I've been doing a bit of life ordering recently. In common speak this is also known as "tidying up my flat".
This has been sorely needed. I'm a bit of a hoarder. And by bit, I'm mean a lot. As I have been tidying I've been trying to chuck a lot of stuff. Counteract the hoarding with some ruthlessness. I now have 10 DVDs and about 50 books I have taken to work to sell on eBay (which I need to do for work anyway), and 3 boxes of shit I chucked in the bin.
The books and DVDs were particularly interesting as I asked myself why I wanted to keep them. Things seemed to fall into a few categories,
- Keep because I would like to watch/read it again someday (very small cataogry)
- Keep because I think it's exceptionally good and I want to lend it to people and share that goodness (big category)
- Keep because I perceive it has some value to me (massive category)
The last group was quite interesting. I had all these books and DVDs and I wanted to keep them, but I had no real good reason to as why, and the reality was I was never going to watch/read/lend them and they were just taking up space. So off to eBay they go.
As I started chucking stuff out I started thinking about the cost of keeping things. i have a USB hub, that has been sitting around for a year. to buy a new one would cost say £20 (or whatever, their is cost). But keeping it actually has a cost too. It takes up space. It gets in the way. It makes my flat look unattractive. So I ditched it (it was a bit iffy so I couldn't in good faith sell it on eBay either).
Somethings the cost break down was more obvious. I keep boxes of stuff I buy for a while, in case it breaks and I need to return it to the store (and later if I want to sell it on). But these boxes take up space, which has an inherent cost. On some things, it's worth it as I can resell a mobile phone or camera for more if I retain the box. On other things over a period of time, it would be cheaper to buy the item again (say a blender, or steamer) than keep the box. Box got chucked.
I'm not quite sure I really can quantify the cost of hoarding properly, but it's there. The benefit isn't. If I want a clean flat, which emotionally has a great benefit to how I feel, then the cost/benefit starts showing itself. I wish I could more easily really work out how and what to ditch and really model this. I find it fascinating even though in my head I can't quite pin it down.
About a dozen more tidy sessions and my flat might start to look half way decent again.
1. graybo
By “chuck out”, I assume you mean “FreeCycle” and not “unnecessarily fill up holes in the ground”.
</self-righteous preaching>
2. Hilary
This is a clear case of synchronicity - today we cleared 5 boxes of comics out of your cupboard which will be taken to the bookshop for trading in {after 10 years dust has been removed)
3. Matt
What I need is not to throw everything out, or to eBay half of it, but to get some proper shelves and places to put all my stuff. You, on the other hand, may or may not need a bigger flat, with more cupboards?
And also ditto to Graybo’s comment.
4. GrumpyOld Man
That’s the problem with a flat, you can’t store them for posterity in the loft/shed. Perhaps ou need to get a house.
5. Adrian
Or a flat with more storage.
And by chuck, I mean chuck. If it’s not worth the effort to eBay it, it’s not worth the effort to free cycle it. I think.
6. graybo
Well, with the books and DVDs, couldn’t you at least try a charity shop?
7. Adrian
Books and DVDs are all going on eBay via vzaar.
I don’t bin books, dvds or CDs. Esepcially not books. I’d bookcrossing them before binning them.
Well I binned some mixed CDs people made for me and a few NME free CDs, that I deemed were unlistenable. I was tempted to bin the Titanic soundtrack for crimes against humanity, but I haven’t chucked that either.
8. Matt
HAHAHAHA you have 2 Fast 2 Furious on DVD?!?! And you’re advertising that fact?!
How embarrassing. Plus the fact that you called it “The Fast And The Furious” in your Vzaar video.
Chumptacular.
(no offence…)
9. Adrian
I won 2F2F from a blogger by guessing a number.
It’s not like I paid for it.
I watched The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift last night.
I was drunk.
10. ella
you are selling some real crap(:
are you now going to say you received all of it as presents/by winning it?
11. Matt
You were drunk last night, or you were drunk when you recorded the Vzaar video? Both would make sense to me.
And also, what ella said. And how many copies of the Rough Guide to Ireland have you got? There’s three listings on your Vzaar page.
Maybe it’s that “Beta” thing messing it all up though. You’d want to have a look at that.
12. Adrian
I was drunk last night when I watched “The fast and the furious: Tokyo Drift”
There were three auctions for the rough guide. . The first one was accidentally bought when showing someone how to use eBay. The second time it didn’t sell. The third time it did.
It’s not messed up. Although I think I need to think a bit more about how we tie videos and auctions together.
13. Matt
No by messed up I mean that in your “Other items from this user” it looks like the column always wants to be full, even f it means showing the same item on two different pages? Or am I terribly mistaken?