I once prevented throwing out a broken electric toothbrush for a year

  • cordlesslamp@lemmy.todayEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    You should see my face when we needed some obscure thing I hoarded like years ago, that got threatened to be thrown out by my wife multiple times over the pass years.

    Some of those occasion that I can recall:

    _a clothes patcher I bought from AliExpress (used 7 years after purchased)

    _a gasoline syphon (used 3 years after purchased)

    _a couple of self-tapping screws (used 5 years after purchased)

    _electric lint remover (lost count of when I got it)

    _velcro tape (used 6 years after purchased)

  • NaoPb@eviltoast.orgEnglish
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    3 months ago

    I threw things out once. Then I needed it.

    Now I just never throw it out in case I’ll ever need it.

    • Buddahriffic@lemmy.worldEnglish
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      3 months ago

      I like to consider a few questions to help me decide if I should keep, sell, donate, or trash something.

      1. In what scenarios will this be useful to me?
      2. How likely are these scenarios to come up?
      3. If it does come up, will I remember I have this and be able to find it?
      4. What other options will likely be available?
      5. If I did get rid of this but realized I need another one, how difficult or expensive will it be to replace it?
      6. Given how much space it takes and/or how much it will be in the way and the above responses, is it worth keeping? I’ll also consider how much space I have, like if it takes up space in a toolbox where I still have space available, the “keep” option is a lot more likely than if I need to move things around each time I open it just to get it closed again.
      7. (Once I’ve decided to get rid of it) How much value does it have to others?
      8. Could anyone I know use it?
      9. Would anyone I don’t know want it?
    • ameancow@lemmy.worldEnglish
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      3 months ago

      I was raised by hoarders. I was the only one who ever did any cleaning. I was the only one in the house who knew how to operate the washing machines and vacuum cleaner at age 10. I made huge efforts sometimes to keep the place clean and organized, which turned into huge dramas as my parents used the new clean space as a reason to fight and be victims, until they would bring more shit in and leave it piled on top of the old shit.

      To this day, if I could live in a blank, white box with nothing else at all, it would be heaven.

      • NaoPb@eviltoast.orgEnglish
        0·
        3 months ago

        I get you. I don’t think my parents were hoarders necessary but they had trouble throwing things out that were still good. I guess them growing up in poverty has changed them in a way. Back when I was young my dad used to be looking for jobs a lot and things were tight. I think that may have influenced me as a person.

        My mom always used to keep things tidy, even with lots of stuff in the house. Even after my dad passed away. But since her brain infarction she started going downhill.

        I try to clean up and at least sort things out and store them together when I get the chance. But due to chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia I am slower with getting things done. But we’ll get there. And one difference, we don’t save trash and newspapers.

        What I’m saying is, it’s not as bad as I made it look. And I’m not complaining. I’m glad you are in a different place now. That must’ve been hard on you as a child. Probably in more ways than one.

        • antipiratgruppen@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
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          3 months ago

          we don’t save trash and newspapers.

          Newspapers are great for cleaning window glass and mirrors without making stripes like cloth often does, though.

    • lightnsfw@reddthat.comEnglish
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      3 months ago

      Growing up my mom and I have friends who’s wives have thrown (often expensive) stuff away without asking their spouse and I’m always like “uh… what?”. At least ASK first. I have a decent amount of of PC parts and various screws and whatnot that I’ve saved for years but they don’t take up much space and they come in handy all the time. Just recently I had to fix a broken hold down thing on my PC’s motherboard and I would have been fucked If I hadn’t had a box of shit to look through to fashion a replacement.

      I understand asking to get rid of stuff if it’s in the way but if it’s out in the garage with the rest of their tools or something like that and they toss it that’s fucked up to me. I have shelves that are designated for this purpose and if more stuff then will fit I toss something to make room. The line for me is it being on the floor or spilling onto horizontal furniture. Which I think is perfectly reasonable.

  • flughoernchen@feddit.orgEnglish
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    3 months ago

    I currently have a non-functioning coffee machine and a broken kitchen scale right beside me. (Like, literally broken, I keep finding acrylic glass fragments…)

    • SolacefromSilence@fedia.io
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      3 months ago

      What if you’re currently using a working coffee machine that’s the same model of the broken one, keeping it ‘just in case’ the other one breaks ‘in a different way’ and you now have the part? Umm, asking for a friend…

      • SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.worldEnglish
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        3 months ago

        I tried that once. Turns out they made some small changes between the different version of the same model and the parts didn’t quite fit. I don’t keep things around for spare parts anymore.

      • variants@possumpat.ioEnglish
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        3 months ago

        Just swap the broken parts an you end up with two working coffee machines for your friend!

  • aname@lemmy.oneEnglish
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    3 months ago

    I know a pair of hoarders. I wonder which one is the throw away person

  • ijustlookatpictures@feddit.ukEnglish
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    3 months ago

    I was asked today what I was going to do with the 12 old bottle teats I’d been saving from my son’s milk bottles… I’m not sure any answer would have been satisfactory but the truth is I want to make a weird Halloween costume.

    They stayed… for now

  • Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
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    3 months ago

    Ah yes. The cousin to “one partner saves money meticulously for emergencies and rainy days and the other partner uses it for vacations and fun.”

  • xpinchx@lemmy.worldEnglish
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    3 months ago

    Oddly enough I’m the thrower-outer, sometimes it gets so cluttered in our small apartment I go on a cleaning/donation spree.