Depression thoughts

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  • DENWA

    Active Member
    May 5, 2008
    272
    Its Saturday and we are cleaning out the house.

    Making piles of stuff to go to goodwill, trash and of course bug out items.

    Its actually quite depressing going through your life one item at a time and making a decision if it comes with you or stays behind.

    Its actually quite difficult and at times I find myself paralyzed by this almost overwhelmed feeling and want to stop this "exercise" we started.

    Don't beat me up too bad, Just wondering if anyone else feeling a little blue doing the same thing as me.

    Edited to emphasize the leaving your life behind should it come time to walk away from your house.


    thanks
     
    Last edited:

    Blaster229

    God loves you, I don't.
    MDS Supporter
    Sep 14, 2010
    46,409
    Glen Burnie
    I learned this lesson last year when I knew I was going to move. It is refreshing and empowering getting rid of sh*t you haven't used or even touched in years. Going light is the way to go.
    What did it for me was when both my parents died. It ended up being a fcking burden to me going through all the crap they kept that they thought was valuable. I threw everything away. Even stuff sentimental to them. It wasn't sentimental to me.
    I talked to my daughter about this scenario and she said she wanted none of my crap. She knows the meat and potatoes she's going to get. But I promised myself(for her benefit) to throw junk out so she doesn't have to do it for me.
    THIS is what really made me feel good. Not knowing she has to feel bad for throwing away junk I thought I would need or thought was of some value.

    There's a reason why people call them "junk drawers". They are just filled with junk! If you haven't used or even touched something in years, then it's a pretty good bet you can chuck it.
    Throw stuff away with reckless abandon and don't look back.
     

    rifelman

    Active Member
    Aug 7, 2008
    615
    Calvert County
    Man, I i've been in the same house since 1991 and a couple of years from moving and I'm trying to thin it down now. We just finished selling my moms house yesterday. Sshe had been there since 1965 and it was so hard to clean it all out took the better part of the year and most of it no one really cared about. Hauled to the dump eventually.
     

    welder516

    Deplorable Welder
    MDS Supporter
    Jun 8, 2013
    27,304
    Underground Bunker
    As I age (60) I am finding I want to sell and get rid of "Stuff" like Blaster has stated because you have lots of stuff you really don't win regardless of what the young pups say . Thin the herd is the way .
     

    Blaster229

    God loves you, I don't.
    MDS Supporter
    Sep 14, 2010
    46,409
    Glen Burnie
    I threw old pictures/yearbooks away and all. Guess what ? I have yet to catch myself saying "Gee. I think I'll go dig out those old books and pictures to reminisce.
    I kept some actual pictures. I kept like 2 of my parents. Chucked the rest. I have memories in my mind, not in "stuff". Let the past go so you can channel that energy for the future.
     

    IX-3

    Active Member
    Aug 21, 2018
    424
    Eastern Shore, MD
    I've finally decided I don't really need a ton of items to live my life. Last year I sold off tools I've had that I don't use and downsized to only the tools that are actually useful to me. I'm slowly doing the same thing with other items in my life. The only things off limits to being downsized are my guns.

    I had 15-20 boxes from previous moves that never got unpacked once they got to the new house. I finally went through them a few months ago and 90-95% of the stuff went in the trash. The other 5-10% was stuff that I had been looking for and had no clue where it was. It was actually nice to get rid of stuff, kind of like a weight off my shoulders knowing I wouldn't have to waste time boxing it up and moving it to the next house when I move.
     

    mdbassplayer

    Member
    Feb 1, 2017
    54
    Honestly for me going through and cleaning out the stuff I don't use anymore is more liberating than depressing. I could easily fit the "things" in my life that I care about into a single small room without any issues. Plus, sometimes you find stuff you thought you had lost ages ago!

    Its much better than doing what my late father-in-law did which was to take all the stuff from his parents house when they passed and shove it in his basement. He then proceeded to live in his house for another 30+ years adding all his stuff to the pile. When my wife and I cleaned out his house it took TWO 30 yard dumpsters to haul it all away. Half of it had water damage and the rest was just old. Not sentimental.

    If you are truly depressed about letting something go you need to ask yourself if it should really go. If it should go and you are still depressed maybe you should be talking to a professional.
     

    scout6

    Active Member
    Sep 28, 2016
    599
    Ceciltucky
    Just did this last fall. Need another round to finish. It is amazing how much stuff gathers. It wasn't as hard for me, as it was on the wife. I guess she holds more sentimental value for some items that I do not. We'd find her pulling items back out of the dumpster. Projects / crafts that have been sitting on the to do list for years. Even for me, I found myself doing double takes on things to toss. Eventually it came down to ; "If I haven't touched it for over a year, I wouldn't be doing it in the next, toss it."

    The hardest thing for me. The cable box. You know, the box of misc. cables that 'you might need' someday. Yeah, don't think I really needed to hold onto those Parallel printer cables all those years.
     

