Hoarding/Junk addiction

[rusty ol ranger]

I have an idea.

We’ll start a support group for people with too many unfinished projects.

A few times a year we’ll get 5 or 6 of us to all take off work for a week. We’ll go to someone’s house and try and finish as many projects as we can in the week.


The inaugural meeting will be at Rusty’s house. We’ll see how many of his old cars we can get road legal and running in a week. In return he’ll let us sleep in his barn and feed us two hot meals a day.

You ok with take out? My cooking sucks lol.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

You ok with take out? My cooking sucks lol.

Supply the food, I’ll bring the grill. We have to get my green Ranger squared away first though so I have something to travel with, lol

 

[scotts90ranger]

I have similar issues, too many projects and not enough time and too much time working other stuff that seems to take priority... I end up going to auctions to help my brother who's a farmer and is trying not to be in debt like so many farmers do... I'm getting better about acquiring stuff and can talk myself out of things easier anymore. Heck in the last couple months I even got rid of one of my spare bench grinders and my benchtop belt/disc sander (4" wide version since I got the 6" version) to a coworker.

I've come to terms with getting rid of some things just need to actively do it... I need to spend a weekend cleaning a couple things up (two metal bench's mostly) to clean up the yard some, hoping to have a good yard sale with actual good stuff this summer...

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I’m actually considering getting rid of all of my D-28 and 7.5” stuff. The only rig I have that still has either of those under it is my 88 and I’m not coming up with a good reason to keep it, just change to a D-35 and 8.8 and then I get rid of oddball parts. Less variety to keep on hand for spare parts. Problem is I need to deal with other stuff before I dig all of that out to get rid of. I probably have 4 complete D-28s around here and about the same number of 7.5” rears.

 

[racsan]

my garage is such a mess right now, projects, bolts, random parts I might need, used tractor parts that are still good. For awhile I had 10 gallons of used motor oil even. (put that on marketplace for $5 and sold it) At the property line in the fencerow is a old flatbed trailer thats no longer roadworthy, it has tires & wheels on it and jugs of used hydraulic oil. Have lots of ranger parts & haven’t had a ranger for 2 years now- including a good ‘97 drivers side door! Theres a moped I bought at a yard sale for $50 but need a special tool I cant find or make to pull the flywheel. I wouldn’t say Im a hoarder but I do collect. a lot.

 

[Blmpkn]

No....ive watched hoarders and its no where near that bad.

I think alot of mine stems from nostlagia...it bleeds into every part of my life. Getting older and coming to terms with the way things are is hard as hell for me. I think thats why im so picky about certain things on my older vehicles...i want it as close to a time capsule as possible. So i can crawl in it and pretend its 40 years ago again.

Nostalgia is a huuuuuuuuge driver for a good portion of my absolutely unnecessary purchases to be honest, so I totally get it. I feel like you have a couple decades on me at least.. and I'm almost on your level already.. so I'm gonna be suuuuper bad once Im your age especially considering that.. between the time you were a teen and today.. things haven't really gotten THAT much shitter in the grand scheme of things.. but between the time I was a teen and the time I'm your age.. the level of enshittification is going to be many many magnitudes higher.

I also have enough of my mother in me where if I notice something on a deep sale that I *might* need in 8 months I'll just go ahead and buy it... Just to find out after 8 months that I actually didn't need it at all lol. Just cant pass up a good enough deal..

A good portion of hoarding is just a... slightly convoluted survival instinct/ financial self preservation type thing when you boil it down far enough.. especially for the folks raised by great depression parents and those who simply grew up as 'have-nots' like I said.

Peace of mind plays a factor as well. Like me personally... I have enough "survivalist" & survivalist adjacent gear & supplies laying around that I'll likely NEVER use In anything close to their full capacity because I'll (hopefully) never find myself in that sort of situation... But it's an incredibly good feeling knowing that I'm better prepared than most everyone else should shit go awry in a big way.. and peace of mind is incredibly important to ones overall mental health.. that goes without saying. I can probably thank the boy scouts for a good portion of that.. "always be prepared!" Lol. I generally use all.. well.. MOST of said gear while camping at least so.. while all that gear isn't a COMPLETE waste of money & storage space.. it's still all very under-utilized and mostly gathers dust.. especially since I haven't been camping in like.. 3 years.


