Stuff!

[springyzone]

Here's a link to an article I just read.

We need to stop buying stuff – and I know just the people to persuade us (msn.com)

It sort of resonated with me.

Is there anyone else out there who is a bit guilty of accumulating-stuff?

I've been telling myself for years I need to declutter before I die but I have gone from a home that housed 3 kids to an empty nest where those 3 bedrooms are still full. How did that happen!

Sitting right next to me in a big bag next to the computer are lots of high heel shoes I have decided I can live without and which I barely wore.😑

Yet I still love it when there's a delivery. The latest yesterday was of Christmas ornaments.

Does anyone else here have too much of anything they think might need a sort?

[nicnacs_4u]

Great thread so much is what I used to do years ago..lots of remembering from me!

[papermoon.lady]

Even as a child I have always thought how great it would be to have a magic bag to store all my stuff. I guess I was already a bit addicted to collecting!

[ambercat16]

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@janeababe wrote:

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@papermoon.lady wrote:

Sometimes I see things I would love to have for free in the street... but I don't know how to go home with them because they are too heavy to carry. This is so annoying, as some of this stuff could even be helpful to have more order in my place, like a small cabinet. 😞

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Wheelbarrow? 

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😃 😀  The most recent thing I snaffled from the roadside was...............a wheelbarrow!!  Okay, tyre is flat as a pancake and it has more than a little rust, but it is a lovely big red wheelbarrow that already looks great in the corner of the yard (and might look even better when I get around to filling it with plants)🤔

[lynsh84]

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@papermoon.lady wrote:

Sometimes I see things I would love to have for free in the street... but I don't know how to go home with them because they are too heavy to carry. This is so annoying, as some of this stuff could even be helpful to have more order in my place, like a small cabinet. 😞

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The trick to bringing home stuff from the council cleanup is........KIDS and the more the merrier.

I used to feel a bit diffident about picking up stuff from around the neighbourhood no matter how good it was.

I used to walk to my parent's home 2 blocks away by different routes.....looking carefully at what was out there, without being obvious or so I hoped.

I would then go home and write out a list of what I would like and send the kids out when they arrived home from school with as many friends as they could muster.

The funniest sight I can remember was 6 kids coming down the street with a very large and heavy chest of drawers balanced on 2 billy carts and being supported by said kids.

I may well have missed the vision if a friend had not rung me and alerted me......and I thought it was going to be anonymous.

The chest of drawers is still doing great service in my garage and my two of the 6 kids are now 48 and 52.

[springyzone]

That reminds me of my sister in law though her experience was more recent. 

She told me she was walking past a nature strip and saw a small bedside table and as she needed one, she drove back later and pushed and prodded it into the back of the car.

Then when she got it home, she opened one of the drawers and nearly died as it was full of small spiders.

But she cleaned it all out and it is now doing service in her bedroom.

I have sometimes thought that a new couple just starting out or someone just moving away from home has it easier these days than we had it.

So easy now to find bargains on marketplace or people giving away tables etc

[countessalmirena]

There were times in which things were made to last. "Stuff" would be updated because of significant new features and improvements, I suppose, but people who purchased what were big ticket items in their day wouldn't be looking to replace them within 3 years, or 5 years, or even 10 years.

Have you ever watched the DVD series of "Homicide"? It's amazing to see the very solid items there that stood in price of place in many a home, or were saved up for until they could be afforded... (I'm thinking of 2 or 3 episodes in particular.)

Nowadays, a new television is par for the course. Refrigerators seem to be replaced every 10 years or so. And... those who have gas heaters and gas ovens and stoves are going to have to replace them in the not-too-distant future.

My gorgeous cranberry toaster lasted 3 years. I've posted about this on the blokes and sheilas thread - not that I'm an Obsessive-Compulsive-Toaster-Disorder-Person, but ... grrrr! 3 years (and no repair possible) for a toaster that had cost around $200 is outrageous. I've now gone for one of those incredibly solid Dualit toasters that will apparently last a lifetime and can be repaired if needed. It looks massive and it does remind me of old-fashioned workmanship designed to last.

[papermoon.lady]

I have a very old washing machine and it's still working. It was in the apartment when I moved in 15 years ago. It looked old but worked fine. It is still working so I am keeping it until it dies... I don't know how old it is, but it has a yellowish colour they used a long time ago, like the pulp of an avocado? Somehow I  like its vintage look, so as long as it keeps working, it is going to stay!

[springyzone]

I think that is so true, that we have become a throw away society to some extent.

I don't put all the blame on the consumer either.

A few years back, our fridge died after maybe 15 years? Anyway, it was time for a new one so off to the shops we went.

Now, we have a recess in our kitchen for a fridge so there was a limit to what size we could buy.

I was a bit shocked to find we had a choice of only a few models in the size we wanted. All the rest were massive double door affairs.

The salesman said to me there and then that no fridges were being made here any more, all moved to China or offshore and that the expected life was about 5 years, even for the huge ones costing thousands of dollars.

Within 5 months, the freezer section of our new refrigerator was frosting up (and it was all meant to be frost free).  And it was a so called 'good' brand and dearest of the range we were looking at.

Out came a repairman and it was done under guarantee. 

About 6 months later, the thermostat went.  Temp was showing at 15c

Not repairable, we were told. Would have to be replaced.

That took a week, in warm weather.

Yes, we got a new fridge (and it was the new model) and so far, so good.

My daughter had one of those flash fridges with water dispenser etc. Lasted 5 years.

But is 5-10 years really good enough for a fridge? I don't think so.

I still have a electric hand beater, Kenwood chef, over 40 years old. I have an original crockpot from the late 1970s that still works fine. Maybe we should have another thread-oldest working things we have in the house! (non human)😁