Throw old things away

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

I just spent the weekend sorting through old papers and magazines. As one does I raised my trash quotient higher than it had been the last time I'd gone through my stuff. The motivating theory is "the more things you get rid of the specialer the things you do keep become". But it also felt really nihilistic, like all these old AP magazines which totally informed my universe in the early 90's. It felt really brazen to just chuck that stuff, but I did.

How do you gauge what's pointless nostalgia & what can really hark back to times that were exciting?

― carbon (carbon), Monday, 18 July 2005 13:08 (twenty years ago)

oh i'm really good at throwing stuff out, gotta be tough, although old computer magazines are a joy to read 15 years later.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Monday, 18 July 2005 13:12 (twenty years ago)

I'm not a horder. Every few months I clean out my house. I do keep some things of course - like photographs, records, books,... - but I'm not that attached to things. The only mags I kept were Wire magazines but I threw most out as well.

― nathalie's body's designed for two (stevie nixed), Monday, 18 July 2005 13:13 (twenty years ago)

Fucking Wire Magazines. Anybody want these, seriously? I can't believe they made the cut.

― carbon (carbon), Monday, 18 July 2005 13:18 (twenty years ago)

I always feel worse than I should about throwing stuff out. But I do it anyway because I really hate having crap everywhere.

― sleep (sleep), Monday, 18 July 2005 13:22 (twenty years ago)

If I haven't used/referenced it in a year, it's pointless nostalgia and I throw it out. I allow myself the contents of a box that's maybe half a cubic foot as an exception to this.

― Brian Miller (Brian Miller), Monday, 18 July 2005 13:31 (twenty years ago)

I'm a neurotic anti-packrat. I hate having lots of stuff around so throwing things away is its own reward. With magazines, I might tear out the recipe or article I was so entranced with in the first place then throw the rest away. Mostly they all go in the recycling bin, though. Books I sell. Clothes I donate the minute I haven't worn them in more than a year.

― pullapartgirl (pullapartgirl), Monday, 18 July 2005 13:40 (twenty years ago)

The only thing I'm sorry I can't find is all my old AD&D stuff, but only for all the elaborate maps I drew.

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Monday, 18 July 2005 13:44 (twenty years ago)

I'm not a horder at all. I have maybe 5 boxes, each about a square foot. Most of it--the really challenging ones--are the papers and art etc. from grades 1-6, saved by my mom who when it came to expressions of our creativity really was a packrat. What criteria can an adult use to filter the ephemera out of their childhood creations? Do I try to remember what was special to me then which certainly wouldn't correspond to what's special now?

― carbon (carbon), Monday, 18 July 2005 13:51 (twenty years ago)

I am a filthy hoarder.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 18 July 2005 13:56 (twenty years ago)

I keep gadgets

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Monday, 18 July 2005 13:57 (twenty years ago)

i was afilthy hoarder- thenm m,y flat flooded and that sorted out for me what to keep and what goes...... magazines arnt so nostalgic when the pages are stuck together and then shred as you pick them up because they are so sodden...

― battlingspacemonkey (battlingspacemonkey), Monday, 18 July 2005 14:22 (twenty years ago)

Once I carried an obsolete computer around in the back of my car, perched up on the folded-down back seat, until someone stole it.

― Beth Parker, Monday, 18 July 2005 19:58 (twenty years ago)

four years pass...

My hoarding has reached critical mass and it's making me unhappy today when the sun is out and it's the weekend and I should be doing something good rather than getting misty-eyed about some 30year old board games that I'd forgotten were at the back of the garage but that I kept because I thought I could pass them onto my kids. Ha! Why would I want to inflict my cluttering tendencies (and clutter) on to them when they were inflicted on me by my parents (my dad is a filthy hoarder)? What use is a board game to them? When it's possible to have a life enough of things stored in a laptop and accessible from the internet world, why keep a load of dusty boxes full of things I'm not even sure I have anymore?

― thousands of masturbating weirdos (whatever), Saturday, 10 April 2010 10:21 (fifteen years ago)

personally I think it'd have been awesome if my parents had saved more of their old things and let me rummage through them as a kid. but if it's impinging on your life, throw it out.

― fuck in rainbows, ☔ (dyao), Saturday, 10 April 2010 11:23 (fifteen years ago)

cheers dyao. after posting that i realised what i have to do. it's time to start shedding some layers.

― thousands of masturbating weirdos (whatever), Saturday, 10 April 2010 15:55 (fifteen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.