Who dies with the most toys, wins!

[imoldernu]

About "using" all that "stuff".

A long winter in Illinois... too old and too lazy to go out and volunteer for "meals on wheels" or to work in the food kitchens, but never too lazy to play with the toys. So I still buy things that interest... maybe not for today, but in that stash in the closet or garage.

Like the star finder projection thing, that puts the sky on the ceiling... with sector charts and an ID book that goes along with the set. Picked it up in a plastic bag for $.50.

The Pharoah Sewing machine set me off on a two week adventure of going back in history. Millions of sewing machines... virtually indestructable... where did they go? Tweaking interest:
SINGER THROUGH THE AGES 1850-1940, SEWALOT, ALEX ASKAROFF
At one time, Singer was making and selling more than a million machines every year.

Then... two portables typewriters (remember?). One manual, and one electric. Every once in a while, a trip from the garage to the desk, just for a flashback exercise. $2 for the manual, and $1 for the electric.

Fax machine... that was one of our original purchases, and at the time, not a toy. Still works on my VOIP phone.

And a 'kinda' toy Air Guitar... that was $1... Toys=Fun... Played the keys, accompaniment, and recorded a passable version of "Friends in Low Places".
Amazon.com: Air Guitar Toy: Toys & Games

Remote "baby" wireless intercom. Our 1500 sf house is almost soundless, carpeting and vaulted ceilings, so we use it to stay in touch. (As my mom used to say... "someday you'll get old"). A three dollar investment can save a marriage.

An original Seth Thomas metronome. An aide to my Zen sessions. $2.

Otoscope, Stethescope, BP monitors, wrist and ankle weights, full body vibration pad, that may have been the best buy ever. $4.
Full Body Massage Electric Vibrating Pad - USD $ 92.99
Never thought I'd use that, but it works... 5 minutes to dreamland.

$2 Bissell Spotlifter for our white carpeting.

Haven't even scratched the surface.

Why?....... Well, Why Not?... A place for everything and everything in its' place. Friends visit, and the first comment as they come in... how clean and uncluttered...
Let this be our secret!

 

[Beldar]

Remember... confession... good for the soul!

Oh poke me with the soft cushions....

Last month I left on the curb for the VVA pickup 7 lineal feet of boxes full of decluttering discards. It made no visible impact within our home.

This weekend, in anticipation of the next pickup, I once again vowed to declutter. As I scanned the collection of all of the cell phones I've owned since the late 80s (next to the 3 Mac SE computers), in the hobby room that I have to walk sideways through, I rationalized how useful that Motorola bag phone might be in certain scenarios (all science fiction of course).

It just doesn't end.

There, I feel better.

_B

 

[Andre1969]

Somewhere, in one of my storage rooms (I guess that's a bad sign, that I said "rooms" and not "room") there's a big plastic jar. I think some bulk rate pickles, or pretzels, or something like that originally came in it. Well, now we use it to store assorted cords, power adaptors, etc that are of unknown origin. Some of them probably belong to devices that were thrown away years ago. And now that I think about it, I can't remember the last time I've had to get into that jar to pull something out.

My guess is I could probably just chuck the whole thing. But I just can't find the motivation.

In the past few months, I've also taken on some books/magazines, that my Mom and uncle wanted to just throw out when they started doing a purge in Grandmom's house. One of the collections is a set of something called "The Book of Knowledge", which is sort of like encyclopedias, but not quite. The publication date says 1928. They're in pretty good shape, so I'm sure they'd be worth something. But I'm also reluctant to get rid of them, even for profit, because of the nostalgia. I also have an encyclopedia set, from the 1950's. I think it's called "The World Book Encyclopedia"...they're burgundy hardcover, and they also put out a yearbook...got a few of those from the '50's and early 60's. And finally, a bunch of National Geographic magazines from the 80's and 90's. I remember there used to be a bunch from the 70's as well, but they got chucked some time ago. Shame, because I used to like looking through the old car ads.

 

[Amethyst]

As to the thread title, does someone still "win" if by the time of death, they can't play with their numerous toys any more and don't remember what most of them were for?

Or are people, who die while actually playing with and enjoying their toys, the real winners?

Amethyst

 

[Amethyst]

OMG, I grew up with the 1928 BoK which belonged (apparently) to my late Dad's cousin. It was so full of great, non-PC stuff! My parents got rid of them long ago, and my sister and I have mourned them ever since.

A.

One of the collections is a set of something called "The Book of Knowledge", which is sort of like encyclopedias, but not quite. The publication date says 1928. .

 

[redduck]

"He who dies with the most toys wins."

Not really.

It's more like "He who dies with the most toys leaves a bunch of crap for the children to get rid of."

 

[Andre1969]

OMG, I grew up with the 1928 BoK which belonged (apparently) to my late Dad's cousin. It was so full of great, non-PC stuff! My parents got rid of them long ago, and my sister and I have mourned them ever since.

A.

Hmm...now I think I'm going to have to start revisiting those Books of Knowledge. I hadn't gone through them in years, although after I brought them over to my house a couple months ago, I remember looking through one of them briefly, and it had an article on air mail. It was quaint, seeing those open-cockpit airplanes.

As for the whole PC thing, that jogged my memory. Back around 1980 or 81, for Christmas, one of Grandmom's friends gave me a book that was called "Book of Amazing Facts" or something like that, written at a kid's level. It presented its facts in a question answer sort of format. One of the questions was "Did man once have a tail?" and the book answered yes, in pre-historic times we did, but as we evolved we lost it. Well, I showed that to Grandmom, thinking it was cool, and she lost it. Actually threatened to burn the book!

Now that I think about it, that book is probably packed around here, somewhere, as well.

 

[imoldernu]

I think I'll use what I have... not just store it. If I'm using it.. does not matter the amount of stuff

+1
And for the other worries about leaving a problem for the kids...
Long ago, we decided that we could and would never value anything in our homes. Our suggestion for whoever has to empty the houses for sale, is to rent waste management containers for a day... Hire a few strong young men to do the work and in two days... problem solved. A few thousand dollars at most. A piffle to enjoy a hobby that, over the past years would be (at most) the cost of a year's golf membership.

“If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it's not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.”
― Dalai Lama XIV

 

[NW-Bound]

I am afraid that we will always have "stuff". My wife because she loves her knick knacks, and myself because of my tools and hobbies. Still, I am trying to sort things out and to throw away stuff that's no longer useful and needed.

Why?....... Well, Why Not?... A place for everything and everything in its' place. Friends visit, and the first comment as they come in... how clean and uncluttered...
Let this be our secret!

That's what I am resorting to. I am heading to Ikea soon to buy more clear storage boxes to sort out my "stuff" and to organize it better. And I have just spend around $1000 to buy more steel cabinets for my garage. None of this particle board stuff.