The great junk transfer is coming • Hacker News Board

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#321

Post by driverdan » Wed, May 25, 2022, 1:53 PM UTC

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…

I've been doing this with my parents, but for stuff I want. They have a lot of old computer stuff that they don't need. I've been taking some of it each time I visit.

It helps them declutter and lets me make sure they don't throw any of it away. I can always dispose of it later if I decide it's not useful.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#322

Post by trgn » Wed, May 25, 2022, 1:56 PM UTC

thebigspacefuck wrote: post #312

chaostheory wrote: post #36

I feel with Millennials not being able to buy normal sized homes and the rise of minimalism with trends like Marie Kondo, this traditional junk transfer may end with Gen X.

Millennials will inherit the houses along with the junk.

The great junk transfer is the flipside of the great wealth transfer. It's going to be massive, and only just starting.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#323

Post by theandrewbailey » Wed, May 25, 2022, 1:59 PM UTC

jseban wrote: post #198

hiq wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a good argument for living in a small place rather than a house as big as you can possibly afford.

I don't see what the big deal is to be honest, just a harmless hobby to collect random trinkets, it gives people joy, and you can just get rid of it when they die. I don't see what the harm is

Buying random trinkets that are mass produced in a factory overseas and shipped across the ocean is not ideal.

When you fill your house with it, to the point where you're a hoarder and can't see your floors and walls, that's a health hazard that attracts dirt, rot, and pests.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#324

Post by calvinmorrison » Wed, May 25, 2022, 2:05 PM UTC

piceas wrote: post #315

jahewson wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "This belongs in a museum!" Does it? A museum for who?

In my father's case, a railway historical society :/ I tried to dump as much as possible so they didn't have to spend too much time on it. It took a long time. My colleagues at work were happy to take various bits such as pandrol clips.

my first Saab i bought was from a guy who ran worked at NASA and in his later life contributed to a rail museum near Hagerstown. I have his original title which bore the NASA Bank as the lender. Very cool stuff! Looked it up and he worked on most of the missions you've heard of today.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#325

Post by eropple » Wed, May 25, 2022, 2:07 PM UTC

mschuster91 wrote: post #214

drewzero1 wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A NiCd-powered cordless drill would be my first thought, clearly obsolete since the widespread adoption of lithium battery tools and the rapid degradation in NiCd cells over time. A radial arm saw also comes to mind, replaced for most tasks by the more portable and generally safer compound miter saw. Tools made before modern safety devices, such as table saws without anti-kickback fingers or riving knife. Some tools…

> A NiCd-powered cordless drill would be my first thought, clearly obsolete since the widespread adoption of lithium battery tools and the rapid degradation in NiCd cells over time. On the other side, as long as it's something brand-name like Bosch, these things are built to last - and there are still shops around selling new battery packs for them (or you can replace the cells yourself - no fancy BMS required like w…

> please buy brand name (=Makita)

This is probably better described as "not from an algorithmically generated name on Amazon", I think. Makita is great (I have their track saw, it's amazing)--but so are DeWalt, Milwaukee, Bosch, Festool, Metabo HPT (formerly Hitachi), and a bunch of others. Even the relatively "budget" flavors of those (Craftsman for DeWalt/SBD, Ridgid/AEG and Ryobi for Milwaukee/TTG) are solid tools these days; Ryobi still has its reputation from the days before they went neon green, but you'll see professionals using them these days because the battery compatibility guarantee is valuable. Even some of the more ancillary brands you'll see out there, like the new cordless Skil stuff (made by Chervon, who own the EGO line of garden power tools) are quite reliable; I have DeWalt and Makita stuff in my shop, but Skil's 12V tools live in the house and are fantastic.

More important than the brand name is usually the product tier, which is related but not distinct from the brand. Most of the brands above sell cheap tools, often as part of a set, and they're value-engineered until they scream. A bottom-tier DeWalt and a bottom-tier Makita and a low/mid-tier Ryobi probably aren't that different in terms of reliability, nor would the higher tiers of the above. (With some occasional exceptions; the DeWalt oscillating tool they currently sell is the best one I've ever used from any brand, with affordances that I appreciate more. Apparently they've sold particularly good ones for a while. But a drill's a drill, mostly.)

