Pack Rat or Vagabond?

[Dr. Bill Kobb]

I am wondering where most members would classify themselves between the two extremes. I myself am a "pack rat". I've always been one to save and collect things. I'm really hesitant to throw things away...even if I haven't used or looked at them in years! By the same token, I've had and lost collections without too much issue. For the last nearly 20 years, I've been into collecting rare movies. In former lives, I've had and lost large collections of books, magazines, gaming gear, and a long time ago it was comics.

I ponder all of this as I am planning a big move in afew months. It's my first move in over 15 years, and I'm considering moving into a coworker's house. If so, I will only have a small room, and no doubt much of my stuff will either get thrown away or put into storage.

On the upside, I could save money like crazy staying there. Even facing a worst-case-scenario job loss, it'd be inexpensive. So, I'm currently torn between losing my crap, or living cheaply.

I welcome others' advice. Especially from other pack rats who have faced similar dilemmas.

 

[Journia]

My advice, throw all that you really don't need away. I myself am a major pack rat. Mainly for books. I have tons of them, and I've read 90% of them already, but even when I'm done and I dont' read them I don't like to give them away. But I know I have to.

 

[melanie2]

tis the Scot in me...i'm a pack rat

 

[chicag0]

I tend to be a pack rat for a while until I realize my place is too fucking cluttered. Then I tend to just throw everything away.

 

[kered]

Pack Rat.

 

[kopfhorer1]

I tend to be a pack rat for a while until I realize my place is too fucking cluttered. Then I tend to just throw everything away.

You too, huh? I don't throw everything away, I take tradeable stuff where t can be traded, or give it away to friends who can use it. Speaking of which, anyone want to buy a darkroom setup (IM me!).

 

[MistressValerie1]

I have always been a pack rat and collector of useless and occasionally collectible items 😉

 

[Relent<]

I keep some things, give other things away, but I could never bear to just throw my collectibles into the garbage. I believe that in giving away that which I have outgrown, I am sharing a small piece of myself and my past with either a friend or just some total stranger.
....
That, and that shit cost me money. Somebody can still use it. Lol

 

[the_jimmy_james]

I save all junk.

 

[Dr. Bill Kobb]

Wow! We're like a veritable League of Packrats! It's gratifying to see there are so many others who share (what I like to call) the latent "squirrel-gene".

So, just out of curiosity - How many of you other collectors have ever had to resort to a monthly storage unit? And, if so, for how long? I really, really dislike the idea of paying for a place to store my crap for longer than, say, 6 months or so, maybe? I dunno...

 

[Journia]

I've resorted to stuffing my bibliophilia ware in the lightweight plastic crates you get from any pharmacy store.

 

[Slaver123]

I "rescued" as much of my stuff as I could when I moved. (not a fire, but a bad situation, and it was under threat....) since then I've preserved many irreplaceable things (artworks by relatives, etc)

I have extremely limited space now. I've had to throw out a lot of stuff- books are a biggie. Hundreds of books I probably won't read again. Some I trade in at the used bookstore for credit.

I find all sorts of cool stuff (at Spencer's or wherever) but I have to pass almost every time cause I know I don't have the space to display more than a few things (dragons, monsters, skulls, etc etc)

I'd love to watch some Feng Shui expert's head explode from one glimpse into my place; even the Crypt Keeper'd probably get freaked out a bit!!! (it's not that bad- I do keep it cleaner than most other single cavemen)

oh. my point- I actually enjoy what other people see as "clutter" If I were a billionaire I'd still probably have a smallish older house, not some palace. I like a busy environment, full of cool stuff, and I'd wither away in a big empty pastel-colored room in some Yuppy McMansion.

So I CAN get rid of things, and have done so to a painful degree- so am I a true pack rat???

 

[QueenBeeBeeMari]

I'm somewhere in the middle