Makes me think of a song by Slayer called skeletons of society. The lyrics tell a story about some sort of cataclysm that well... Pretty much destroys society as we know it.. presumably nuclear Armageddon.

"Minutes seem like days
Since fire ruled the sky
The rich became the beggars
And the fools became the wise"

It's pretty clear that 'the fools' in the overall context of the song are the nutjob preppers with 14 years worth of freeze dried food and doomsday bunkers and enough arms&ammunition to conquer a small African country. Those folks get laughed at and mocked.. called paranoid.. unhinged.. whatever else by 'The rich' who are quite literally blind to reality thanks to their affluence.. believing that nothing bad could ever happen to them because they've never had to struggle and are too caught up in their own vanity & social status to recognize that things very well may not stay the same forever.. well... If the proverbial shit does ever hit the fan.. the majority of the rich ARE going to become the beggars.. very quickly.


Anyhow..


Considering your living space is fine.. and it seems like you just have a bunch of "yard art" and more utilitarian USEFUL stuff.. I'd say you're just worrying too much. You COULD probably pare down your 20 tons of various vehicles into a more reasonable 10 tons lol.. lose a bit of stress over the whole too many projects/not enough time dynamic and be alright..

... But if it makes YOU happy owning all this stuff.. well.. **** it Keep it all. Get some more even.

We only have one life to live, and lives are best spent while HAPPY. Living in a constant state of yearning is bad for the psyche.. do some soul searching and find a good balance. You'll be fine

 

[RobbieD]

If the proverbial shit does ever hit the fan.. the majority of the rich ARE going to become the beggars.. very quickly.

Poetic justice.

"I'll trade you this Rolex for that can of beany weenies."

 

[Rick W]

I have an idea.

We’ll start a support group for people with too many unfinished projects.

A few times a year we’ll get 5 or 6 of us to all take off work for a week. We’ll go to someone’s house and try and finish as many projects as we can in the week.


The inaugural meeting will be at Rusty’s house. We’ll see how many of his old cars we can get road legal and running in a week. In return he’ll let us sleep in his barn and feed us two hot meals a day.

Very interesting. I’m thinking we could couple this with the certification program. You wouldn’t want to just run out and fix stuff that wouldn’t be used right away. We could form a committee and decide which things should be fixed, and which things might need to be further disassembled and placed into the sheds of miracles, and in the private scrap yards. It would be like a development step in the certification process.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Nostalgia is a huuuuuuuuge driver for a good portion of my absolutely unnecessary purchases to be honest, so I totally get it. I feel like you have a couple decades on me at least.. and I'm almost on your level already.. so I'm gonna be suuuuper bad once Im your age especially considering that.. between the time you were a teen and today.. things haven't really gotten THAT much shitter in the grand scheme of things.. but between the time I was a teen and the time I'm your age.. the level of enshittification is going to be many many magnitudes higher.

I also have enough of my mother in me where if I notice something on a deep sale that I *might* need in 8 months I'll just go ahead and buy it... Just to find out after 8 months that I actually didn't need it at all lol. Just cant pass up a good enough deal..

A good portion of hoarding is just a... slightly convoluted survival instinct/ financial self preservation type thing when you boil it down far enough.. especially for the folks raised by great depression parents and those who simply grew up as 'have-nots' like I said.

Peace of mind plays a factor as well. Like me personally... I have enough "survivalist" & survivalist adjacent gear & supplies laying around that I'll likely NEVER use In anything close to their full capacity because I'll (hopefully) never find myself in that sort of situation... But it's an incredibly good feeling knowing that I'm better prepared than most everyone else should shit go awry in a big way.. and peace of mind is incredibly important to ones overall mental health.. that goes without saying. I can probably thank the boy scouts for a good portion of that.. "always be prepared!" Lol. I generally use all.. well.. MOST of said gear while camping at least so.. while all that gear isn't a COMPLETE waste of money & storage space.. it's still all very under-utilized and mostly gathers dust.. especially since I haven't been camping in like.. 3 years.


