Stuff you own but wish you didn't...

[sky]

I have a sailboat that I used quite a bit when I bought it, but lately it is just in storage and costing me $700 a year. It is a 28 footer that is big enough to live on and is full of gear, anchors, diesel heater, cookstove, etc. I set it up to take it to the Bahamas. But due to bad knees and balance problems plans are different now. I have been trying to sell it for a low price ($4000) but no interest. Sometimes I think about ebaying it or donating it.

[Ydobon]

• A car. On the surface, being gifted a free £3000 asset sounds great, until you realise that it costs you £200/mth
• A bright red aquarium. Massive (and massively depreciating) asset that is far too bright to be sold on. I will also need to maintain and power it until the catfish die (could be 10 years). Could probably rehome them, but I worry that they would go to a worse home...
• A top of the range drill that I use roughly 2-3x a year. £150 or so.
• A selection of brass light switches and socket covers that I bought with the intention of installing, realised that I wasn't that confident around electrics and now sit mocking me every time I go into our 'DIY' cupboard.
• 2 pairs of suit trousers that I don't wear, but can't take back to the store as I took the tags off. Bought my usual size, but got a cheap cut and the waist isn't as forgiving as my usual trews
• 2 £100+ hard shelled suitcases bought for our honeymoon. One of them cracked before we even left New York and now sits in our hall cupboard looking ugly covered in duct tape. Currently costing us something like £40/trip
• 1-200 novels and magazines that I will never read again

That was very cathartic.

[stoneage]

Too many to count.
I was a hoarder and DW too.
I changed from hoarder to minimalist about 6 months ago but DW didn't. We have so much it is ridiculous. A few of the most ridiculous item we actually own:
- a TV. Nothing ridiculous until I tell you we never watch TV and it is the garage taking dust
- Two pressure cookers, Yep...two. They're different sizes, mind you...
- Four computers, two of them are not even plugged.
- Two ovens, one we use for the gas cooktop, the other one for the oven.
- A telescope
- Four cameras
- Two cars (countryside living makes them sort of compulsory)
- Six bikes (for a family of four)
- Two coffee machines
- Too many musical instruments, while I hardly play two tunes on the piano
- the list goes on and on.

When something finally brakes, I'm so much happy to throw away.
Sometimes I beg DW to let some things go, but it is hard for her : She always have a good reason, even when there are none.

She says we lack storage, I now refuse to let more storage enter the house : that would be more and more hoarding.

When I look at my house, I'm not even angry anymore, I just feel a bit desperate and depressed.

[Stahlmann]

hmm.

[ertyu]

the kinds of things people buy in a moment of inspiration, but later come to regret.

For me these are likely to be things that I will supposedly use in relation to some Grand Project or Hobby i will supposedly start. I have to be very careful to ask myself, "are you really not doing bodyweight exercise because you don't have a floor mat, or is the floormat one of those things you use to justify the fact that you aren't doing what you should be doing *today* with excuses that you'll certainly get to it if you only had X"

The floormat is incidental as an example, but any sort of tool, appliance, etc. needs to pass this check. Will I really use it, or is the act of me purchasing it a symbolic union with the act of exercise that kind of works the way going to church does

idk if i made sense to anyone, but i fall in this particular trap a lot

[horsewoman]

@those (still active) that commented in 2015 — what of these things do you still have?

[jacob]

Looking at my long(?) list from the swapping thread, I still have the bike parts, the sailing PFDs, and the fishing lures. I've begun to use the rings again. All the other items are actually gone. I've even cycled through some of my wanted items. I went through a large downsizing/clean out run in 2018 because we weren't sure whether to move or not, so that's the main reason the backlog was cleared out.

[Alphaville]

Funny thing, returning from minimalism to a more resilient post-covid setup, it’s not the things I have that bother me anymore p, but the things I lack because I got rid of them prematurely or left them behind and I want back:

-car tools, because it looks like I’m going to get a car again eventually (bummer)
-dremel rotary tool, to fix small metal things i don’t have tools for
-camping gear, for emergencies
-chest freezer, for stockpiling
-cast iron pans, for so many things i can’t cook right now
-plant pots and gardening tools for mega-basil and tomato
-mason jars and fermentation crocks for food processing + storage
-office tools and supplies
-my multifunction printer. scanning with the phone is barely ok and not the same.
-pricey rhodia notebooks. “i can live without paper” is lies.

you can’t tighly couple to a city and public transportation network that may shut down at the drop of a hat. resilience requires redundances and backups and multiple escape routes.

having cleared the slate wasn’t in vain though. it’s easier to rebuild without clutter.

