"One day", in that sense, means one normal day. If you happen to hit on an abnormally busy "one day", you could burn through that stuff in no time.

I'm still ticked off that when the wife and I moved from apartment life to buying a house...I threw away my boxed "stuff" just so I wouldn't have to load/unload it...case in point: I threw away about fifteen thousand dollars in electronic parts, and now I have to spend thirty bucks to order five dollars worth of parts to fix my TV...because I threw them away.

Now, as a home-owner with a "man-room" AND a garage...I'm in serious trouble and have already run out of space, in less than three years. Didn't Scarlett O'Hara say "I'll never be poor again" or somesuch?

I'm there!

On a side note, women hoard different things than men. Try throwing out some baby clothes, sometime. Or clothes she hasn't worn since she was 15:)

Hello, my name is Tom, and I'm a p... hey, are you throwing that out? Can I have it? Thanks, I might be able to use it for something, someday.

Its a terrible disease.

+ 1 on the addiction...
And whenever I "do" something about it, i.e. throw away some junk I have kept for many years, I generally "need" it within a month !!

While some of our priceless collections are pure junk to others and probably need to go in the trash, some of the things like those listed above can have a value to others.

DW takes a dim view of excessive collections of 'might-be-handy-someday items".

From time to time DW gives me the "either-that-junk-goes-or-I-go" speech. I have thought hard about the two options on occasion, but have always gone for plan A, since I probably have more invested in DW.

If you itemize on your taxes, the items above can have some value even when you have to get rid of them. Donations to Salvation Army, GoodWill or such places are deductable (within reason).

First make a detailed list of the stuff that is actually worth giving away as you pack it into boxes like:

6 pairs mens jeans
8 mens t-shirts
1 black velvet painting Elvis
43 baseball caps


Next, take the stuff to Salvation Army (or other organization of your choice).

GET A RECEIPT (much easier to do if you have the itemized list in hand).

There is some cheap software (I use H&R Block's Deduction Pro) that will give you dollar values that IRS will find reasonable for your donations.

Last, KEEP THE RECEIPT.

I have found that this approach beats keeping all that great stuff for several reasons:

1> Your donations are used to raise money to help people
2> You are recycling
3> You are clearing space for even greater stuff
4> You are giving someone else the chance to buy your stuff and add it to their might-come-in-handy stash
5> You are keeping Uncle Sam's grubby paws off of a few dollar of your money
6> It is cheaper than a divorce lawyer

Disclaimer: I am not a tax advisor or marriage councilor.

Threads like this one make me very introspective. Time to cut back and tighten up my spending habits. So much stuff I buy on a whim simply because it "might-come-in-handy-someday".

In answer to the question, "Yes, you can have too many guns and knives", and the guy who has the most when he dies wins the right to contribute more to the folks who buy up estates at pennies on the dollar and then auction it off to folks who don't have a clue what they just bought.

I am going to attempt to shift to buying stuff I actually need today, and not because it's neat, but because it really does have a use in the near term.

Keep all that stuff for a hundred years and the antiques dealers will be fighting over it as valuable merchandise. After all, look what they're selling today.

Unfortunately, renting a storage unit for a (rent-controlled) $100 a month would add up to........ $120,000. And only your heirs are likely to benefit.

Sue

I keep stuff I`ll most likely use or have a need for like most people here

I`ve started accumulating a lot of steel over the years and it's a PAIN to move but the value keeps going up and there's always a use for it

Same holds true for things around the house that are broken or have no usage right now in the future they probably will.

I just tossed a treadmill I got for $50 on CL because it stopped working PERFECTLY but the motors still ran... moving again, no time to take it apart, tossed it

My ex once decided that Mrs Butterworths bottles would be worth a fortune some day, so she filled the garage with them. Did I mention that she was nuts???