Hoarding

[Retro6]

I will put my hands up and say I used to be quite bad with hoarding, not hoarding rubbish but hoarding many different items mostly compulsive buying, online shopping as well as going to auctions... probably stemmed from loneliness. In recent years I've got much better with it although collecting things/buying things the impulse is still there... I've done well with clearing things out, giving stuff to charity shops or just chucking things out.

I noticed people are always chucking things out and I only really take things if I need them minus the Henry vacuum cleaners I pick up and take home but I've had to stop doing that now as I have about 20 odd that are taking up space in my living room soon to also be cleared out which I plan to do in the week to get my living room looking nice again. Sometimes I just don't realize what I am doing by collecting things.

Anyway Monday, time for another clear out, so much stuff to get rid off much of it very good stuff but I never use any of it and I can't be bothered with ebay and collecting boxes and packaging stuff so I'm just going to take a lot to the charity shop that way its gone and I can start getting my home back to the way I want it without stuff everywhere driving me mad.

I've got a large cupboard full of stuff, I will keep a few bits. Some stuff I can't just let go off like the vintage hifi speakers I have in there but never use plus a nice guitar amp and a black & white TV I would like to keep for a project but everything else can go. Maybe in time I can let go of the vintage hifi speakers... may need a bit more time with those.

First thing is to tackle my living room clearing out all those vacuum cleaners I only really need one in there and not 20 odd. It is very hard to let go of things but at least the room will look much better afterwards then I can start clearing out the large storage cupboard.

 

[Retro6]

Theres hoarding and then there's hoarding so many hoovers that you can't hoover because of your hoovers. Wtf are you using 20 hoovers for?

Get them sold, you only need the one!

I pretty much only keep what I use now, makes your life so much better not keeping bits of emotional plastic sat about your home.

It was more of a hobby, fixing them up collecting different colors and models, some people do collect these but I only have so many rooms in my home and when one has many hobbies such as mine one tends to collect a lot from those hobbies like retro computers, Ham radio gear and CB stuff the list goes on and before you know it your suffocating in hoards of collected items that gather dust and never get used.

 

[Retro6]

I'm not really a horder, but I keep tech stuff with the intention of selling it and then never get around to it.

Got loads of old phones knocking about that would have been worth decent money at some point. Also a few computer bits - And the two things I did sell went up massively in value after I sold them (RAM and 4090 GPU)

Thats the thing... its like all my retro PC builds I was going to sell them but the problem arises with having too much... too much to sell and selling stuff takes time... too much time and when your in a space that in chaos it just makes you not wanna bother with it and say to yourself I'll do it another day or another week and then involves collecting boxes and packaging where there is no space to store more stuff so the best solution is to get rid reduce the mass, give to charity shops, throw things away post things online either super cheap or free then within one week you have a nice clear clean space and a nice looking home again. Well my retro computer stuff is deep inside my walk in closet and I'm leaving that until last. My goal is to clear floor space and tackle the other storage cupboard.

 

[Retro6]

I’m pretty ruthless about getting rid of things only to make room for more. I enjoy a bit of retro gaming, a few years back my collection of systems, monitors started to grow, so I had a purge not too long ago and dont regret. I stick with one hobby now.

Most of the time I can’t be bothered with eBay, so I usually donate to charity shops. I do sometimes wonder if the nicer items ever make it to the shelves or if the staff snag a bargain. Must give Members Market a go to get rid of some bits.

My dad, on the other hand, has developed a bit of a hoarding habit, not in the house, but in the garden. Garden pots! If it’s not a ceramic pot, he’ll use a substitute like an old paint pot with a twig or something growing in it, which looks ridiculous and drives me nuts.

I often see notices in charity shops saying they can't accept anymore donations because of there ridiculously high prices, they are not getting stuff sold and there nice items tend to be kept on the back room that either go walkies or there listed on ebay auction.

 

[Retro6]

To think that one day all your stuff ends up in a skip or rubbish collection van once you pass away is kinda sad... I'm a collector of antiques, a whole range of antiques, old coins, some gold pocket watches from the 1800s and boxes of other old antiques and I wont have anybody to pass them on to... I've probably got another 30-40 years to go yet before I bite the dust, I don't even think they bother going through things when they clear out a house. I can understand modern tat going in a skip but old valuable antiques, there must have been tons of rare decent things that have been chucked away from house clear outs after people have passed away. When I'm old I might make a will to donate the antiques to a museum and the National Trust

 

[Retro6]

Aye, generally what's precious to us is just tat to everyone else.

I'm comfortable with this.

Even gold and things that can easily fetch money and other things like roman coins... you just never know what could be in boxes and bags, draws etc etc. Also the times we are living in now where "vintage" is all the rage because modern stuff is tat. Charity shops go crazy over slightly vintage items with prices, they'd probably faint at something from the 1800s. History does need preserving...

 

[Retro6]

I agree... after seeing the state of the charity shops today with there rip off high prices I've decided not to donate anything to charity shops, I've got a hallway full of stuff that I was going to take there so instead I'll put it all out on the street corner. I got a huge train set which is going, I've only used it once I don't even know what possessed me to collect train set stuff so that is the first lot going out and there is a lot of it. I got loads of computer junk as well, power supplies, CD ROM Drives "IDE" cables, motherboards with bad caps, boxes of old video cards, not all of them work but I will go through those, save a few of the good ones, most are just old generic cards not really worth anything so all those can go. More boxes of random PC parts, tons of old trainers I never wear. More boxes of old console stuff to take to CeX what they don't take I will chuck. Well that is the first lot of stuff going...

