How Much Junk Do You Have?

[monkeygirl]

So, I moved from a 2-story house with a full basement to a two-bedroom apartment last December and I'm still not settled. I mean, all my stuff is unpacked and I know where everything is. But I tossed, donated and left so much stuff, I;'m not sure if I'm done purging.

Some of the things I wish I would have taken, I left and I brought a mess of things I won't use because they just don't go here. I'm still not sure what to do about all that because I don't know how long I'm staying here.

 

Have you taken a move as a chance to purge and if Y/ did you regret anything that didn't move with you? Did you toss or give away things you wish you'd have kept?

 

 

TELL ME, please, about your junk and what you keep and why and what you toss and how it leaves you feeling.

[Destiny Skywalker]

I come from a family of packrats (aka baby boomers) so I love to purge. I've been trying to get rid of kid clothes like mad, and sell or donate toys as they outgrow them. I regularly clean out my closet when items get worn or I lose weight, or my tastes change (getting rid of college and Florida clothes). I got in on the local community garage sale last weekend, and I made a whopping $53 and wasted probably 5 hours of my time, not to mention people were so stinking cheap that the things I did get rid of, I was really disappointed in how low I had to go. I think I'll just stick to the Facebook buy/sell/trade groups (I get way more money on there, and people aren't as weird as Craigslist) and donating to charity.

 

I don't think I've ever regretted getting rid of something (other than our hot tub, but I think I wish we hadn't moved it from Florida is really the issue, and there really was no way we could've kept it at our old house). I've definitely regretted keeping things. People give us home decor for Christmas all the time and it's just turned into clutter. For now a lot of it is packed away because it's nice STUFF, but it's all different themes and it isn't what I would've picked. Then again, I'd probably live with bare walls if it wasn't for pictures of my kids.

 

My husband is a bit of a packrat. He likes to keep old electronics, beer bottles, and clothes from middle school. I about cut him the other day when he asked if I really needed my ONE DAMN BOX of childhood memories. This from the guy who won't part with his baseball cards.

[Guest]

My wife is a packrat who likes to get rid of my stuff because it takes up too much space. Yes, we could get rid of some of my video games - that take up a small section of one shelf of a DVD shelf with plenty of room, but that's not going to do much compared to every paper she's written in her entire life, every trophy she's ever won, and every item of clothing she's had since she was in 6th grade.

[Evolence]

I bought a couple of grams of junk the other week, but I've already shot it all. Junk doesn't last long with me.

[Cerina]

We're constantly trying to purge stuff. We each have a box or two of keepsake like stuff that we refuse to get rid of, but everything else is at risk of going bye-bye. The last 2 garage sales we had raked in over $500 each. I don't know where we get all of this stuff! Our house is still full of stuff as well.

 

At the beginning of the year, I joined a decluttering challenge on a blog that I like. It was supposed to be 14 weeks of room-by-room decluttering and organizing. I did one week, the kitchen, and realized that there was NO WAY I would have been able to keep going while in school myself. But each week I saved the list of instructions/suggestions so that I can continue again once I have time. Possibly this summer.

[Driver]

I purge with every move and love it. My current place has about the same amount of living space as the last, but a fraction of the storage.

 

I got an entire garage down to 6 totes.

 

I'm not going to lie-- I equate the amount of stuff one keeps to their ability to deal with life. Streamlined space, streamlined life. My rule for the last few years has been to let the space dictate how much stuff I have.

 

No more clothes than what fits in my dresser. No more books than what fits on the shelf. No more bluerays than what fits under the TV. If something comes in, something has to go out.

 

The digitalizing of everything helps. I don't need 300 DVDs when I can have it on demand for $3. I only have movies that are collectables, unavailable streaming or stuff I know I'll watch over and over.

[Ms. Spam]

My grandfather passed away in January. My Dad sold his house and in cleaning it out my parents found a closet with 20 defunct alarm clocks that had broken throughout the years and my grandpa thought he could fix them.

[Burt]

I move on average every 1.5 years, so i i have mastered the purge. If I don't use it, I lose it.

