s Magnet School for the Arts) , massive amounts of books, etc. My dad turned 80 this year, and we’re not sure how many more years they have in their house of nearly 50 years. Thankfully, they’ve already made those plans as well. 

Pixel > ttyymmnn 07/29/2020 at 17:36

1

I make an effort to do a sort of rolling declutter where I try to look in every box, bin, etc. every few years and see if there is anything I don’t want anymore. I’m glad of it as last fall I downsized from a 15oo sqft house to 800sqft.

I have also been getting the shop here set up, which has involved going through a lot of bins of garage/shop stuff, and it is oddly satisfying to just be brutal about purging stuff I have been hauling around for 20+ years. 

The Compromiser > ttyymmnn 07/29/2020 at 19:26

1

Y father whole of existence beyond his earthly remains and progeny is stacked in 4 boxes in my garage it may outlast  me