Sparking Joy
Feb. 14th, 2022 07:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sabotloursNext week I have the unenviable task of going through Mom's stuff and putting them into respective keep/toss/donate piles. My sister will be helping which may or not be a good thing. We shall see. We only have a few days to accomplish the task as well as take care of other pressing needs/tasks. As I had mentioned previously, I had already started this task, somewhat, last year. I shredded a bunch of old stuff and took a couple furmobile-loads of stuff back with me. There is nothing of great value left, but we need to go through everything to make sure. Last year I got a small gut-punch when I saw my favorite clock sitting on a table. It was something I had hoped to inherit. It's nothing great, but I grew up with those hourly chimes. I think it drove Kitty nuts on her visits, but tough titties. It would chime in our house. Well...it would have if Mom hadn't knocked it off the wall and broken it. Hopefully we can get it fixed.
The problem with me is the problem I inherited from my Depression-era parents. If something is still good...you keep it. If there is some utility left in a thing, you save it for that one time you might need it, even if that could be 30 years in the future. So you hold on to something in a garage or an attic or a closet until it's needed. Unless it's not. It will be hard for me, but I plan on throwing away a set of encyclopedias which have been sitting in my folks' place for over 50 years. Sure, I used them to write reports in grade school, but who wants 50-year old knowledge in book form when the Internet is at your fingertips? They're still good! Someone might want them! But who?!? I talked with my cousin the other day and he told me to just let go. Everyone has this fantasy that their shit is valuable especially if it's old. No. It's just old shit.
I have been taking a few steps on my own over the past few weeks. We have had 3 old CRT TVs sitting in the garage for about 10 years. I held on to them because I thought they could be good for gaming when we held furmeets. Well, we don't host furmeets hardly ever anymore. How many times have they been used for gaming. Zero. Oh! Let's fret on the proper disposal of old TVs. Bullshit! Into the garbage they went! And now they're gone. Do I miss them? No. All it did was give me a sense of well-being. I smile when I see that little bit of extra space in the garage.
I said I talked to my cousin a few days ago. He has converted his entire basement into a gigantic model railroad. It has always been his passion. I hope to see it next week. It's supposed to be a sight to behold. I plan on giving him my Dad's old Lionel set which I inherited 20 years ago. How many times have I set it up especially around Christmastime? Never! The set I coveted so much as a child has no meaning to me now. I plan on giving my cousin the set to incorporate some cars into his layout and to sell the rest to his modeling buddies, splitting the profit. It felt good to get rid of one more thing from my closet.
One thing I need to part with is my beer can collection. That was a big thing in the 70's! I had a whole wall covered in my basement. It was my thing! I used to love dumpster diving for strange and exotic brands! Yesterday I found a box, and right on top was Billy Beer. This was the beer named after Jimmy Carter's brother. Oooo! I wonder how much I could get for one on eBay? The answer...about $0.25. I saw one unopened can for sale for $5. Oh, but shipping and handling was $7. So yeah. I'm thinking about having one more trip down Nostalgia Lane, and then tossing everything into the recycle bin.
The problem with me is the problem I inherited from my Depression-era parents. If something is still good...you keep it. If there is some utility left in a thing, you save it for that one time you might need it, even if that could be 30 years in the future. So you hold on to something in a garage or an attic or a closet until it's needed. Unless it's not. It will be hard for me, but I plan on throwing away a set of encyclopedias which have been sitting in my folks' place for over 50 years. Sure, I used them to write reports in grade school, but who wants 50-year old knowledge in book form when the Internet is at your fingertips? They're still good! Someone might want them! But who?!? I talked with my cousin the other day and he told me to just let go. Everyone has this fantasy that their shit is valuable especially if it's old. No. It's just old shit.
I have been taking a few steps on my own over the past few weeks. We have had 3 old CRT TVs sitting in the garage for about 10 years. I held on to them because I thought they could be good for gaming when we held furmeets. Well, we don't host furmeets hardly ever anymore. How many times have they been used for gaming. Zero. Oh! Let's fret on the proper disposal of old TVs. Bullshit! Into the garbage they went! And now they're gone. Do I miss them? No. All it did was give me a sense of well-being. I smile when I see that little bit of extra space in the garage.
I said I talked to my cousin a few days ago. He has converted his entire basement into a gigantic model railroad. It has always been his passion. I hope to see it next week. It's supposed to be a sight to behold. I plan on giving him my Dad's old Lionel set which I inherited 20 years ago. How many times have I set it up especially around Christmastime? Never! The set I coveted so much as a child has no meaning to me now. I plan on giving my cousin the set to incorporate some cars into his layout and to sell the rest to his modeling buddies, splitting the profit. It felt good to get rid of one more thing from my closet.
One thing I need to part with is my beer can collection. That was a big thing in the 70's! I had a whole wall covered in my basement. It was my thing! I used to love dumpster diving for strange and exotic brands! Yesterday I found a box, and right on top was Billy Beer. This was the beer named after Jimmy Carter's brother. Oooo! I wonder how much I could get for one on eBay? The answer...about $0.25. I saw one unopened can for sale for $5. Oh, but shipping and handling was $7. So yeah. I'm thinking about having one more trip down Nostalgia Lane, and then tossing everything into the recycle bin.
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no subject
Date: 2022-02-15 01:38 am (UTC)I looked into trying to fix a clock with a digital quartz mechanism made for a pendulum and got total sticker shock as the mechanism was well over $100 to replace.
I can only hope you have better luck than I did.
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Date: 2022-02-16 02:49 am (UTC)I also have a few old clocks, but I ran them for a few months and then let them be idle. They're neat, but I guess I'm still too young to want half a dozen clocks chiming on the hour :>
As for collecting stuff... *ulp* ... I can hardly comment... I love doing that too, but there's positives and negatives in both collecting and discarding. In general, collecting is best when you can Find what you are keeping when you want it. But I'll probably never get over letting the junk man haul away all my folks old washers and dryers, because newer ones are Krrrrrap. I do still have a 80 year old, inexpensive-to-run and very-quiet refrigerator from my grandparents, and am ultra thankful I kept that.
As you've done, I've tossed quite a few CRTs and TVs though!
no subject
Date: 2022-02-17 07:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-02-18 01:00 am (UTC)You won’t get any money out of it, and maybe not even a tax write off but… maybe knowing someone else will find joy in those items could make it worthwhile.