[horsewoman]

A turtle.

Do you still have the turtle? My great-aunt took in a stray turtle in 1976 and it is still around these days :)

[fiby41]

That was very nice of her.

Ours was rescued. She got caught in a fishing net. Seemed low maintainance than other pets that have to be potty trained / cleaned after. Felt I was restricting her reproductive potential and freedom of movement by imprisoning her from her kind. Also it's illegal here. Seems like we got her addicted to cooked food. Although she didn't look back she didn't scratch with her long nails during water changes either so Stockholm syndrome not withstanding I hope she isn't holding a grudge.

[theanimal]

A car. I really, really enjoy just riding a bike around everywhere. For now, I live in a place that has sprawl and where my friends live outside the city. I have lived with solely a bike here before but I think I'd be hard pressed to do it at my current locale. On the other hand, it is very nice to do outdoor trips and go hunting/fishing around the state.

[Alphaville]

A car. I really, really enjoy just riding a bike around everywhere. For now, I live in a place that has sprawl and where my friends live outside the city. I have lived with solely a bike here before but I think I'd be hard pressed to do it at my current locale. On the other hand, it is very nice to do outdoor trips and go hunting/fishing around the state.

i used to solve the excursion problem with car rentals but now i don’t know

[Sclass]

This.



A mistake. On many levels. I start it up once a month and drive it around my neighborhood. Then I write checks for it.

[nomadscientist]

Ditto a car. Although I don't regret it that much; I chose it wisely.

I recently got rid of all my furniture, at a price much above their market value, which was a huge relief. Now I can easily move without having to worry about disposing of all that junk.

I have a lot of clothes, most of which I don't like and don't wear. Not many of them were expensive, but in sum they were relatively expensive. I wish younger me hadn't turned his nose up at understanding men's tailoring, so he could have made a small number of good purchases rather than a large number of bad ones

[jacob]

This.

I don't know if you ever noticed, but it says FNORD above the grille.

[2Birds1Stone]

I have a sailboat that I used quite a bit when I bought it, but lately it is just in storage and costing me $700 a year. It is a 28 footer that is big enough to live on and is full of gear, anchors, diesel heater, cookstove, etc. I set it up to take it to the Bahamas. But due to bad knees and balance problems plans are different now. I have been trying to sell it for a low price ($4000) but no interest. Sometimes I think about ebaying it or donating it.

Sorry to bump such an old post, but as someone who may be in the market for a similar boat, curious what you ended up doing with it all these years ago?

[Alphaville]

WOW

yeah, the color of the flames doesn’t quite work for me

jokes aside—why haven’t you sold it? i’m sure it would be quickly snapped up by a collector.

[sky]

Sorry to bump such an old post, but as someone who may be in the market for a similar boat, curious what you ended up doing with it all these years ago?

I sold it for a low price before I retired. I let it go to get out from the dock payments, storage payments and maintenance.

[Sclass]

jokes aside—why haven’t you sold it? i’m sure it would be quickly snapped up by a collector.

Ummm...because I’m the collector. It’s pretty idiotic and unlike me to buy something useless like this. It’s so nice it really cannot be used to haul stuff. An impulse buy. Bought purely for sentimental reasons. And I’m still paying for it. I have only owned it a little over a year.

I’m usually the investor but this was just stupid and I regret it.

[Alphaville]

And I’m still paying for it. I have only owned it a little over a year.

I’m usually the investor but this was just stupid and I regret it.

oh, you’re making payments...? i though by “write a check” you had meant insurance costs & the like.

well, it’s not all wasted if you learn from the experience, and you can always resell and recover what you paid for, though it might require some waiting for the market to go back up...

...and if you sell at a loss, you to paraphrase something jacob said elsewhere, you can always account for it as the price of tuition.

it’s a beautiful truck though, so enjoy it while it’s yours. looks great for the beach. you got a surfboard?