Makes me think of a song by Slayer called skeletons of society. The lyrics tell a story about some sort of cataclysm that well... Pretty much destroys society as we know it.. presumably nuclear Armageddon.

"Minutes seem like days
Since fire ruled the sky
The rich became the beggars
And the fools became the wise"

It's pretty clear that 'the fools' in the overall context of the song are the nutjob preppers with 14 years worth of freeze dried food and doomsday bunkers and enough arms&ammunition to conquer a small African country. Those folks get laughed at and mocked.. called paranoid.. unhinged.. whatever else by 'The rich' who are quite literally blind to reality thanks to their affluence.. believing that nothing bad could ever happen to them because they've never had to struggle and are too caught up in their own vanity & social status to recognize that things very well may not stay the same forever.. well... If the proverbial shit does ever hit the fan.. the majority of the rich ARE going to become the beggars.. very quickly.


Anyhow..


Considering your living space is fine.. and it seems like you just have a bunch of "yard art" and more utilitarian USEFUL stuff.. I'd say you're just worrying too much. You COULD probably pare down your 20 tons of various vehicles into a more reasonable 10 tons lol.. lose a bit of stress over the whole too many projects/not enough time dynamic and be alright..

... But if it makes YOU happy owning all this stuff.. well.. **** it Keep it all. Get some more even.

We only have one life to live, and lives are best spent while HAPPY. Living in a constant state of yearning is bad for the psyche.. do some soul searching and find a good balance. You'll be fine

A couple decades? Easy there kiddo lol.

I was a product mostly of the 80s. I think thats why 70s vehicles kinda carry a special place with me i grew up with them. The 80s and 90s for me was just a better time..and i think im kinda stuck there. Its how i get in trouble with these vehicles....stuff from the 80s and 90s dont seem old to me...then reality kicks in and i realize my 17 superduty is going on 10.

If it wasnt for the wife id live in a wood paneled wall house with brown furniture, a console TV, colored appliances and a landline rotary phone.

I read somewhere nostalgia can be a sickness, it might be true lol.

As far as my hoarding...i dont know. I dont think its at redline...but i am a bit worried if i dont kick it in the nuts now it might get bad. I dont want TLC channel knocking on my door. I could cut down the collection for sure....i know my old 77 F250 as much as i hate to should probably go to someone with the body skill to get it back to prime shape, my ranger as much as i hate to say probably should go to the junkyard...but it does run and drive....so thats a hard one for me. Ideally it needs a cab/core support, and a rebuild. It runs strong but the lifters are so...damn...bad.

I am in progress of getting the cobalt running...its got wiring issues....and most likely a bad MAF. So nothing major there.

The Bronco just needs a heater box...which i ordered and got yesterday...but i need to finish pulling the dash to replace it....and i need to pull the rear drum and figure out wtf the scraping noise is (goes away when you hit brakes lol).

The Crown Vic...eh....dont get me started. Currently got the PCM out and getting checked at a shop...fingers crossed.

The LTD....i was gung ho to get that going...then i buried myself with the bronco and vic. It needs a motor put in it...which i have. Among numerous other things.

So i am making progress....i just kinda feel buried...and then keep looking for more dirt. Which is why i seen it as av issue and posted this

 

[Curious Hound]

We could form a committee and

Oh, hell no!

It would be like a development step in the certification process.

Too much bureaucracy. No way. You are automatically banned from being involved. Not going to ruin this by running it like some huge international company.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

A couple decades? Easy there kiddo lol.

I was a product mostly of the 80s. I think thats why 70s vehicles kinda carry a special place with me i grew up with them. The 80s and 90s for me was just a better time..and i think im kinda stuck there. Its how i get in trouble with these vehicles....stuff from the 80s and 90s dont seem old to me...then reality kicks in and i realize my 17 superduty is going on 10.

If it wasnt for the wife id live in a wood paneled wall house with brown furniture, a console TV, colored appliances and a landline rotary phone.

I read somewhere nostalgia can be a sickness, it might be true lol.

