Makapuu
Well-known member
I guess I was being snarky. Sorry. I am not a great fan of shopping, the type that goes in gets what I want and leaves. I guess I get impatient. I'm sorta the same way at Lowes and HD now. I used to spend hours grazing through a hardware superstore, but with the advent of the internet, selection and prices are better.
Of course I do love tools so if I see a HF and have time to burn, I do stop and go in. Same with Lowes or HD or Orchard Supply Hardware or Ace. But I find that going into HF is disappointing after trying to find something I need, and seeing so much junky stuff. None of this is to thrash their USGeneral Tool chests, which are of decent quality and value, but not my thing. There is a bit of a cult following for them here at GJ, so if I did trash then there would probably be a GJ lynch mob coming to my house! A couple of my friends have them and swear by them. I would much rather get a Craftsman though on an incredible internet deal.
I will take some of this advise and hunt down these deals. I do think that HF would do themselves some good cleaning up their junkier offerings and upgrading their overall appearance. If you go into a HD then go to HF right after, you definitely get a feeling it is a little ghetto and few steps down in quality. (And this is a comment from someone who is a little ghetto myself). Here in the LA area where I live they don't seem to be doing that well. The store in Lomita on PCH was shut down last time I went by there.
One final comment. I had relatives who were severe hoarders for 50 years and after they passed away I cleaned up two houses they had. It took over 2 years of going there almost every day to clean up. The stuff was rat and mouse infested, so everything needed to be tossed in dumpsters, but they hid jewelry and valuables, so I needed to look through all of it because some of it was family heirlooms like photos and wedding rings. Friends came over to take anything they wanted, but most passed after they saw it. The hardest thing, as I went through all of the mail and letters and everything they had accumulated over decades was I had to relive their life. And I loved and was mourning and this only made it worse because I was also sad about them living with this mental illness all those years, that I tried, but couldn't help them with. It was so hard on my wife emotionally that after a few weeks I took over and did it myself. There was tons of Harbor Freight stuff all over the place, the junkiest of junk that they would never use anyhow. Had to toss most of it.
Since that my wife and I have decluttered most of what we have accumulated and never buy anything we don't need.
So I avoid junk, for good reason. I don't want my kids to have to dig through my junk after I croak. I want to take care of my responsibility to clean up and get rid of the **** that I no longer need as I go through life, and not impose this grueling process on my kids. If that defines me as a snob, then yes, I am absolutely a snob. And plan to stay that way.
Of course I do love tools so if I see a HF and have time to burn, I do stop and go in. Same with Lowes or HD or Orchard Supply Hardware or Ace. But I find that going into HF is disappointing after trying to find something I need, and seeing so much junky stuff. None of this is to thrash their USGeneral Tool chests, which are of decent quality and value, but not my thing. There is a bit of a cult following for them here at GJ, so if I did trash then there would probably be a GJ lynch mob coming to my house! A couple of my friends have them and swear by them. I would much rather get a Craftsman though on an incredible internet deal.
I will take some of this advise and hunt down these deals. I do think that HF would do themselves some good cleaning up their junkier offerings and upgrading their overall appearance. If you go into a HD then go to HF right after, you definitely get a feeling it is a little ghetto and few steps down in quality. (And this is a comment from someone who is a little ghetto myself). Here in the LA area where I live they don't seem to be doing that well. The store in Lomita on PCH was shut down last time I went by there.
One final comment. I had relatives who were severe hoarders for 50 years and after they passed away I cleaned up two houses they had. It took over 2 years of going there almost every day to clean up. The stuff was rat and mouse infested, so everything needed to be tossed in dumpsters, but they hid jewelry and valuables, so I needed to look through all of it because some of it was family heirlooms like photos and wedding rings. Friends came over to take anything they wanted, but most passed after they saw it. The hardest thing, as I went through all of the mail and letters and everything they had accumulated over decades was I had to relive their life. And I loved and was mourning and this only made it worse because I was also sad about them living with this mental illness all those years, that I tried, but couldn't help them with. It was so hard on my wife emotionally that after a few weeks I took over and did it myself. There was tons of Harbor Freight stuff all over the place, the junkiest of junk that they would never use anyhow. Had to toss most of it.
Since that my wife and I have decluttered most of what we have accumulated and never buy anything we don't need.
So I avoid junk, for good reason. I don't want my kids to have to dig through my junk after I croak. I want to take care of my responsibility to clean up and get rid of the **** that I no longer need as I go through life, and not impose this grueling process on my kids. If that defines me as a snob, then yes, I am absolutely a snob. And plan to stay that way.
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