get rid of your plastic pumpkins

jonny2mad · Post by **jonny2mad** » 23 Jan 2010, 01:39

Now is the time I feel to clear the decks of all the stuff that wont help you in the future .

List the stuff on ebay or DODGY TAX AVOIDERS do boot sales clear the decks .
at the moment Im listing thousands of things , Ive sold a load of old flying stuff I collected, old books .

Anyway post if your getting rid of things and what you think people wont need in the future .

And what you intend doing with the money

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 23 Jan 2010, 18:20

Been there, done that.

Apart from a couple of musical instruments I keep for sentimental reasons (and I'd get rid of them if I could be bothered) we've very little extraneous stuff.

The thing is, choosing a small house constantly forces choices upon you that wouldn't bother Sir and Lady Average. Neighbours with the usual trophy houses have piles of boxes of unused stuff ("Oh, it was a bargain", "Another project", etc etc) but of course storage is not a problem. Many never garage their cars because they're full of stuff - it's become even worse since Aldi & Lidl turned up.

Having said all that, we still have too much stuff.

I got two decent pairs of jeans from the charity shop and a brand new Regatta windproof, rainproof jacket exactly my size (€22.50 the lot) so that means out with an old jacket and two pairs of jeans - I haven't the room.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 23 Jan 2010, 18:38

Garage full of stuff?? Guilty as charged! There's:

6 boxes of chopped-up wood
5 bicycles
4 boxes of plant-pots
(there isn't 3 of anything)
2 axes and a saw
2 sledges(!)
1 bike trailer
1 dead kitchen unit full of gardening stuff
1 camping-Gaz cooker and fuel
1 push-mower
1 bike trailer
1 home-made trailer
Several HUGE candles
Some (but not much) stored food.

One of these days I wonder if I'll go into our garage to get some seeds and find a Lithuanian living in it!

JohnB · Post by **JohnB** » 23 Jan 2010, 18:50

I'm quite pleased with myself. Apart from my workshop, all my stuff is in the kitchen at the moment. Some is on and around my desk, I've got a smallish wall unit that came with the house with some space to spare, three shelves of useful books, and a pile of boxes of stuff (nearly all books) to get out when I get properly organised stacked along one wall of the tiny laundry room. It should all fit nicely into the 18ft x 15ft max room I've got earmarked for my bedsit, when I can extract myself from my van!

There's also a dining table for anyone to use in the kitchen, and the lodgers are using my few other bits of furniture. Oh, and they've got a pile of my musical instruments in their room, but I'm happy for anyone to play them!

My workshop will take up the room below my bedsit!

The beauty of sharing the house is that most of my stuff can be used by other people as well, so the stuff that is really personal to me takes up very little space.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 23 Jan 2010, 18:52

RC, stuff it may be, but it's highly useful stuff.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 23 Jan 2010, 19:09

That's the idea (hopefully!) but nevertheless the car has to stay outside

Kentucky Fried Panda · Post by **Kentucky Fried Panda** » 23 Jan 2010, 20:01

I've got motorbike parts to sell, but a few more months to wait so I can get the best prices for them...

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 24 Jan 2010, 01:04

Garage? Isn't that a place you go to to buy petrol or get the car mended?

We've got sheds full of useful stuff and quite a bit of rubbish as well.

JohnB · Post by **JohnB** » 24 Jan 2010, 09:38

RenewableCandy wrote:That's the idea (hopefully!) but nevertheless the car has to stay outside

My wheels are 9ft 9in high, so don't fit in a normal house type garage. My garage is the log shed

.

Post by **adam2** » 27 Jan 2010, 12:36

Getting rid of plastic pumpkins sounds sensible enough, but unless really desperate for space I would not throw out anything remotely useful.

I certainly would not throw out old clothes because I had purchased new.
The old ones could be stored against any future emergency that prevented doing the laundry. Use until dirty and THEN throw out. I keep old underwear, outer clothes, and bedlinen for just that reason.

I likewise keep old, but partialy useful tools etc. Good for lending, and for jobs when damage or loss is likely.

snow hope · Post by **snow hope** » 27 Jan 2010, 13:45

I do the exactly the same Adam.

I throw nothing out unless it has no use at all. Of course, some people call me a hoarder, but come the end of the world, I will be the last one laughing.......

(you have to be able to laugh at yourself!)

tattercoats · Post by **tattercoats** » 27 Jan 2010, 15:46

There is a certain satisfaction in getting to enjoy the heat from burning old filing that one no longer needs to keep. That's an easy choice.

It's true that some choices - keep or not - are harder. I'm a recovering magpie, myself.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 28 Jan 2010, 11:32

If us bloated westerners didn't have so much stuff, there would be less need to hoard it...

the_lyniezian · Post by **the_lyniezian** » 01 Feb 2010, 22:57

emordnilap wrote:If us bloated westerners didn't have so much stuff, there would be less need to hoard it...

Fair point, though since the stuff exists, rather moot. Better to avoid acquiring more...

Frankly, though, you would probably hate me with all the stuff I end up hoarding... most of it old, second-hand junk which I would get rid of were I to get round to it.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 02 Feb 2010, 11:33

the_lyniezian wrote:
emordnilap wrote:If us bloated westerners didn't have so much stuff, there would be less need to hoard it...
Fair point, though since the stuff exists, rather moot. Better to avoid acquiring more...

Frankly, though, you would probably hate me with all the stuff I end up hoarding... most of it old, second-hand junk which I would get rid of were I to get round to it.

In Russia they say "is it asking for any Bread?". If it costs nowt to keep it and isn't preventing you from doing something else, it needn't be a problem (though that's certainly not my style).

We get rid of all the clothes/toys/bikes the sprogs have outgrown, and I recently flogged a sideboard that we weren't using at all, but...

Depends what you'd call genuinely useless. What would anyone classify as a genuine Plastic Pumpkin?