Do you sometimes keep things even though you know you'll never need them again? Has it become a problem? How big a problem is it?
IMO, we have too much stuff stacked up or packed away around the house. The problem is that most of the things I would like to throw away are my wife's, while the stuff I haven't used in decades still plays a role in my thinking. This has led to a few arguments among us, since I'd like to actually access our walk-in closet again. Someone living in a much less-cluttered house might refer to it as hoarding, but, as a paramedic, I have been in houses inhabited by actual hoarders, and our house is nothing like that. I refer to it as cluttered and would like it to be less cluttered.
This problem is exacerbated when I actually need something I threw away, and it's annoying to have to go on eBay to buy a cord I threw away a few months ago. So, I have four boxes of old cords stacked away; although I do occasionally find things that I need in these boxes, I something consider whether the space reclaimed by throwing this stuff away could justify having to buy something that I had thrown away on eBay, or whether I actually even need the device that I'm looking for a cord for, given that I hadn't used it in decades.
I have a large library (with 16 windows) of books that I'll never read again, including some that I bought and never read. Although I might find a book there from time to time as a reference, what could I do with that room if not for the floor-to-ceiling bookcases, and what else could I do with the time involved in rearranging or cleaning around them? For the most part, these books have sentimental value only.
I am convinced that I am right in a common marital quarrel that occurs whenever my wife wants me to bring something up to the attic. Rather than bringing it up to the attic, where it will never be seen or heard from again, shouldn't we just throw it away? I'm not asking anyone to get in the middle of anything, particularly not on the basis of one perspective, but I still have work to do up there. I have put in a floor, added a window, and run electricity to it, but I still need to finish one large wall and do another, and it is already hard to do around the junk we have up there now.
On the other hand, while I still go camping from time to time and take a lot of walks in the woods, I don't spend as much time in the woods as I once did, yet I have a whole bunch of camping equipment that I probably won't be using again, given that I keep getting older rather than younger.
IMO, we have too much stuff stacked up or packed away around the house. The problem is that most of the things I would like to throw away are my wife's, while the stuff I haven't used in decades still plays a role in my thinking. This has led to a few arguments among us, since I'd like to actually access our walk-in closet again. Someone living in a much less-cluttered house might refer to it as hoarding, but, as a paramedic, I have been in houses inhabited by actual hoarders, and our house is nothing like that. I refer to it as cluttered and would like it to be less cluttered.
This problem is exacerbated when I actually need something I threw away, and it's annoying to have to go on eBay to buy a cord I threw away a few months ago. So, I have four boxes of old cords stacked away; although I do occasionally find things that I need in these boxes, I something consider whether the space reclaimed by throwing this stuff away could justify having to buy something that I had thrown away on eBay, or whether I actually even need the device that I'm looking for a cord for, given that I hadn't used it in decades.
I have a large library (with 16 windows) of books that I'll never read again, including some that I bought and never read. Although I might find a book there from time to time as a reference, what could I do with that room if not for the floor-to-ceiling bookcases, and what else could I do with the time involved in rearranging or cleaning around them? For the most part, these books have sentimental value only.
I am convinced that I am right in a common marital quarrel that occurs whenever my wife wants me to bring something up to the attic. Rather than bringing it up to the attic, where it will never be seen or heard from again, shouldn't we just throw it away? I'm not asking anyone to get in the middle of anything, particularly not on the basis of one perspective, but I still have work to do up there. I have put in a floor, added a window, and run electricity to it, but I still need to finish one large wall and do another, and it is already hard to do around the junk we have up there now.
On the other hand, while I still go camping from time to time and take a lot of walks in the woods, I don't spend as much time in the woods as I once did, yet I have a whole bunch of camping equipment that I probably won't be using again, given that I keep getting older rather than younger.
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SO is still a bit resistent. He had no problem reforming big power tools but he hoards head sets, knives and stuff. Flying days are over! Give everything with the name of Bose to a flight school. Specialty knives. Give them to program graduates who just get military standard. It makes him happy!