So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[Paisley]

The stuff I've gotten from Walmart usually had to be returned, and I had to stand in line for 30 minutes to do so. I go to Target or the Family Dollar.

 

[Paisley]

I don't understand why people go to these retail stores so much. I go to something like a Walmart or Target once every 2 to 3 months. What are these people *buying*???

(Other than grocery shopping.)

Carmel, Indiana is thick with stores and malls and cars and people. I wonder, too, what people need to constantly buy, besides groceries, once they set up their household. I made a few trips to Target when I first moved here; the last trip was to buy a coffee maker to replace the one that was 80 years old. I was tired of fixing it.

Recycling is a popular idea--why not just buying less stuff in the first place?

 

[GHT]

At this moment I'm in my kitchen. On the counter, among other things, is an Oster "beehive" blender and a KitchenAid stand mixer and a '60s or maybe early '70s vintage toaster and a National rice cooker, all purchased used at thrift stores, and all in perfect operating condition. )

Now there's a man after my own heart. practically everything in our kitchen, The Romans left behind. Some of our chattels come from the early days of our marriage, but most, has been collected from various sources after metrification was foisted upon us. Measuring things in mutiples of ten may seem simple, but to me it's a foreign language. So, my kitchen scales, a wedding present, are counterbalance, with weights in pounds and ounces. My central heating dial goes back decades, it's still in fahrenheit and I don't have a single cookery book that's got metric measurements. Mostly Mrs Beeton but others too, up to the mid sixties. Measurements like, a cup of, or a generous slosh of. The reaction of visitors is priceless, especially those who lived in imperial measurement days.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I've never bought a new kitchen appliance or utensil. Why should I?

 

[BlueTrain]

I will cheerfully admit to being materialistic and for reasons already mentioned. I wore clothes to school--high school, too--with holes in the sleeves and I was painfully aware of it. I have plenty of clothes now and nothing has a hole in the elbow of the sleeve. I don't wear suits to work, however, and only rarely at all. At the same time, clutter really bothers me and we have a cluttered house. Part of the reason is we're acting as a storage unit for our married daughter who just got back a few months ago (more like about six months) from living overseas for two years. My wife says she'll need about two years to go through all the boxes in the basement and throw out what we don't want. I go through all my boxes about once a week.

 

[tonyb]

Carmel, Indiana is thick with stores and malls and cars and people. I wonder, too, what people need to constantly buy, besides groceries, once they set up their household. I made a few trips to Target when I first moved here; the last trip was to buy a coffee maker to replace the one that was 80 years old. I was tired of fixing it.

Recycling is a popular idea--why not just buying less stuff in the first place?

Change the vegetation and Carmel, Indiana could be suburban Anywhere, USA.

A person would be forgiven for thinking it was somewhere ordained that it is every American's duty to make secure the jobs of five Chinese factory workers.

 

[HudsonHawk]

There are still places today where if you want an item this week, it's either Walmart or a 6 hour drive. I can understand, and I've noticed that Walmarts in small towns attracts a completely different crowd than the ones in the city.

As for needing a rental storage unit, we had to get one to house the Christmas ornaments. I think my wife may have a problem.

 

[GHT]

As for needing a rental storage unit, we had to get one to house the Christmas ornaments. I think my wife may have a problem.

We have a double garage that houses two cars and years of collected chattels. We have three sheds stuffed full, we have my wife's dressmaking cabin that also houses her collection of antique sewing machines. We have an attic that is also stuffed full. And we have various cubby holes that have things like, a lifetime of photographs. One day, I'm going to collate those photos, one day.

 

[sheeplady]

There are still places today where if you want an item this week, it's either Walmart or a 6 hour drive. I can understand, and I've noticed that Walmarts in small towns attracts a completely different crowd than the ones in the city.

As for needing a rental storage unit, we had to get one to house the Christmas ornaments. I think my wife may have a problem.

I grew up in a place similar to that (and rural for the northeast, but not rural for say North Dakota). Walmart, the only full service grocery store, was a good hour away, twould hours to abother full store. You could buy basics at the convenience store (milk, bread, eggs) but if you wanted veggies, to Walmart you went. (There was a grocery store in the nearby village, but that shut its doors years before Walmart arrived.)

