Too much stuff or Too little storage?

[matt_i]

I thought I was bad. then I saw a show on TV where a person literally would not part with the trash, and stuff was 4 feet deep in the whole house or apt. Realizing that is sort of a mental illness....

....I think I underestimate time. I know I have the skills to fix/refurbish the stuff that I find, but the divisive nature of life's priorities and perhaps my waning energy also work against the sheer amount of time that it takes to accomplish things.

My mom grew up on a farm and they didn't really ever part with a piece of wood or metal...it might come in handy someday. of course they had exorbitant barn space to store it all. I'm sort of built (trained? ) along those same lines.

 

[crewchief888]

since ive been old enough to drive, and had access to a garage, most of my vehicles were too tall (vans lifted 4x4's) to fit in the garage anyway...

i've always tried to keep clutter to a minimum, at least so the wifes car would fit in the garage.

when we were looking for a house, i had 2 stipulations, a garage and full basement. wife grew up in south florida and really didnt understand the whole basement "thing", growing up we had a small garage, full basement and some attic storage space.

when i lived places that i didnt have a garage, i kept my "stuff" to a minimum, and what i had was kinda scattered around in different places.

 

[404]

I think it's a Southern California thing. The better neighborhoods have legal restrictions about parking a car on the street and encourage people to park in their garages. Some neighborhoods might have five vehicles (some not running) parked in the driveway and in the street. Our lots are small so before too long the place looks like an used car lot. I used to have a neighbor who bought and sold cars on the side and always had a car with a for sale sign in the window parked in his driveway. Whenever I mowed my lawn I would get asked about the car for sale. Lots of homeless people who live in their cars like to camp in cities that permit overnight parking on their streets. My sister in law had to deal with an unresponsive local police department because there was a homeless guy who would sleep in his old Camero in front of her house.

Okay what you say makes a lot of sense. We don't have those problems around here. More room.

 

[taumac]

Florida house **** big balls when it comes to storage. My house has good size closets in each bedroom and one front front hall closet. No basement but I do have a attic. Now the attic space is basically engineered truss system really not meant to hold much but the HVAC system and ducts but I manage to get some use out of it for holiday stuff and other things. My garage is considered a slightly oversized at 20 x 22 but normal is around 18 by 20 like what my father has. He only has room for 1 car in his. You can put 2 cars in there if you don't have STUFF but I see many people with only 1 car stored in a 2 car. I see newer homes built with only a 18 x18. Overall you got to become very CREATIVE with storage in a FL home.

 

[Off-Street Parking]

I would have said, ones that will never move and those who are going to move at some point in their lives.

Moving a household a couple of times really makes you understand need vs wants.

 

[Off-Street Parking]

But also as stated older houses were never designed with a lot of storage space as people did not have that many things , clothes etc etc.

Older houses just allocated space differently according to different needs.

I live in a 1920s house, with a full basement and a full "storage attic" that makes way better use of space than most of the 80+ year newer houses I've seen in my area. It has pitiful closets though... So overall plenty adequate storage, just a different distribution than we are used to.

Our previous house was a 1900s house with a full basement. No attic to speak of, very very tiny... But the house was built with gigantic triangular closets that used up almost every inch of the under-roof shape for storage. Same deal, adequate storage, just a different distribution of space.

 

[hotdogstand]

I have a fair amount of clutter and could be considered novice hoarder. I tend to hold on to things that "I may use later for a project" and end up forcing myself to get rid of it later. I also have things I collected years ago that I am no longer interested in but no one else is either but I can't seem to force myself to let it go super cheap or sometimes for free.

Same here. My grandpa died in 2002 and no one between him and me does cars so I got a ton of his old ****. I have a stack of chevy small block thermostat housing gaskets (the cardboard kind) that I can't throw away because I swear I'll build another one some day. I have a shifter ball for a car I've never owned, and a half-worn brake pedal for an 85 Camaro because there is one around the corner and it might be for sale one day.

 

[langss]

Same here. My grandpa died in 2002 and no one between him and me does cars so I got a ton of his old ****. I have a stack of chevy small block thermostat housing gaskets (the cardboard kind) that I can't throw away because I swear I'll build another one some day. I have a shifter ball for a car I've never owned, and a half-worn brake pedal for an 85 Camaro because there is one around the corner and it might be for sale one day.

I feel your pain. I am kind of in the same boat. I keep hoping my Grandchildren will take an interest in what I do and have, but so far it looks like I may be pretty busy selling all my stuff on Ebay.....

 

[PoorOwner]

I like to have one of each
Two of somethings like grinder or drills

And everything I own is beautiful or useful to me.
Just that I can't always find all of them. That's why I have 2 or 3 of them right ?

 

[nadogail]

I was raised by survivors of the Great Depression, who never seemed to accumulate a lot until the late 50's.

As kids (there are three of us) we never had a lot. We got by, but with very few "extras".
My parents rented until the late 50's and moved frequently.

As a result, I tend to gather "things that will be useful Someday" that I have found. I also hang onto what I have because historically I felt that I might not be able to replace them.

As a result, I have a large collection of "neat ****" like steel, lumber, pneumatic parts, and other things to build stuff from.

I have pretty well run out of available room to store new finds and actually feel good when I can use some of my "treasures".

I am only bringing home things that I can store and have an identified plan to someday use.

I still look at the FREE stuff on Craig's List, but only rarely try to get any of it.

I guess I am a recovering Wanna Be hoarder.

 

[KTMrider]

My mess...[emoji3][emoji12]

 

[afbrian13]

I'm in Nebraksa at present. Plain 3bed 2 bath raised ranch 2 car garage(1350sqft, 1968) We have 2 old cars (76 and 61) so our daily drivers live outside. 3 kids, plus I have a wall of shelves full of car parts, hobby stuff from years ago, and basically a wood shop worth of stuff. Of course with those cars I have plenty of tools for an auto shop. Whenever I start thinking of trashing most of it, I need something and have it in the garage. The kid's are just getting old enough to be interested in the hobby stuff. Yeah...I keep a lot of **** around, but it's more cost effective than rebuying things. Can't wait for property big enough for a separate pole building!

 

[G McKay]

Hoarders. That's me in a nutshell, too!

 

[G McKay]

My mess...[emoji3][emoji12]

Wow!! Look at all those cycles!! Cool!!

 

[182RG]

Too much stuff. Always too much stuff. Disgusted when I see a garage full of ****, and cars on the street.

 

[Dennis Leigh Henry]

This about sums it up. George Carlin Talks About "Stuff"

That's exactly what I was thinking.. I used to have this on LP, then on cassette, then on CD, now on MP3.. I still have the CD although the MP3 will work until the next version comes out..

Agree with the comments about moving forcing the shedding of stuff..I've seen that a number of times even while moving office to office at work.

I am also a horder or sorts.. if its something that can maybe made into something sometime into the future, I keep it.. especially "stock" like long tool handles, pipes, cardboard tubes, etc...

 

[dh1]

The military was a good teacher... moving 8 times in 7 years you learn to unload a lot of stuff.

I just kept things boxed up, still sealed with the movers inventory sticker on them. Next move, just slap a new sticker on it.