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The great junk transfer is coming

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Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#161

Post by helmholtz »

robocat wrote: post #142
robocat wrote: post #70

Cleaning up after your parents is a gift you give to them: look at it like them paying it forward for all the times the cleaned up after you as a child. Psychologically, mentally, and physically, parents can have difficulty tidying up their stuff. My friend’s parents came from very poor backgrounds and had a lot of trash. The father had a shed full of stuff that was useful to him - he knew what was in it and how to u…

And an altruistic gift for friends and family: take away their useless rubbish. Tell your aunt you need some wires from that old Pentium computer she has, and take it to be recycled. “Drop in” at your friends on the way to the dump with half a trailer full of rubbish, and ask if they want to fill up the other half for free. When there is a book market on, visit your friends and take away their old books to go to the…

Your comment is cathartic to me for reasons I cannot explain. I hope, for my sake, that everything you mentioned really is something you're doing often. I love the idea of constant forward progress in downsizing not just your own possessions, but that of the near and dears too.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#162

Post by Ekaros »

dhosek wrote: post #83
flybrand wrote: post #8

When FiL passed away there were multiple buildings on their 50 acres full of stuff. Both he and MiL were only children. Everything over 200 yrs had flowed to them. “Priceless heirlooms” weren’t of interest to anyone. Auctions led to junk dealers. There is a hopelessness in realizing that lifetimes of activity were of little value, that nobody even knew what many objects were. I felt like the girl in the movie Labyrin…

I feel a bit that way about my life’s accumulation of books. I suspect that the vast majority will end up getting donated to the library book sale after I die (plenty of worn and ancient paperbacks). I have made a point of pre-segregating the books that will likely have a notable resale value, but those are not many. Perhaps when I’m older but not too old I may spend some time trying to connect some of the specialize…

I'm also kinda worried about my parents bookshelves. Some of it has probably bit over minimal resale value like book series still collected. Many things albeit interesting for period not so much actual value...

I wonder how it will end up, let the people pick interesting stuff and then leave some value there and have someone buy it in bulk or get all of it and save the cost to recycling and processing it.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#163

Post by Freak_NL »

vulcan1964 wrote: post #92

What will happen to the heaps of digital junk stored on flash drives, hard drives, forgotten online accounts? I get overwhelmed thinking about organizing my own electronics files… wonder what my kids will do with it all.

“Oh. This one is encrypted too. I wonder what mum and dad kept on those… Ah well.”

I mean, with digital stuff all the things that may be worthwhile to pass on can be passed on easily way in advance because you don't have to get rid of anything to do so. Online accounts and such will just be forgotten excepting the ones they need to access to finish your affairs (like banking).

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#165

Post by danielovichdk »

Stay away, as much as possible, from physical items.

They will serve as a pair of handcuffs and make your life harder to move around in.

If you feel comfort in things you should try to get out more and experience what else life can give you.

Sell it all or give it away. It's fake comfort and it comes with a different cost than what you paid for it in the first place.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#166

Post by thedailymail »

helsinkiandrew wrote: post #144

I thinking it was the Canadian sitcom "Kims Convenience" that had the excellent line from the father when he was cleaning out his basement with his son: "We're putting things into two piles, one we're throwing away now and the other you throw away when your mother and I have died."

Thanks - that made me laugh!

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#167

Post by Sander_Marechal »

debbiedowner wrote: post #82
robocat wrote: post #70

Cleaning up after your parents is a gift you give to them: look at it like them paying it forward for all the times the cleaned up after you as a child. Psychologically, mentally, and physically, parents can have difficulty tidying up their stuff. My friend’s parents came from very poor backgrounds and had a lot of trash. The father had a shed full of stuff that was useful to him - he knew what was in it and how to u…

What are some examples of the obsolete tools? I can imagine a manual hand drill...

I have a manual hand drill and it's awesome for large holes using self-feed bits and for delicate jobs.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#168

Post by a9h74j »

vulcan1964 wrote: post #92

What will happen to the heaps of digital junk stored on flash drives, hard drives, forgotten online accounts? I get overwhelmed thinking about organizing my own electronics files… wonder what my kids will do with it all.

They will do what NASA did: forget how to read all the old tapes.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#170

Post by vintermann »

warning26 wrote: post #121
bentcorner wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My dad is getting older and even though he doesn't say it I can tell he's contemplating his own mortality. He recently asked me if I'd like to take the old Vic-20, C-64 and Apple 2e off his hands. We have a lot of very fond memories we made together with that technology and it played a part of who I am today. But frankly I don't have the room nor do I have the time to do anything with that stuff. It'd just sit in a b…

You’d be surprised at how much that stuff will sell for on eBay — people will even pay the massive shipping costs. Retro computing is really popular.

I was surprised at how cheap it was, actually, once I went ahead and bought myself an old C64. These things aren't remotely at "collector level" prices yet, and they might well never be. They're still usually cheaper than the sticker price back when they were new, and with inflation that's not very expensive.

I have the impression people are selling more to "make sure it ends up with someone who can appreciate it" than to make a profit, and that's a good example to follow in other niches than vintage computers I think.

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