I have too much Christmas stuff, fabric, and yarn. Urgh. We don't have a storage unit, but we're selling the old house and not ready to move into the new one. So everything that can't fit into our 8x10 shed or our two bedroom apartment is going. So be it.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I'm in a similar boat of too much stuff. I have clothes and magazines from when I was I. High school that my parents refuse to let me throw away for one reason or another. Ivery started to keep a list and when they go on vacation is when I get rid of it. 3 or 4 garbage cans worth. I cleaned out the garage in March and I was left shaking my head at the crap I got rid of. It's shameful.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It helps to be the oldest kid -- all your clothes and toys are worn out/destroyed by younger siblings/cousins/other kids in the neighborhood they get passed on to. I have exactly one remaining item from my early childhood -- a wooden rocking chair I got for my first Christmas. It's still in my bedroom, heaped high with dirty clothes I need to wash.

Most of the stuff I had in my cellar that I'd saved from my radio days -- scripts, files, tapes, etc. -- were destroyed a couple of years ago when the sewer backed up and flooded my cellar. Sometimes forces beyond your control take care of such matters for you.

 

[BobHufford]

I figure that since my wife and I are hoarders (and come from a long line of hoarders) that I can quit my job and sell the stuff for a year or more before I go hungry.

She is worse than me as she is sentimental about every little thing. We have all her late mother's stuff (including the house), her late grandparent's stuff (including two houses), her late brother's stuff (in a 20' x 30' storage shed), another 20' x 30' shed full of our stuff, six truck trailers full of everyone's stuff, two 8' x 16' sheds with her Mom's stuff and my bike stuff, twenty 10' x 15' open shed bays -- most with stuff, a 8' x 10' shed in our backyard with garden (and other) stuff and our own house (with full basement) filled with stuff. Some of it is even good stuff.

 

[swanson_eyes]

I don't understand why people go to these retail stores so much. I go to something like a Walmart or Target once every 2 to 3 months. What are these people *buying*???

(Other than grocery shopping.)

Cheap tchotchkes that will end up in a landfill. You know how some stores have dollar bins? People will buy anything from those. Target's "dollar" bins are full of $3-$10 items and I'm tempted to buy it, but I tell myself no a lot. I don't need it.

 

[sheeplady]

Well, at least this thread is making me feel better about the shed of stuff I can't part with.

My parents were hoarders. I learned some really bad habits. I just threw out the vase my mentor and good friend (who passed away almost 3 years ago) gave me for our wedding. It fell over and the top part of it broke, but I kept it. I felt sad.

 

[sheeplady]

Cheap tchotchkes that will end up in a landfill. You know how some stores have dollar bins? People will buy anything from those. Target's "dollar" bins are full of $3-$10 items and I'm tempted to buy it, but I tell myself no a lot. I don't need it.

Those I frequent for stuff for the kids. But the rule is I must think of 5 reasons why that $1 or $3 is better spent on that than something else (like the swingset I'm saving up to buy them). Normally I double back.

Good buys have been a crayon tin for the car and Olaf character socks. Bad buys have been a purse for my daughter (she liked it for 2 days) and a matching card game (she played with it 5 times).

 

[2jakes]

So trivial, yet it really ticks me off.

(Getting on a bike)

I used to do this without thinking about it.

Although I can still do it, I really have to concentrate otherwise I might get hurt.

 

[Bamaboots]

Jake, that's the truth. Used to do that myself but no longer. Lady Bama is a triathlete and she pays for training to learn how to do this.

 

[2jakes]

Jake, that's the truth. Used to do that myself but no longer. Lady Bama is a triathlete and she pays for training to learn how to do this.

Greg, I never jumped on the bike like this dude & never ever did it bare footed.

What I did was place my left foot on the pedal & coasted a little ( as shown in the photo)
before bringing my right foot over the saddle.

Same thing when I was getting off.
I would reverse the action & coasted to a stop.

I remember when I was about 13 or so, giving a really cute pony-tailed blond
a ride. She would sit on the handle bars or tank part of the bike in front of me.
Boy did she smell so sweet. (puppy love)
Those bikes were very solid (heavy) with no speeds at all, just
coaster brakes.
I still have several.

 

[Bamaboots]

Greg, I never jumped on the bike like this dude & never ever did it bare footed.

Same here, Jake. When I was going through the police mtn. bike certification school (there really is such a thing) they had us practicing running mounts and dismounts. Don't remember ever using it in the line of duty.

I've been to some triathlons with her and the transition to the bike ain't always pretty.

 

[2jakes]

More trivial things that are too painful for words:

I really envy those that can still crunch the ice with their
teeth.