As far as my hoarding...i dont know. I dont think its at redline...but i am a bit worried if i dont kick it in the nuts now it might get bad. I dont want TLC channel knocking on my door. I could cut down the collection for sure....i know my old 77 F250 as much as i hate to should probably go to someone with the body skill to get it back to prime shape, my ranger as much as i hate to say probably should go to the junkyard...but it does run and drive....so thats a hard one for me. Ideally it needs a cab/core support, and a rebuild. It runs strong but the lifters are so...damn...bad.

I am in progress of getting the cobalt running...its got wiring issues....and most likely a bad MAF. So nothing major there.

The Bronco just needs a heater box...which i ordered and got yesterday...but i need to finish pulling the dash to replace it....and i need to pull the rear drum and figure out wtf the scraping noise is (goes away when you hit brakes lol).

The Crown Vic...eh....dont get me started. Currently got the PCM out and getting checked at a shop...fingers crossed.

The LTD....i was gung ho to get that going...then i buried myself with the bronco and vic. It needs a motor put in it...which i have. Among numerous other things.

So i am making progress....i just kinda feel buried...and then keep looking for more dirt. Which is why i seen it as av issue and posted this

I totally get that, I just pour all my energy into my Ranger. Glasspacks for the "good old truck" sound I grew up with, incandescent dome light for the welcoming yellowish glow, incandescent turn signals so they kind of roll on and roll off rather than snappy LED's, old style radio. If I remove my GPS the cockpit is all 80's.

I have an idea.

We’ll start a support group for people with too many unfinished projects.

A few times a year we’ll get 5 or 6 of us to all take off work for a week. We’ll go to someone’s house and try and finish as many projects as we can in the week.


The inaugural meeting will be at Rusty’s house. We’ll see how many of his old cars we can get road legal and running in a week. In return he’ll let us sleep in his barn and feed us two hot meals a day.

If we started at Eric's we could harvest at least one 3.0 we could use to get one of Rusty's rigs actually running well. IIRC he did have a spare at one point too...

Oh, hell no!

Too much bureaucracy. No way. You are automatically banned from being involved. Not going to ruin this by running it like some huge international company.

Hey now, lets not get hasty... see above

I’m actually considering getting rid of all of my D-28 and 7.5” stuff. The only rig I have that still has either of those under it is my 88 and I’m not coming up with a good reason to keep it, just change to a D-35 and 8.8 and then I get rid of oddball parts. Less variety to keep on hand for spare parts. Problem is I need to deal with other stuff before I dig all of that out to get rid of. I probably have 4 complete D-28s around here and about the same number of 7.5” rears.

I actually managed to sell my 7.5, I wish I could sell my D28 as it was a perfectly functional axle with good brakes and manual lockouts. I am getting tired of it hanging on my garage wall though.

 

[Curious Hound]

Hey now, lets not get hasty... see above

I was rebelling against all that "form a committee" and "certification process" stuff. Next thing you know, he'll be scheduling meetings of the committee for the purpose of scheduling more meetings. They'll want feasibility studies and expense reports and spreadsheets and powerpoint presentations...

No.
Just no.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I was rebelling against all that "form a committee" and "certification process" stuff. Next thing you know, he'll be scheduling meetings of the committee for the purpose of scheduling more meetings. They'll want feasibility studies and expense reports and spreadsheets and powerpoint presentations...

No.
Just no.

Spreadsheets to track parts orders yes.

This a team of Ranger builders, feasibility studies and expense reports are something we just kinda pretend we forgot to do because deep down we know it ain't good and we really don't want to know the answer.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

I totally get that, I just pour all my energy into my Ranger. Glasspacks for the "good old truck" sound I grew up with, incandescent dome light for the welcoming yellowish glow, incandescent turn signals so they kind of roll on and roll off rather than snappy LED's, old style radio. If I remove my GPS the cockpit is all 80's.



If we started at Eric's we could harvest at least one 3.0 we could use to get one of Rusty's rigs actually running well. IIRC he did have a spare at one point too...



Hey now, lets not get hasty... see above



I actually managed to sell my 7.5, I wish I could sell my D28 as it was a perfectly functional axle with good brakes and manual lockouts. I am getting tired of it hanging on my garage wall though.

You had me untill you said 3.0

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

You had me untill you said 3.0

If you want things to run reliably unfortunately changes need to be made...