Power tools above the basement-tier have just all gotten really good in a relatively short period of time. Lemons exist for sure (though every time I hear about somebody breaking a drill during something as relatively easy as a house renovation I find myself asking whether they'd bought the cheapest one they could, as before), but overall? We're at a point where you can even make a decent argument for a Harbor Freight blue-flavored cordless set. I wouldn't, because old habits die hard, but you could. And whatever you buy is probably lasting two decades and not costing you a whole heck of a lot.

Agreed about the batteries, though. Don't buy cheap batteries.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#326

Post by starkd » Wed, May 25, 2022, 2:10 PM UTC

nonrandomstring wrote: post #318

NickBusey wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article you linked I agree with almost fully, nice work. The only part I have issue with is when the teacher says “we fix things by "switching them off and on again"” as if that’s a bad thing. I see and agree with your actual point, but a power cycle is generally step one for almost all debugging.

> the teacher says “we fix things by "switching them off and on again"” as if that’s a bad thing TBH, as an electronics engineer and computer scientist it's the first thing I do too :) I think my point in that article was that we shouldn't teach that it's the _only_ recourse, and after if it still doesn't work then just replace it. It's still one step better than the wisdom of my Grandmother's generation: "If it does…

The banging fix was also useful for getting better reception on the tv set. Surprising how often it actually worked!

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#327

Post by theandrewbailey » Wed, May 25, 2022, 2:14 PM UTC

brabel wrote: post #156

tmountain wrote: post #13

It doesn't have to be this way. Synopsis of "The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning" by Margareta Magnusson. In Sweden there is a kind of decluttering called döstädning, dö meaning “death” and städning meaning “cleaning.” This surprising and invigorating process of clearing out unnecessary belongings can be undertaken at any age or life stage but should be done sooner than later, before others have to do it for you…

Swedish garages are never used for cars. Their only purpose is to hold a whole lot of trash that "you may need some day". I've visited lots of houses when I was on the market, nearly all of them had a garage or basement completely full of what to me looks like trash (as the article says, to the owners, it's old stuff that has some sentimental value, of course).

> Swedish garages are never used for cars.

A bunch of American garages are the same way. There are lots of 2 car garages in suburbs that only have enough empty space for 1 car, if any at all. I suspect that this may be more of a widespread phenomenon than I had realized.

Growing up, I'd hear of all of these big tech companies that got started in some guy's parent's garage. I considered my parent's 1 car garage: mom complained when she couldn't put the car in it, and the rest was filled with tools and the lawnmower. No way a company other than a car shop could get started there.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#328

Post by beej71 » Wed, May 25, 2022, 2:14 PM UTC

I'm fortunate that Mom and Dad have been considering this and have been actively thinning their possessions as they age.

For about the last 10 years, their "birthday presents" to us kids have been things from the house. (Us kids are old and don't need typical presents. The nostalgic stuff is better now, anyway.)

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#329

Post by eropple » Wed, May 25, 2022, 2:21 PM UTC

bityard wrote: post #300

Why is everyone acting like this is not already a solved problem? Heirs are not forced to spend hundreds of hours sifting through their parents stuff... If that is too much of a burden, just call up the nearest estate sale company. They will do it all for you.

Some people feel obligations that you do not. Empathy matters.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#330

Post by RickJWagner » Wed, May 25, 2022, 2:27 PM UTC

My mother died last year at 92. She was a very wise woman.

One of the 'gifts' she gave her children was to intentionally de-clutter several times. She'd offer us her possessions periodically and would refuse material gifts for holidays or birthdays. At the end, she lived in a small apartment with sparse furnishings.

She also managed her own funeral, making arrangements for all the necessary processes.

Her passing was very difficult, but much, much less than it could have been.

I hope to do the same for my children one day.