 

[Retro6]

I've been making good progress today clearing things out. I came across my old Rotel amplifier from 1989, although it works it sounds very flat with a total loss of any bass or treble. I know whats wrong with it, it needs a bunch of capacitors changing and its been sitting my storage cupboard for years and I was debating whether should I attempt to repair it or just chuck it.... it has a nice transformer inside... it may have another issue besides faulty old capacitors as the left side glass fuse blows after half an hour of operating with speakers hooked up... it may just be fine once its been re-capped who knows... maybe I will hang on to it, I have a few audio electronic pieces to repair anyway in that cupboard.

 

[Retro6]

Vast majority of stuff people hoard is junk. You'd get pittance for most of it. Not worth the time trying to flog it or bring it anywhere.

Calling it vintage and thinking its worth any thing is an excuse to keep hoarding stuff.

I hear ya but a lot of my hoarded stuff is actually quite valuable that sells for loads on places like ebay but it would be quite labor intensive to take photos off all the things, then list them all and the rest of it, plus more, there is always more... I've also got tons of 70s/80s Stars Wars figures & accessories, stacks of CB Radios with SSB they now sell for 150 per radio, those have become very collectable 80s HeMan figures I will put some stuff online but most I'm just going to give away. I've also got way too many tools, my tool cupboard is over flowing, each time I need a tool I've got to pull everything out to get to the tools I need, lots of containers full of screws and bolts, bags full of mains plugs another cupboard to tackle once I've cleared out more junk.

 

[Retro6]

I have a few issues. I really need to get on top of it.
I'm a bit of a hoarder, with computer stuff mostly - I've got a lot of old kit that I almost certainly won't ever find a use for (back to a couple of LGA775 motherboards and CPUs, a pair of waterblocked GTX670s.... a couple of boxes of DDR1/2/3 RAM pulled from a load of office PCs that were getting thrown out), as well as some stuff (fans, new case, radiator) that I bought a few years ago but haven't got around to re-building my system.

I also have a lot of old clothes that haven't fit me in years, but are nice (and were expensive) so I keep them in case I ever get back down to a more sensible weight (or as 'motivation' to do so).

Beyond that though, the place is just a mess, mostly through my own laziness (and quite probably MH, which might be a bit better if I resolved it). I'm too embarrassed by it to let most people come round, except my best friend as he lives out of town, so sleeps on my sofa sometimes when we go out.

It started when I was recovering from surgery and not very mobile, but that was a few years ago and it's got gradually worse as I don't really know where to start..... I did buy a new vaccuum (guess which brand? ) as my old cordless one was utterly useless, but I haven't got around to using it yet as there's too much clutter. I also need to get on top of the recycling again as it's just piling up in the kitchen, as well of mountains of post I need to sort through and work out what I need to keep (and also didn't like throwing out for fear of identity theft).

I think the first thing (beyond the kitchen) I need to do is get rid of a load of boxes for any PC bits that aren't worth anything, then condense any parts worth keeping to a single box or cupboard and get rid of the rest. That'll give me the rest of my second bedroom (office/gym) back and hopefully once I start to progress it'll get easier to continue.

Its so easily done... we get carried away in various hobbies, and in hobbies like these we tend to hoard without realizing it until it gets to the point where there is nowhere to put stuff and then once all storage spaces have been filled then as you collect more, the floor space starts to gather more things and eventually it becomes a nightmare... I've done the same with collecting motherboards, mostly Pentium II & III stuff plus socket 775 stuff, I think the bulk of what I have in my walk in wardrobe is retro computer stuff, many beige boxes, systems already built including 486 machines CRT displays old keyboards. I think it is a mental health condition because I ask myself why do I need so many, its not like I live in a mansion where I could have every system setup and displayed... in the end it all just becomes an inconvenience filling up space. The laziness part I think has a lot to do with being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff. Motivation is another big factor with having hoards of stuff... I must admit I have been becoming very motivated with getting things done over the past couple of years no matter how big the task is. Once things are cleared out its also so easy to get back into the habit of collecting again. Its a hard habit to kick. I think loneliness also plays a big factor, spending a lot of time alone where we tend to have quite a few hobbies that often involve buying/collecting things.

 

[Retro6]

Still desperately waiting OP hoover pics

I will get them done I'm just busy sorting out my house at the moment. I might get some photos up this evening...

 

[Retro6]

Apologies for the long wait for the photos I've been so busy with things... here are some of them, I couldn't stack all of them to get them in shot so I've done a few photos.

 

[Retro6]

You've made an old man very happy, do you ever turn them all on at once? just for sucks and giggles? I spot the odd spec of dust here and there, @mrk would probably be having a mild seizure!

I haven't done that I'd be worried about blowing the fuse box, drawing too many amps having them all on at the same time. I'm giving that room a good scrub down I've at least cleared out most of the junk in that room.

 

[Retro6]

I dunno if this is a cry for help now but lol why...
Aren't those Henry's currently worth a few quid?
Don't builders love them cos they are durable, I might be wrong

Good luck on your journey

I'm gonna try to sell them, I'm keeping two, a Hetty and A Henry but the rest can be sold. A few are souped up inside with Dyson motors. Its just a matter of finding a suitable site to sell them. They will all be put away for now.