Keep it or chuck it?

[ayceejay]

I have a friend who never chucks anything, as in rusty pipe, bags of cement half rock hard, gallons of oil he bought cheap sometime in 1962, spares for lawn mowers that ceased production thirty years ago etc etc etc. He has two huge barns full to the roof with STUFF it is indeed a sight to behold but it makes me feel ill because I am the opposite 'use it or chuck it' is my motto.
My way is not without problems though. Last year sometime I found a small tin of keys in my desk that I didn't recognize so I chucked 'em, today I was going through some stuff in the garage and I found another tin full of small padlocks - you guessed it.
So which side are you on do you keep all those offcuts and bar ends 'just in case' or are you more 'zen' and prefer a clear work space or is there a middle way?

 

[ASC1951]

When a friend of mine had to clear his dad's house a few years ago, he found - amongst many other wonders - two shoe boxes full of tightly packed rows of Wilkinson's Sword razor blades. Each one had been re-wrapped in its greaseproof paper and marked, in his dad's increasingly frail handwriting, with the date when he last used it.

My friend had to sit down for a moment.

 

[Hill Wimp]

Im a bit OCD in this department. If something has not been used in the last 12 months its going.More often that not it somehow returns, when i ask how its found its way back the grunt i get back is " well i've just used it so its good for another 12 months at least"

 

[Profpointy]

I have a friend who never chucks anything, as in rusty pipe, bags of cement half rock hard, gallons of oil he bought cheap sometime in 1962, spares for lawn mowers that ceased production thirty years ago etc etc etc. He has two huge barns full to the roof with STUFF it is indeed a sight to behold but it makes me feel ill because I am the opposite 'use it or chuck it' is my motto.
My way is not without problems though. Last year sometime I found a small tin of keys in my desk that I didn't recognize so I chucked 'em, today I was going through some stuff in the garage and I found another tin full of small padlocks - you guessed it.
So which side are you on do you keep all those offcuts and bar ends 'just in case' or are you more 'zen' and prefer a clear work space or is there a middle way?

We've not met, but what a coincidence you being a friend of my father's

 

[Profpointy]

Also reminds me of a tail about (i think) an academic in the natural history museum who carefully filed and labelled everything - he had a box labelled "peices of string too short to be of use"

 

[BigonaBianchi]

I minimised my life, if in doubt throw it out is my motto. I dislike clutter and as a single guy I no longer have to put up with it. I like to have the freedom to pack up my life and leg it , All I really want is a guitar, and bike and a laptop.

 

[Raging Squirrel]

I used to be a keeper and clutterer, had thousands of magazines and old clothes, cds and dvds. Then last year I just decided to bin everything that hadnt been used in the last 12 months

 

[Arch]

I have a friend who never chucks anything, as in rusty pipe, bags of cement half rock hard, gallons of oil he bought cheap sometime in 1962, spares for lawn mowers that ceased production thirty years ago etc etc etc. He has two huge barns full to the roof with STUFF it is indeed a sight to behold but it makes me feel ill because I am the opposite 'use it or chuck it' is my motto.
My way is not without problems though. Last year sometime I found a small tin of keys in my desk that I didn't recognize so I chucked 'em, today I was going through some stuff in the garage and I found another tin full of small padlocks - you guessed it.
So which side are you on do you keep all those offcuts and bar ends 'just in case' or are you more 'zen' and prefer a clear work space or is there a middle way?

I like the sound of your friend.

Well, I like the sound of his barns. I'd like a barn.

I think this answers your question.

 

[Salad Dodger]

We are just getting ready to move, from a house we have lived in for over 30 years, to a smaller place. So I have had to "re-appraise the usefulness" of stuff that I have kept (hoarded?) for much of that time.

And yes I did throw away a fence sprayer pump because it had no nozzle on the end, and the next week found the nozzle.

And yes, I did throw away an old and manky looking, but perfectly functioning, electric fan. And now I can't buy a replacement one anywhere as we sit and swelter in the heat...

 

[Hill Wimp]

We are just getting ready to move, from a house we have lived in for over 30 years, to a smaller place. So I have had to "re-appraise the usefulness" of stuff that I have kept (hoarded?) for much of that time.

And yes I did throw away a fence sprayer pump because it had no nozzle on the end, and the next week found the nozzle.

And yes, I did throw away an old and manky looking, but perfectly functioning, electric fan. And now I can't buy a replacement one anywhere as we sit and swelter in the heat...

Don't fret the wind is back in Kent today, well at least my part. Its actually quite cool compared to the last few weeks and no i am not complaining about the summer thats for sure.

 

[Saluki]

I like the sound of your friend.

Well, I like the sound of his barns. I'd like a barn.

I think this answers your question.

Well you need a barn, don't you. For when you get your baby Elephant.

 

[Moon bunny]

Also reminds me of a tail about (i think) an academic in the natural history museum who carefully filed and labelled everything - he had a box labelled "peices of string too short to be of use"

Perfectly normal in museums, Hover Fly has a plastic bag (museum grade acid-free at HOW MUCH ??!! per dozen) labelled and containing "Broken screws removed from name of boat", whilst I, while removing the floor boards, found a previous owner's underpants, now carefully labelled and in the stores.

 

[Saluki]

I am a chucker-outer.
I have a small flat and a fair bit of stuff and I don't like clutter, it keeps me awake just being there. I lived in a shared house with someone who is now recognised as a hoarder - not at hoarder stage when I shared with her, but the amount of stuff kind of closed in on me. I stuck it a month and moved out.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Last year sometime I found a small tin of keys in my desk that I didn't recognize so I chucked 'em, today I was going through some stuff in the garage and I found another tin full of small padlocks - you guessed it.

I chucked a load of unused keys away a while ago, when I got my tool cabinet out of storage I realised what one of them was for.

 

[Alex H]

I have a friend who never chucks anything, as in rusty pipe, bags of cement half rock hard, gallons of oil he bought cheap sometime in 1962, spares for lawn mowers that ceased production thirty years ago etc etc etc. He has two huge barns full to the roof with STUFF it is indeed a sight to behold but it makes me feel ill because I am the opposite 'use it or chuck it' is my motto.
My way is not without problems though. Last year sometime I found a small tin of keys in my desk that I didn't recognize so I chucked 'em, today I was going through some stuff in the garage and I found another tin full of small padlocks - you guessed it.
So which side are you on do you keep all those offcuts and bar ends 'just in case' or are you more 'zen' and prefer a clear work space or is there a middle way?

Is he of French descent? That's the norm round here - keep everything even if it's broken or rubbish.

It's got so bad that the law has been changed, so that when a house is sold, all the buildings must be empty.

When we bought the property next door, the old lady was in care, her only daughter had just lost her husband, so we agreed to clear the stuff ourselves

The property consists of house, barn (100sq m) and garden 700sq m

At some point the barn needed reroofing - where did the old tiles go? In the garden.

We have so far pulled out 800kg of scrap, including cartwheels tyres (large and small), barrel hoops, tractor parts, plastic bags, a ball of string that needed 2 black sacks to hold it, shutter hinges (at least 20 - the house only has 4 shutters) fencing (yes in the ground - not above it) barbed wire, tools broken and not, phials for animal drugs, bottles, kilner jars, a few bits of pottery, the list is endless.

The lady at one point had 21 cats I collected over 300 empty cat food bags.

Every time I use the rotovator I can guarantee it will be stopped by another piece of scrap or roof tile

Still we have so far made 232€ by selling the scrap