The End of the Collector Mindset

[tonyb]

Seems to be going to opposite way here in the UK; here a "double bedroom" means nothing more than you can physically fit a double mattress into it and still open and close the door. My bedrooms in a post war (1951) block are bigger than most new build, and they're only 9'x11'. As to ensuite, I've long accepted I'll never be able to afford anything with an ensuite anywhere I'd actually want to live - more's the pity! My parents installed one in their place a few years ago, and it's fantastically convenient.

Over here in God's Country house sizes have fluctuated from quite large in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to a gradual downsizing until the early 1970s when houses started getting larger again. New houses are upwards of a thousand square feet larger on average larger than they were half a century ago. And that's a whole lotta square feet.

I suspect this will shift too. Many municipalities are now allowing for what in many places are called "backyard cottages" in older single-family residential districts -- freestanding structures usually occupying a 300- to 500-square four footprint. These distinct dwelling units are thought to go some way toward greater housing affordability and reducing pressures of urban and suburban sprawl.

I've long maintained that the crowding "problem" in many areas had more to do with increaing numbers of automobiles than people. Many residential districts built out a hundred and more years ago are stocked with houses meant for half a dozen or more people. And maybe one car per household, if that. Now those structures house three or four people with three or four cars. And there's but one off-street parking space per house, or maybe two.

Some are predicting the come-to-you self-driving automobile. If that comes to pass, if urbanites no longer need to own their own private cars, it could solve the automobile overpopulation problem.

 

[Edward]

Over here in God's Country house sizes have fluctuated from quite large in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to a gradual downsizing until the early 1970s when houses started getting larger again. New houses are upwards of a thousand square feet larger on average larger than they were half a century ago. And that's a whole lotta square feet.

I suspect this will shift too. Many municipalities are now allowing for what in many places are called "backyard cottages" in older single-family residential districts -- freestanding structures usually occupying a 300- to 500-square four footprint. These distinct dwelling units are thought to go some way toward greater housing affordability and reducing pressures of urban and suburban sprawl.

I've long maintained that the crowding "problem" in many areas had more to do with increaing numbers of automobiles than people. Many residential districts built out a hundred and more years ago are stocked with houses meant for half a dozen or more people. And maybe one car per household, if that. Now those structures house three or four people with three or four cars. And there's but one off-street parking space per house, or maybe two.

Some are predicting the come-to-you self-driving automobile. If that comes to pass, if urbanites no longer need to own their own private cars, it could solve the automobile overpopulation problem.

Makes sense. It'll be interesting to see how self deive cars go. My duspicion is thr concept of the shared car might take off faster in the UK, given that historically in the larged urban areas at least there's long been more emphasis on public transport than in much of the US. London, for example, remains the largest city in Europe and yet has the lowest number of private cars per head of population. I could be wrong, though: it's equally possible that people in the US would take to a more private form of public transport, whereas in London I'll never take a cab if I can just get on a bus to where I'm going.

 

[tonyb]

Makes sense. It'll be interesting to see how self deive cars go. My duspicion is thr concept of the shared car might take off faster in the UK, given that historically in the larged urban areas at least there's long been more emphasis on public transport than in much of the US. London, for example, remains the largest city in Europe and yet has the lowest number of private cars per head of population. I could be wrong, though: it's equally possible that people in the US would take to a more private form of public transport, whereas in London I'll never take a cab if I can just get on a bus to where I'm going.

Our current residence is about as typically suburban American as you'll find anywhere. Our neighborhood is single-family houses pretty much like the ones next door. Everybody has an attached two-car garage and plenty of off-street parking.,

But it's changing in ways I suppose similar districts around the country are changing. A light rail station less than half a mile from here opened early last year. Upwards of 800 new apartment units are nearing completion on what had been open land adjacent to the rail stop. Motels and restaurants aplenty over that way. A liquor store and a 7-Eleven. Starbucks and Thai takeout can't be far behind.