    IX-3

    Active Member
    Aug 21, 2018
    424
    Eastern Shore, MD
    Its much better than doing what my late father-in-law did which was to take all the stuff from his parents house when they passed and shove it in his basement. He then proceeded to live in his house for another 30+ years adding all his stuff to the pile. When my wife and I cleaned out his house it took TWO 30 yard dumpsters to haul it all away. Half of it had water damage and the rest was just old. Not sentimental.

    This is what I did when my aunt died. She was living in my grandparent's house and never threw away anything when my grandmother died. So she just kept adding stuff to it. My brother and I spend weeks cleaning out all of the stuff. I think it took us two 30 yard dumpsters over the course of like 6 months. Plus all of the trips to the dump for items that couldn't go in the dumpsters. Every time we thought we were almost done there would be more. It felt like it was multiplying. My mom and aunts wanted to keep a lot of stuff due to sentimental reasons (or worse thought it was an antique and worth money) but had nowhere to put it so I threw it in the dumpster. I had no attachment to any of it.
     

    whistlersmother

    Peace through strength
    Jan 29, 2013
    8,948
    Fulton, MD
    Just did this last fall. Need another round to finish. It is amazing how much stuff gathers. It wasn't as hard for me, as it was on the wife. I guess she holds more sentimental value for some items that I do not. We'd find her pulling items back out of the dumpster. Projects / crafts that have been sitting on the to do list for years. Even for me, I found myself doing double takes on things to toss. Eventually it came down to ; "If I haven't touched it for over a year, I wouldn't be doing it in the next, toss it."

    The hardest thing for me. The cable box. You know, the box of misc. cables that 'you might need' someday. Yeah, don't think I really needed to hold onto those Parallel printer cables all those years.

    I still have a cable box, but ditched many others just a few months ago.

    For me, I have a ton of computer science text books and college papers - they're gonna go someday, but not yet.

    I did get rid of a crap load of old tech manuals and such.

    My VAX, Alpha, and Itanium machines are collecting dust and will be for a long time. Can't bring myself to ditch them.
     

    willtill

    The Dude Abides
    MDS Supporter
    May 15, 2007
    24,317
    I hate throwing something away, and finding out next week you need it. :sad20:
     

    FrankOceanXray

    Ultimate Member
    Oct 29, 2008
    12,028
    Sacrificial cleaning I reckon.

    Good to get rid of stuff. It is all such a burden.

    One can look at those who live the "van life", on the run... But they got some things right. They are free to move when they want.

    Settling in surrounded by stuff sucks. More to take care of store, clean, display, worry about, insure, fix etc.

    Don't be sad. Be happy. Hearses don't carry uhauls.
     

    imaoldcowhand

    Active Member
    Aug 3, 2018
    684
    It’s been easy for me and the wife.
    I’ve been retired since back surgery did me in a few years ago. The wife plans on retiring in about 2 years or so.
    But as of a month ago we decided to sell our house and move into an apartment.
    We’ve been clearing out everything. The less we have the less we have to move.
    As for stuff like pictures, she scanned them to a usb stick and trashed the originals. With little family, no one wanted them, they didn’t even know who they were pictures of.
    She took pictures of the “stuff” we had and out the stuff went.
    Funny how as you get older stuff doesn’t mean so much anymore. I wasn’t attached to anything that went. In fact it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders.
     

    imaoldcowhand

    Active Member
    Aug 3, 2018
    684
    Make a few copies of that USB stick on different devices - hard disk, cd, another stick, etc. Had those little bastards go bad.

    She did make 2 copies on usb, but she also sent the pictures to an email account, just in case someone did want a copy of something.
     

    jimbobborg

    Oddball caliber fan
    Aug 2, 2010
    17,112
    Northern Virginia
    I move too often to really accumulate junk. I've moved 8 times in the past 20 years. I can't even imagine living in the same place for more than 5 years.
     

    GUNSnROTORS

    nude member
    MDS Supporter
    Jun 7, 2013
    3,620
    hic sunt dracones
    Mrs GnR and I are going to rent one of those giant dumpsters, the ones that are essentially the back end of a big truck ...

    They drop it off, give you a period of time to fill it, and then come back when it's full to haul it away.

    Hoping to clear out the basement, a small barn, and an old hunting camp that collapsed under the weight of a heavy snow way back in the 90s.
     

    cww

    Active Member
    Jan 28, 2010
    539
    Same theme here. My mom passed a few years ago and at this point I am 90% done with her belongings. I had to rent 2 storage lockers in order to go thru stuff. Part of the issue was her stuff tended to be nice and she hid papers, jewelry and money all over. Be careful just tossing without going thru stuff. We made 6k selling stuff and found another 6k hidden in various places. And we still threw a lot of stuff away.
     
    Last edited:

    outrider58

    Eats Bacon Raw
    MDS Supporter
    Jul 29, 2014
    49,815
    After reading the replies, I peered into my garage and immediately got depressed...
     

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