De Cluttering...

[BlackRat]

Been clearing out various cupboards and the garage over the last few days, and managed to fill.......7 large bin bags!

 

Last of the mags went for recycling today, along with a few books.

 

It's amazing what we keep, on the grounds that In might come in useful someday.......no doubt that day will come now whatever it is im going to need has been ditched.

 

I wonder if any other hobbies result in masses of 'useful' stuff being hoarded..........

 

What have you got tucked away.......

[Enterprisingwestern]

You should try emigrating, doesn't half focus your attention!

 

Mike.

[brossard]

It certainly is amazing how quickly magazines accumulate.  I have a cull now and then by taking two or three years worth and going through them for useful articles.  These I scan and store.  The mags then get recycled.  About a year ago I stopped all but one mainstream mag and continue to get MRJ.  Quite a savings in dosh and space.

 

I'm in the process of trying to sell off my accumulation of coach and wagon bits and bobs.  Surprising to me, I've actually sold a lot of these - they actually seem more popular than actual coaches and wagons - who knew?

 

John

[Captain Kernow]

I've not got anywhere near as much stuff as I had this time last year!

 

I haven't emigrated, but I have moved my railway room into another room in the house!

[johnarcher]

Been clearing out various cupboards and the garage over the last few days, and managed to fill.......7 large bin bags!

 

 

It's amazing what we keep, on the grounds that In might come in useful someday.......no doubt that day will come now whatever it is im going to need has been ditched.

 

 

Dead right in my experience. Having de-cluttered a lot over the years, not voluntarily, for various reasons (including divorce leading to a few years in small flats, then moves abroad and back again), I find I have spent a lot of time thinking "Oh, surely I wouldn't have got rid of that", and then a lot more in searches which only confirm that, yes, I did.

Edited May 24, 2018 by johnarcher

[bazjones1711]

It will come in handy , even if I never use it , well that's my thought anyway !

[uax6]

You should try building a Strowger Telephone Exchange! In the thirteen years I've been with the present Mrs Uax, I have disposed of about 10 tons of surplus equipment, and at present am going through another purge, not quite so much tonnage, but I'm guessing that there will be another good 2 tons or so going, and the depressing thing is, I've still got no room in the exchange building, so yet more will have to go....

 

Andy G

[modfather]

Yup, emigrating helped me commit to one scale and theme though, which should theoretically have lifted the output volume...

[Martino]

One divorce, one breakup of a long term relationship and then remarriage and emigration has caused a number of clean outs. Every now and then I thing “I’ve got one of those somewhere” only to find i did, but two or three moves ago. Equally, suddenly finding something and saying “why have I still got that old junk?”

 

I do regret getting rid of some of my old mags - early RMs, a whole set of Railways South East (I think that’s what it was called) and numerous other stuff.

 

Recently had an estate sale of my Parents in Law’s old home and actually took a whole load of stuff from our house and added it to the sale. It was quite cathartic and actually generated cash.

 

What I REALLY regret was trading in my father’s 1920/30s 0 Gauge stuff and my early Triang, Hornby and French Hornby stuff to buy a pannier tank kit (which built badly and sold) and a 61XX kit, which I still haven’t finished, back in the late 60s.

 

Still, I’ve now got a 16mm garden railway, and a few choice 00 locos which I managed to keep and I’m recollecting new magazines shipped from the UK at vast expense which will need to be culled or sold one day. As it’s all UK stuff it will mightily confuse the US residents when the time comes!

[tomparryharry]

Reading other contributors & posters on here (thank you folks) encouraged me to dig out some old rolling stock kits I'd stowed away many years ago. Right now I've got a mini production line of old Airfix 16 tonners on the go. Rooting around stock has its lighter moments: "Crikey, did I buy that?" Or, "Ah! There it is" springs to mind. I've just found a packet of Romford wagon bearings, but I know full well that there's another packet, lurking somewhere....

 

One real upside from this is a rediscovered ability to make 3-link couplings. I thought I'd lost the knack, but its still there. This past week has been euphoric, instructive and a major relaxant. Translating cardboard boxes of scruffy kits can be expensive, as the life expired cardboard is replaced by neater stowage boxes. In fact, a neat win-win situation.