Gotta drive to the supermarkets, which are found about a mile and a half in one direction or a couple of miles in the other. But if not for that, a resident could lead as nearly an "urban" lifestyle here as those who live in the shadows of the downtown office buildings.

In the crystal ball I see backyard cottages. And attached garages converted to accessory dwelling units.

 

[1961MJS]

Hi

My parents saved everything. Dad's sister was 8 years older than Dad and passed away before his parents did, so Dad got all of Grandma's junk. The neighbors come over and swiped the two dozen or so hand made quilts Grandma had made over the years. Mom was an only child and managed to get her parent's junk. Dad's kitchen table and chairs are collectable, we have Grandaddy's pipe and stand, one of Granny's hats, a depression ware cake stand of some sort, Dad's WW2 pictures and uniform, and all of Mom and Dad's license plates over the years. Dad kept the same number from 1950 until 2014 or so.

I didn't have a sale even though the sale barn in town is a whole 100 yards away from the house. I'm sure Mom was rolling in her grave on that one. The neighbor's said that a brand new $500 plus Lazyboy went for $25.00 or less, everybody in town is over stocked at home so to speak. Sale guy said I would loose money just carting the stuff 100 yards to sell it.

Doubt the kids will want any of it. I live in Norman OK, and even mattresses aren't moved from one apartment to the next, just buy a new one and leave the old one in the dump. I found that odd, but I guess they're buying really cheap ones.

Later

 

[tonyb]

... Doubt the kids will want any of it. I live in Norman OK, and even mattresses aren't moved from one apartment to the next, just buy a new one and leave the old one in the dump. I found that odd, but I guess they're buying really cheap ones.

Later

I don't think I'm just imagining a cultural shift in attitudes toward beds. There's a proliferation of TV ads for mattresses and seemingly more bricks-and-mortar mattress retailers by the day.

There was no squeamishness about used mattresses in the world I grew up in. Family hand-me-downs was how you got a bed. It was just last year that for the first time in my life I bought a new bed, to replace the one we had been using for 17 years, and which was used, but barely so, when it was presented to us.

Among the Old Man's failed enterprises was a brief entry in the used furniture business in the early 1970s. I recall that even then we, as commercial sellers, couldn't sell used mattresses unless they had been fumigated first. And that was generally considered more trouble and expense than it was worth, what with Aunt Millie and Uncle Joe offering the bed Cousin Jim slept in before going off and marrying that Johnson girl.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I grew up sleeping on a mattress with a big hole burned in it. We just flipped it over and used the unburned side.

 

[tonyb]

I grew up sleeping on a mattress with a big hole burned in it. We just flipped it over and used the unburned side.

As I recall, the visible blemishes on my childhood mattresses were made not by fire but, um, water.

Memories of warm springtime days in my early years include folks hauling out the mattresses for a bit of fresh air and sunshine. I suppose it freshened 'em up some, but rare were the kid-sized mattresses that didn't bear visible signs that kids had been using them.

The Old Man was a heavy cigarette smoker in those days. He often fell asleep with a lit cigarette in his hand or dangling from his lips. This habit resulted in many a burn on furniture and clothing and, yes, blankets and sheets and mattresses. Too bad those fire retardants put in upholstery fabrics and such back then are potentially harmful to health themselves. But it's not much of a stretch to think they may also have prevented many a death in house fires.

 

[HanauMan]

My mother was a paediatric nurse so when I was a child she always put on a narrow plastic sheet on my mattress, enough to cover the mid section of the mattress, covered and secured by a cotton sheet just a tad wider than the plastic, basically protecting the center of the bed from any little 'accidents'.

Years later, when I myself started nurse training, we'd do the exact same thing in hospital beds! Thankfully, this is no longer done and hospital mattresses are covered by a membrane cover these days.

When I left home and moved into a rented dingy little one room apartment, the mattress was stained. Both sides!
I was reminded of this recently when I was walking to town and passed a house which was being cleared. Two men carried out a double mattress with, yes, a big stain in the middle! They were loading the mattress into a truck, I can only hope it went out as trash.

