Tosser or Saver?

Ok I admit I keep stuff.
BUT
I have a system.

If we use something its in its place either in the house shed or garden shed.
When I notice that something hasnt been used for sometime it goes in the shed.

If it then susequently doesnt get used for 12 months it goes out the side of the shed, unless it can be dismantled and canabalised.

If it then has not been used for another 12 months it goes to the rubbish tip.

Now, the real danger with this system is more stuff coming back from the rubbish tip than I actually took there in the first place.

Broken things go in the shed to be fixed. I will get around to it.... one day.

I'm a semi-saver, E.G. is a complete tosser (heh). Nothing makes him happier than spending a Sunday afternoon amassing a vast pile of stuff to Get Rid Of. Whenever we've moved, he's had deep angst at how much STUFF we have.

Now by most standards I'm pretty far to the streamlined/ tossy end of things. I have a limited amount of clothes and shoes (far fewer than most women I know), and regularly go through things to get rid of stuff that I'm not using (though I more often donate it or give it to someone rather than toss it, unless I'm getting rid of it because it's ruined in some way). Sozlet has hardly any toys compared to most of her friends. About the only area in which we're rather profligate is books.

But, E.G. is much further yet to the spartan side of things than I am, and so yeah, this can be a bone of contention.

I've found that I'm more willing to get rid of things the more confident I am that I can afford a replacement if I need it. A random example -- I had some fancy high-heeled shoes that I pretty much never wore. E.G.'s position -- if I never wear them, get rid of them. My position -- if I need to get really dressed up, like for a wedding or a special event, those were the only shoes I had that were appropriate and I didn't want to have to buy new shoes for that (emergency shoes tend to be expensive).

In general, I do tend towards keeping things that are potentially useful. We keep a limited number of boxes (Amazon boxes are especially useful to re-use) in the basement -- if there are "enough," we get rid of extras. I keep a limited number of small plastic containers (like yogurt containers) for sozlet's painting + art projects. I keep New Yorkers for 3 years (E.G. would prefer to throw them out as soon as we've both finished reading them) because I'm forever remembering some interesting article and not being able to find it online. But all of those things rotate -- after 3 years, the New Yorkers DO go in the recycling (though I sift through for interesting covers first), etc.

Semi-tosser rather.

I have a system like that too, farmerman.

famerman? dadpad.

I haven't quite taken to this early bird business yet.

I'm a saver-tosser married to a tosser-saver. We each want to save our own stuff and toss the other's.

I was a horder living with a tosser. Over time I've learned to be okay with tossing things. I'm now a minimalist. I like things streamlined, uncluttered. I keep a few books I've already read just so there is something on the shelf. I can't read books twice.

JPB - That sounds familiar!

Soz has got powers of precognition. How did she know I was gonna post on this thread?

How did she know that My system is like dadpads (ok its not ) but if I say I have a system, I sound semi-sane.

Im not so much a "saver" as A "collector".
The neat thing about a farm is that you can have outbuildings that accumulate all the "Stuff".

My wife is beginning to worry about what Im going to become when Im 70.

At present I live in a house with limited accessible storage space.

I'm not one for accumulating clothing or kitchen plunder. My mother told me that anything "decorative" had to be dusted and I'd better like it enough to dust it. Consequently, I don't like clutter and I don't like stacks.

As far as books go, I'd say I'm an accumulator rather than a hoarder. If I might want to read a book again--even a piece of well-written trash--I shelve it. At this point I'm double shelving and I figure in two or three years I'll have to resort to stacking on the top shelf.

Mr. Noddy is a confirmed handyman pack rat. He's an optimist who feels all things may be useful and a pessimist who is sure that rainy days will come with locusts, plagues and shortages.

I figure as long as I don't have to dust his security stashes....

The answer of course is a bigger shed.

OK- Take my attic (PLEASE ) That space is reserved for things that we both know that we will never use. The attic is not very sturdy (Just a few large pieces of wood thrown over the beams) so I would not even attempt to go up there.

When we moved her in '94, Mr. P. put some "stuff" in there.................like old suitcases. If you know how hot Florida gets in the summer, you can imagine what a hot attic would do to old suitcases! But they are there, as is the dresser mirror that we removed when we changed the configuration of our spare room. Every once in awhile he puts more stuff up there. If we ever have to sell the house, I will have to pay someone to go up there to throw the junk out!

My contention is that if we did not need something in 1994, what the hell would we do with it in 2007?

specially for Noddy... a stack.


View of "the shed"









That work bench is a work of art is it not?

Your workbench brought back memories, dadpad.

When we bought our house in '86, I filled the basement with metal racking. Then for almost 20 years, we saved everything. As time went by, the original system was lost and it became chaotic. We were always going to "get down there and clear some stuff out". If friends talked about needing something, we'd tell them to come to our "store" first.

When I moved to my current condominium, I had to get rid of everything but the essentials. I filled 2 dumpsters. An electronics recycler came and packed his van to the brim. I made countless trips to GoodWill and the used book store. I shredded scads of old bank records and income tax info. We had a 5 bag garbage limit, so I "borrowed" my neighbours unused bag allotment for 2 months. At the end, in desperation, I gave away persian carpets, furniture, filing cabinets, garden tools, etc., to friends and friends-of-friends. It was exhausting. But when it was done, it felt good.

I will never be a saver again. Except books.

But I don't like being a tosser either - so my solution is to NOT buy stuff unless I really, really need it. Then buy only the best, so that it lasts a long time.

I'm getting to that latter way of thinking too, Tico. Haven't been able to afford it until recently, but really good stuff ends up being more cost-efficient, long-term.

dadpad- It is a small comfort, but at least I know that I am not alone!

Dadpad--

Your stacks! Your shed! Tell me you're decorating especially for Halloween.

Phoenix--

I was raised with both an attic and a cellar. Furthermore my parents both survived the Great Depression and I have memories of the civilian shortages of WW II.

We were both marked by the need for thrift and the available storage space.

I'm not a saver at all.

I keep the stuff, though, well organised:
- what I might use sometime in some sheds (shut, with doors!) in my office,
- what Mrs Walter finds, either
-- in one of the storage rooms
or
-- in the cellar,
what might be to get collected as bulky waste is at my mother's.

Mrs Walter saves everything unorganised in labelled boxes.

In answer to Farmerman's question.

"what are you going to be when you are 70?" Underfoot.

And Dadpad.

"when is the garage sale?"