 

A physiological brownie point 'accumulator' is when disposing of unwanted stuff. I leave the items in plain view, just enough for Mrs Smith to see it. That way, she can see you're not a 'hoarder' . One last job is to scan my relevant RM articles, and then recycling.

 

Have a great weekend.

 

Ian

[Unicorn1]

When we moved into our current house I "inherited" a box of old Triang bits and bobs that the previous owners thought I might find useful for my new railway room. Every now and then I look at it and think 'that really needs to go', but it hasn't yet - after nine years!

 

Les

[APOLLO]

I must make a start soon. Too many mags (same as many) - trouble is I like to re-read the older ones so I'll keep those. Everything after say 2000 will have any interesting bits removed then thrown. As others I hardly buy mags these days, and am thinking of a digital subs to one or two - I'm waiting to see what Andy York is coming up with soon re this site & BRM etc.

 

I've far too much stock, all sorts of stuff, not just railways either - garage is full of Rover V8 & assorted tat !!!. A  job I keep putting off.

 

Most is not worth much, thinking of putting it in a box and going to Hattons - a few bob is better than chucking it. Selling on ebay seems a pain - never tried it though.

 

Brit15

[Andy Hayter]

You should try emigrating, doesn't half focus your attention!

 

Mike.

 

Didn't work for me - thank goodness.

 

Moved country twice and I have not shed an empty box/Xerox of a magazine article.

 

Now working through all those kits bought years ago for what today are pence compared with their ebay asking prices and have a wealth of books, photographs and magazine to help back up the builds.

[davknigh]

Moving is very useful as a cleansing process. It forces you to think “why am I saving this?”. I am now beginning to adopt a policy of binning or flogging anything that has just collected dust for more than two years, that said, kits are usually exempt from this process.

 

Cheers,

 

David

Edited May 25, 2018 by davknigh

[BlackRat]

Blimey.....just found another 50 odd MRJ's!!

[brossard]

As long as they aren't duplicates BR.  To me MRJs are keepers.  I have managed to collect almost the entire set.  Always amusing to go through early issues.

 

John

[BlackRat]

As long as they aren't duplicates BR.  To me MRJs are keepers.  I have managed to collect almost the entire set.  Always amusing to go through early issues.

 

John

I've just just no room anymore........I have tried to give them away( twice) to no avail and 262 mags take up a lot of space.

 

Ditched about 1500 mags In The last few months, you can't give them away anymore!

 

I've had the odd person asking can I look for MRJ xxx or xx and one individual who wanted them all.

 

Unfortunately he wanted me to deliver them to him, in Southampton.....free of course!!!!!

[LBRJ]

I tried to thin out the mag mountain (starting from prob c2000 magazines!) rather than find yet another space to keep them.

The mid 90s onward non-RM ones were quite easy to part with in large numbers, as were many of the RM. But, when I got to the 80s ones (when I was early teens) I simply couldn't do it!

I even started to remember who when and where they had been acquired (RM September 83 in Oxford, after a visit to Pendon for example) I realised that some of them just have to stay with me for keeps!

Edited May 26, 2018 by LBRJ

[t-b-g]

One of my daughters makes a point of calling me through to see the telly when she is watching one of those "hoarders" type programs.

 

She just says "that could be you in a few years".

 

I have mountains of stuff which hadn't been seen or touched in years. It could all go but........

[Fat Controller]

Moving is very useful as a cleansing process. It forces you to think “why am I saving this?”. I am now beginning to adopt a policy of binning or flogging anything that has just collected dust for more than two years, that said, kits are usually exempt from this process.

 

Cheers,

 

David

In the last year, we've carried  out two house clearances; my mother's flat, after she died, and mother-in-law's, after she moved into a home. Even with the amount we threw out, or donated to charity, we still ended up with loads of stuff under the category of 'It's too good to throw away; I'm sure it'll come in useful one day'. However, at the end, one begins to see the attraction of de-cluttering...

[Classsix T]

Take heart friends. On the walking part of my daily commute for more years than I can recall, a property (with garage) had a white Capri, the garage itself was obviously rammed because the Capri never moved, it did gain a selection of duvets inside though.

After many years the Capri disappeared, to be replaced by a skip full of junk. The skip is brimmed and one would think accruing hire fees on a weekly basis.

 

C6T.