So many "advice givers" want us to declutter.

[sea2summit]

If I don't use something in 6 months, it's gone. To date, I have never looked back and said, I should not have thrown that out. The odds of using something later on, and knowing where it is and finding it in a reasonable time frame...is very low.

Shoot, half the time I’m thinking “I wish I would have grabbed 10 more of these out of the dumpster six months ago”.

Here’s random projects I’ve made off of free material out of dumpsters, dump piles, or CL “free” adds in the last three-ish years.

 

[goeduck]

As an example of hoarding, my mother in law would take our drink cups out of her garbage after we left town and store them away. Later we would find them washed and put in plastic bags in her basement. My wife does not go to that extreme, but the apple did not fall from the tree.

A friend of mine used to be in the construction business and still had all of his old tools. He said they were in his "bank account" and he would sell them when he needed money. I asked him how many were corded and how many were battery powered. He said all of them were corded. I told him that he better check his bank balance. Who is going to pay big money for a bunch of old tools that are not the current technology?

 

[jaxs]

"Who is going to pay big money for a bunch of old tools that are not the current technology?"
Had I not found one a few months ago to replace the one described below I would be interested in an old corded drill. Not for big money though,I paid $5 at a garage sale. In the 60s I bought a corded drill from Sears that had 2 speeds long before that was common. Dull nickel housing and 1/2"pipe threads on either side to screw a handle into. Long after I had handier cordless drills,I pulled that old soldier out to bore holes in steel in the field and in shop that wouldn't fit on press. You can near count revolutions on low speed. Cordless drills have the power but I've til yet see anyone that can maintain a consistent slow speed while drilling steel with large bits and hole saws. I credit that as why my cordless drills last longer than most people.

 

[mikester]

I have lots of things that I haven't used in 6 months or even a year. But it doesn't mean that I'm getting rid of it.

Hoarding is actually on the mental health spectrum

I save something because I know I will need it one day. Usually I need it a week after I've thrown it out because it was sitting in a dusty box on a shelf for the past 20 years...I have to buy a new one at full price...then a month later I discover two other ones I bought on sale and stored in other places so I wouldn't forget!

 

[Oaktree]

Shoot, half the time I’m thinking “I wish I would have grabbed 10 more of these out of the dumpster six months ago”.

Here’s random projects I’ve made off of free material out of dumpsters, dump piles, or CL “free” adds in the last three-ish years.

Wow, you have much better dumpsters where you live than we do here. Dunno if it's just Yankee thrift (real Yankee, as in "can't get there from here" New Englander not just some random northerner) or what, but not many here throw out "good stuff".

A friend of mine used to be in the construction business and still had all of his old tools. He said they were in his "bank account" and he would sell them when he needed money. I asked him how many were corded and how many were battery powered. He said all of them were corded. I told him that he better check his bank balance. Who is going to pay big money for a bunch of old tools that are not the current technology?

How true. There was a secondhand store/junk dealer near me that got completely out of used tools because there was very little market for them. Ditto for stereo equipment. He said you can't give most of that stuff away.

The wife and I will sometimes watch old reruns of American Pickers. Those guys are always are always climbing thru piles of rusty old junk some old geezer has saved for decades looking for something that might actually be worth some money.
Most of it's just crap. Some of it might have been good/useful once upon a time if it hadn't spent the last 40 years in a pile outdoors.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I hoard fasteners also. One bucket each for bolts, nuts, washers, screws, misc.

If I have a nut that fits a bolt, they get stored screwed together. It saves a lot of time and frustration trying to find the nut that fits, thanks to multiple thread pitches in SAE and metric.

 

[scaredychicken]

I save something because I know I will need it one day. Usually I need it a week after I've thrown it out because it was sitting in a dusty box on a shelf for the past 20 years...I have to buy a new one at full price...then a month later I discover two other ones I bought on sale and stored in other places so I wouldn't forget!

Brothers from different mothers

That happens to me too ... I have about 35 hammers scattered in buildings, and the workbench area. ... Oil, Transmission Fluid, tractor Engine Oil, tires / rims, batteries, jackets, washer fluid, fencing, lumber, - it's endless

this is why I intend to get a shipping container (when wife permits), to organize it all

 

[ptsg]

Hey, just fixed an old beat up vise and I didn't even need to buy anything even though it was missing the bolts for the jaws. I just went to my stash of bolts and grabbed four 1/4-20 flat head cap screws. Had I not saved those screws, it would've cost me a bunch of wasted time and fuel just to buy four screws. Being imperial, it would most likely require a trip to all hardware stores in the city and still had a slime chance of finding it in stock.

I can't say how many projects and repairs I've done just relying solely on what me and my dad saved over the years. Some people call it hoarding but for me, it's saved me a bunch of money not only on the parts but also on the fuel to go buy said parts.

 

[jaxs]

At this point I have my wood shop in the attached garage. To alow wife's car to use garage,imovable items are all on one side. Tablesaw,jionter,planner,shelves and such on rollers are used where car ordinarily parks then store beneath pallet rack.
Welding,mechanic work and large projects in 30x50 metal building. Several pallet racks,wall shelves,rolling bus carts for storing and bringing tools to project and wire racks on wheels. 3 portable buildings,1 for lawn and garden equipment,1 for items I sale and 1 for holiday and seasonal.
To make it easier to tell grandsons were something is in 30x50 building I painted swatches red-white-blue-yellow-green every 10' on joists and top plates. 3 joists have large black 1-2-3-4. Grab a chain and boomer from blue 3 will get them within little more than arms reach,,,,,,,,,until they return them to nearer green 1 after we finish.

 

[Jchonline]

quoting Marie Kondo they tell us to keep only that which is necessary and makes us happy. That using that as our guiding north star will help us get rid of all that clutter.
I suppose if one is a bonafide hoarder, but I hoard other stuff.
I hoard oddments of steel bits of things, bolts, nuts, screws, lengths of pipe, aluminum or steel rod & bar stock and those funny shaped castings or machined parts that I take out of things I disassemble and toss.

I can't tell you how often I use those things and how much they save me financially because I don't have to buy something.

I will admit that keeping them using any kind of organization is hopeless. I just have to remember them.

Sounds like you are decluttered enough to be happy already