[pavonis]

I've moved, on average, every two years. Purged every time. If we weren't willing to lift it, we lost it.

[monkeygirl]

And no big regrets over all this purging?

 

Some things I left at the house-Karastan carpets, light fixtures-are things I bought specifically for that house. I can't use them in this place and who knows where I'll end up next? But in that phase of my life4 I was spending a lot of money on 'forever' things and these are of forever quality. I'm not feeling the emotional tug I did the day after I moved, though. Half of me wants to let them go-the other half doesn't.

 

I don't hang onto too much from the past as it is. I only had one medium box of stuff I didn't use all the time. I'm going through media to digitize it so these are the last

tapes,, vinyl and discs I'll ever move. Lots of it is radio stuff so I can't just toss it. I need blackmail material for my retirement.

[Driver]

I'm not a stuff guy so I've never regretted getting rid of stuff. I know my dad regrets not hanging on to his MG car

[Cerina]

Nope. Every so often I wish I hadn't gotten rid of our waffle maker, but the fact is we barely used it twice in 5 years.

[NumberSix]

When JC and I moved in 2007, we took 18 trash bags full of books, toys, outgrown clothes, duplicate kitchenware, stuff, things, junk, and crap to Goodwill, and I unloaded four longboxes' worth of comics on the nearest Half-Price Books for pennies on the dollar. It hurt at first, but I can't say I miss any of it now.

 

My rule for the last few years has been to let the space dictate how much stuff I have.

This is kind of where I am today, especially with DVDs. Our place still holds quite a bit, but our capacity for expansion is about used up unless we want shelves covering every single wall like they used to at our old, claustrophobic apartment. If something doesn't fit, then something else needs to go to make room for it.

 

Comics accumulation is still an issue, though. Between weekly hauls and convention finds, on average I'm adding a longbox every year. I'm struggling with where to draw the line, and tempted to start tossing entire mediocre runs in the garbage just for spatial balance.

[Darth Lohr]

About twelve inches.

[Driver]

I went digital for comics. It's the only thing an iPad is perfect for

[monkeygirl]

I bought my i-pad before they supported flash so mine's virtually useless to me.

 

This is good stuff. THANKS, guys!

[Ms. Spam]

Yeah. Flash still isn't supported. If you pay you get to watch on iPads/Android tablets.

 

For the comics readers what do you use to view your comics online with?

 

Personally I have to keep clutter free. My condo is very tiny. I find though when you live in one place for a long time you have to learn to purge because it becomes easier to collect stuff. My desk has a weekly purge because during the work week school, mail and other things get left on the desk so on Saturday I have to go through and throw out all kinds of stuff. My garage/laundry room is really clean. It has one baby mama cat and her kitten, one bicycle, one bicycle car rack, one ice chest, one christmas tree and one box of ornaments, a toolbox, one vacuum cleaner, two brooms, a mop and laundry detergent. Nothing else. If you don't use it once a year at least toss it in your garage. Then inside the house it is down to if you don't use it at least once a month it's tossed.

[Driver]

I haven't been to a single site that gave me a flash error in ages. Most places have switched to HTML5. Most content providers like Netflix, Hulu, etc all have apps to get their content directly. For comics, comixology has revolutionized digital comics. you can buy and read from them directly-- not scour the web for illegal scans and downloads.

[The Human Torch]

I purge my material possessions tri-monthly.

 

My house remains filled but not full, orderly but lived in; eg. I vacuum daily to "Zen Garden" lines and shapes in the carpet to amuse and relax myself. I trim my junk to only the needed and wanted decided via practical use or emotional weight. Items that aren't mine go thru a short discussion and negotiation period with those who own them; eg. Kiddos' cuddly toys, the billionth pair of shoes of my wife's that were worn once and then found a treasured unmoving spot in the closet.

