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Too much (useless to me) stuff.
#21
I think that the questions to ask are: "If a 787 crashed into my house, and it all burned, what would I miss most?" and "Oh, about that insurance..."

I have a lot to think about; my house, a kind of hermitage, is full of bits of furniture that relatives and friends just couldn't let go of, and I'm an easy touch on storage. On occasion, they come back to retrieve something. (I'll talk about what is in the garage elsewhere.) My gallivanting parents left behind a most curious assortment, much has no value whatsoever, except now in my memories.
I've had the occasional garage sale. It always seems that I end up with _more_ stuff by the end.

My answers to the posed questions are easy: the Upright Grand that I can't play, but still looks just magnificent, my ship's chart table that does multiple duty for dining, as an optical bench, and as a platform for rebuilding old engines and also for occasional napping, and my Eames chair. It's taken three decades to make that chair fit me just right.

My electronics collection can be replaced, although replacing the Rabco ST4 will be difficult. Computers? Let them burn; I still have the memories. (Stored elsewhere.) All the books and LP's? Ebay will make quite a profit on the insurance proceeds.

In fact, I could make quite a cozy little pad from the ruins, with only that chart table large enough to sleep on, the now comfy scorched Eames chair, and that piano, that I _still_ couldn't play. I would still need to put out a little something for a Mac and Internet access. I'm not the total hermit.
As for the insurance proceeds of all that unintentional relief from possessions... A Swan, something in the 65 foot range. With an all girl, astonishingly compliant, crew. A Swan big enough for a chair, a piano, and just the right ship's table.

Oh, where is that errant 787 when you need one...


Eustace
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#22
Hurricane Ivan did it for me. House and everything in it gone, leaving just a concrete slab and some rebar. Started afresh with minimalist decor. Funny to hear visitors ask "where's your stuff" and we say "this is it". Sad at times but very liberating too.
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#23
I'm beginning to dread Labor Day weekend, as all the kids will be here, and adding a nagging chorus to my wife's solo wheedling about cleaning out my office, and the basement, and the attic, and the misnamed Guest Room (the guests are piles of cartons of my and family memorabilia). I know, I know, I protest. First I've got to go through the files, to make room. . .

I'm an inveterate pack rat, the sort who would take apart a non-functioning electric heater and save the components in tins. You never know when something might come in handy. It's quite gratifying when something does—much to the dismay of the wife, who rolls her eyes to the ceiling and trills, "Reinforcement!"

/Mr Lynn
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#24
When I started this thread, Carlin's "more stuff" bit immediately came to mind.

I'm seriously considering a yard sale, but it's a lot of damn work when you think about it. We did it once about15 years ago and made a couple of hundred dollars as I recall. Did it again about 8 years ago and barely made a hundred. Proved not to be worth the time and effort. Still had to make a couple of trips to the dump.

Maybe I can hire someone to run a yard sale for me! I'd happily take a smaller percentage of the take and let them keep the bulk. I'd help by pointing out the items to keep or sell. They could mark everything with price tags, and set it all up. I'd even be willing to stay and help on the day of the sale or get lost if they'd prefer.

Come to think of it, that's pretty much what an estate sale is. Any takers? I'm in MA. :wink:

P.S. I guess I could start in the attic and toss all those boxes I keep when I buy something "in case I have to return it" or because "things are worth more with the original box". Then there are all those floppy discs......
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#25
This weekend we put out on our lawn (we're on a corner) various shelf units (6 different ones), old Admiral brand console record player/radio, two chairs, old clothes hamper, cast metal headboard, picture frame with glass, old wooden tv type stand, a 2-drawer file cabinet, and an old fashioned standing lamp (with cracked glass shade). Taped "Free" signs on everything. Posted on Craigslist. Everything gone within 2 hours.

Stuff we should have gotten rid of 10 years ago (various parent's and kid's leftover remnants we had been "keeping")...
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#26
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bFbWQyX1Is

Too Much Stuff- Delbert McClinton
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#27
Okay, forget what I said about having a yard sale. http://www.yardsalequeen.com/customers.htm

Reminds me of the first yard sale we had. A lady picked up a ceramic coffee mug that we had priced at .05. The lady comes up to my wife and says "will you take .02?" To which my wife replies "What? It's a nickel, for God's sake!" Needless to say, she doesn’t like the idea of having another one.
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