OMG - I'm a packrat!

[SLO-BOB]

I never would have believed it. I hate clutter. I tend to throw out things that people would pay good money for, just to save time. But, today I'm cleaning out a large room in my basement to convert it into a decent tool shop, and I am finding things I either forgot I had, never even knew I had and some things that should have been thrown out in the first place.

-Inumerable tools. Most of which I have many multiples of because I can never find them!

-Like, 800 vacuum cleaner attachments.

-Rifles, still in the box!

-zillions of near empty paint cans

-15 car stereos

-9mm brass. Bags of it.

-BMW 2002 glove box and valve cover.

-New Fluke instruments.

-Enough screws and nails to build an apartment complex.

-cardboard boxes for every electronic gadget I own.

-Enough unopened stuff that hangs on hooks to start my own hardware store.

I need a barn!

[oldE]

I would say you were aquisitive. You get stuff you don't use or need.

Packrats don't throw out stuff that has no immediate use because they might need it someday.
Example: 25 years ago, the office I worked in sent an obsolete copier to the dump. I asked the boss if I might strip it for parts and took home several boxes of rollers, motors, gearboxes, fasteners and springs. My wife hates this.

"What are you going to do with that junk?" is a sometimes-asked question.

I felt I was somewhat vindicated when the neutral spring broke on my Kubota tractor, one morning while I was plowing snow. A few minutes digging around in my 'stash' yielded two springs which could be adapted and did the job until the replacement arrived a few days later.

However, my pack rat gene pales in comparison to one of my brothers-in-law, who has aquired (from various sources) about 25 bicycles! He just couldn't bear to see neighbors throw them away.

Les

[Tim Hancock]

I am Packratimus Maximous, keeper of all possible useful and useless things!

I have attics in the house and shop full of stuff along with bookshelves, cabinets and boxes in both buildings filled with stuff. It is a sickness I tell ya. The problem is that I envision future projects that might benefit from little parts and knicknacs and on occasion I actually find a use for some of the stuff. Someday I need to rent a dump truck and just start tossing. It would be nice someday to have a completely clean shop with nothing lining the walls on the floor, no boxes under workbenchs etc etc.

[tab tanner]

O.K. Tim I'll be right over with my truck!!!!!!!!!!!!! The way I see it is one big pile is better than two small ones

[porsche930dude]

I pick up almost anything metal i see on the curb. I have 10-15 bycycles at any one time. 10 or so lawnmowers countless parts. 10 or so gocarts and minibikes that iv built from all the junk i collect. When i put together a working lawnmower or snowblower or bycycle out of the parts i collect i put it to the curb for sale and make a few bucks. I regularly search the dumpster at my work for goodies (construction stuff). I almost always find a use for stuff i collect eventually it may take a year or two but i use it. If i doubt ill ever use it i take it to the scrapyard when i get enough of it and collect the $. With all the crap i collect youd think my house and sheds and garages are a mess but i keep everything neat and in a place so i can kind of find it.

[porsche930dude]

I built all of these for next to nothing with parts from the trash or junk yards

[SLO-BOB]

I don't know what this is, but it's freaking AWESOME!

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by porsche930dude

I built all of these for next to nothing with parts from the trash or junk yards

Dibs on the little red wagon!!!!!!

Packrats don't throw out stuff that has no immediate use because they might need it someday.

Yep, that is me, but now I am getting rid of some stuff

[onlycafe]

before you judge yourself too harshly, read up on the collyer brothers.

http://theplan.com/dmi/collier_story.htm

the thing i learned from them is to never stack things higher than your head.

[porsche930dude]

haha thats cool. Reminds me of a house we cleaned out once.
Our x neighbor who moved out of state contacted us about cleaning out his deceised relatives house who was in the next town so they could sell it. It was a big house in a million dollar neighborhood but totally run down. The old man actually died and was found a few weeks later by the mailman after the mail was overflowing from the slot in his front door. So my dad got to cleaning this house out and it was horrible. There was newspapers and junk piled to the 12' celing of this place and only narrow pathways to walk. The bathrooms were piled with used tp the guy was apparently afraid of clogging the toilet with them. It was quite a mess. We did get to keep anything we wanted of value in there so we got quite a bit of antique furniture and stuff. We recently went back to check out the house and didnt even recognize it its been totally remodeled

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I've been on a mission since the first of this year to purge out unused stuff. Honestly, if we haven't used it in six months (holiday/annual stuff excepted) it should be thrown out. And yes, I've been throwing out insane amounts of crap. Selling stuff on ebay too. You'd be amazed what some people will pay good money for. . .

[aigel]

I love the collection of "transportation" you built there porsche930dude!

I used to have a shed full of spare parts. Great you would think, but one has to remember what you have and where to find it! I ended up buying a brand new harmonic balancer even though I had a good used one in my shed .... Moving helped shedding some of that. It also got me down from 9 cars to 4. Now I am down to 3 and feel a lot better.

Today I did the same thing again, BTW, went and bought a bulb for the 993 only to remember that I had gotten a big box of spare parts (including bulbs) from the P.O. I suppose I should throw that out! Sometimes I envy the guys with garages that have a bottle of wax and some windex in a corner.

George

[oldE]

While cleaning out the house of an elderly lady who had died, a friend of mine came across a box labled:"Pieces of string too short to use".

That, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the object of our aspirations.

Les

[Mo_Gearhead]

Love the pack-rats out there.

Not one myself but I love estate sales/auctions. Sometimes the owner (deceased or going to a 'home') has accumulated sooooo much crap they (auction company) do not have time to sort it all.

I have bought entire basements/closets/garages/out buildings/storage sheds
FULL of stuff ...for anywhere from $3.00 to less that $100.

Amazing finds amid the piles sometimes.

Aside: Just saw a show about Levis Jean Co. Their "Archive Dept." bought a pair of Levis, online (from late 1800's) for over $40K!

[on2wheels52]

I think it's the 'nature abhors a vacuum' thing. The possibility of selling my business is looming, I don't know where I'll put all the stuff I have stored there. At least I'll be retired and will have time to organize it.
Jim