 

I have a household of 6 people so if I didn't do this brutal purging of stuff often then my home would look like the Trash-Witch in Labyrinth. I am a consumer, I buy stuff I don't need all the time and that's a key reason for needing to purge the excess so often. I should be better, perhaps donate some cash instead of buying more dumb ****, but at least I am at the point of acknowledging a near dangerous consumer habit for geeky things. Then again I buy the true majority of my dumb things from thrift shops (and direct from China via ebay), which is why I can afford to be a OMG THIS SHINY IS SO SHINY consumer.

 

I donate to the Salvation Army, because unlike places like Value Village, the majority of the Army's profits are for charity. I have never regretted anything I gave up, it felt good to give it up, better than keeping it.

[Pong Messiah]

swoop and burn

[Guest]

In a more thorough answer, we have a lot of stuff. I try to pare down on a regular basis, but my wife's clothes seem to multiply, especially as pregnancy happens and her body changes at different times of the year. Currently we're expecting in October, so it'll be 6 months off from my son, so she needs maternity clothes for completely different seasons. But you have to keep it because we'll have more kids. So it's tough.

 

Additionally, having kids means that things just appear, especially when my son is the youngest in my family by over a decade. And, since we expect more, we've kept a lot of stuff that's only used for a few months but is too expensive to justify re-purchasing.

 

We've also noticed that because of the space changes from our rental to our new house, we don't have space for things that we kept before, especially in light of the above referenced children. So we're constantly purging, my wife is selling it all on Facebook and somehow we still end up with more and more.

[Cerina]

We've gotten Noah in the habit of purging and donating his toys twice a year. Once before Christmas and once before his birthday in June. He enjoys it because he believes that the toys are all going to underprivileged kids who otherwise would have a Christmas or fun summer. And plus, it clears out space for all the new crap he's going to get for those 2 events.

 

I've been trying to convince my family to not buy him as many toys because he just doesn't need them and, frankly, never plays with a lot of them, but I've only managed to reach a few people. This year my aunt bought him a family membership to the science museum, and every time he goes he makes such a big deal about how it was the best gift ever. So hopefully that will stand out to the others. Except my mom who buys gifts instead of showing love in other ways. Since she seems physically incapable of showing affection in any other way, we've all learned to accept it for what it is. Plus, she's a pretty darn good gift giver.

[Guest]

Now that he's 2, and a little more fun and has real interests of his own, I find that people are buying him a lot more crap.

 

Yes, he likes trucks, but that doesn't mean he needs every $1 bargain bin truck you can find. And I get being on a budget, trust me. I wish my wife understood it more. I've been struggling to pay the bills and still buying gifts, especially for kids. You can find higher quality stuff for the same amount, you just have to look for it more.

 

I always "won" holidays in terms of gift giving to my nieces, because I knew them and spent the time finding the right thing for them, rather than just saying "Oh, she likes princesses so I'll buy this cheap princess thing." Especially when you're going to buy multiple small things. And here's the real kicker, if you spend an hour with my son, you'll realize that he likes trucks and trains, but he LOVES books. He'll sit and "read" for half an hour without getting up. If you REALLY want to get him excited, don't get him the Tonka truck, get him the book about Tonka trucks.

[Pong Messiah]

I have two "must keep" guitars and an assortment of other instruments, microphones, and amplifiers, a car, and maybe two large suitcases worth of clothes, toothbrush, dog supplies, etc. Everything else is optional.

 

Rapture ready.

[Ms. Spam]

I haven't been to a single site that gave me a flash error in ages. Most places have switched to HTML5. Most content providers like Netflix, Hulu, etc all have apps to get their content directly. For comics, comixology has revolutionized digital comics. you can buy and read from them directly-- not scour the web for illegal scans and downloads.

I may get back into comics now that they're digital. I moved a bunch of times and those long boxes are killers for your back. I have two tablets and really do want to get back to reading comics again.

I have two "must keep" guitars and an assortment of other instruments, microphones, and amplifiers, a car, and maybe two large suitcases worth of clothes, toothbrush, dog supplies, etc. Everything else is optional.

 

Rapture ready.

Rapture ready is probably the best way to put it. I've been looking at the daunting task of my Mom's house.