 

[scotrace]

I've just moved house about 7 miles from the old place. It took three days, two trips in the biggest U-Haul available, one trip in a smaller U-Haul, three pickup truck loads, and several car loads to do it. I gave away (literally sat them on the curb marked FREE) five mid 19th century caned chairs and matching Lincoln Rocker. There were no takers at $50 for the lot of em. I gave to a friend two 1870s Renaissance revival shield backed walnut side chairs. And put on the curb golf clubs with bag, dozens of books, magazines by the hundreds, even 78rpm records- I was just sick of toting box after heavy box. And I STILL have moved far too much stuff. The new house is full, and the two stall garage is so full it will be unusable for a single car for weeks. 30+ boxes of books, stupid model cars. Ugh.
The thing is, people you love pass away. You come into their possessions, and those possessions mean something They hold memories and are a tangible link. But my parents and grandparents have been gone 20 years and more, and here I sit trying to find room for their stuff. I got rid of the family dishes. The hideous ceramics they painted in the 70s went in the trash.
I now understand how so many things end up at flea markets. I'll be listing eBay stuff for weeks, and selling every single piece at a loss. I've become all about not burdening those I leave behind someday.
Except the vintage. Keeping that shit, of course.

 

[tonyb]

My mother was a paediatric nurse so when I was a child she always put on a narrow plastic sheet on my mattress, enough to cover the mid section of the mattress, covered and secured by a cotton sheet just a tad wider than the plastic, basically protecting the center of the bed from any little 'accidents'.

Years later, when I myself started nurse training, we'd do the exact same thing in hospital beds! Thankfully, this is no longer done and hospital mattresses are covered by a membrane cover these days.

When I left home and moved into a rented dingy little one room apartment, the mattress was stained. Both sides!
I was reminded of this recently when I was walking to town and passed a house which was being cleared. Two men carried out a double mattress with, yes, a big stain in the middle! They were loading the mattress into a truck, I can only hope it went out as trash.

I'm happy to plug Protect-a-Bed brand mattress covers. They don't let fluids through and they don't feel like you're sleeping on plastic.

We had one on the queen-size bed we had been using for 17 years. The mattress was pretty well worn out, but it was free of stains when it was hauled away. The mattress cover was laundered at least a hundred times, in hot water and bleach, and is still serviceable.

When we were shopping for a new king-size bed I made certain to have a Protect-a-Bed cover waiting here ahead of its arrival. I recommend buying online, as I found the prices to be much lower than what the mattress stores were charging for the same product.

 

[tonyb]

I've just moved house about 7 miles from the old place. It took three days, two trips in the biggest U-Haul available, one trip in a smaller U-Haul, three pickup truck loads, and several car loads to do it. I gave away (literally sat them on the curb marked FREE) five mid 19th century caned chairs and matching Lincoln Rocker. There were no takers at $50 for the lot of em. I gave to a friend two 1870s Renaissance revival shield backed walnut side chairs. And put on the curb golf clubs with bag, dozens of books, magazines by the hundreds, even 78rpm records- I was just sick of toting box after heavy box. And I STILL have moved far too much stuff. The new house is full, and the two stall garage is so full it will be unusable for a single car for weeks. 30+ boxes of books, stupid model cars. Ugh.
The thing is, people you love pass away. You come into their possessions, and those possessions mean something They hold memories and are a tangible link. But my parents and grandparents have been gone 20 years and more, and here I sit trying to find room for their stuff. I got rid of the family dishes. The hideous ceramics they painted in the 70s went in the trash.
I now understand how so many things end up at flea markets. I'll be listing eBay stuff for weeks, and selling every single piece at a loss. I've become all about not burdening those I leave behind someday.
Except the vintage. Keeping that shit, of course.

But if none of it ended up in the landfill, I'd call it good.

I wish I had more family keepsakes, but most of that stuff fell by the wayside many a moon (and move) ago. I have yet to experience a move that didn't result in at least a minor casualty or two. With all the relocating we did in my childhood it's a wonder that the few pieces that do survive are still with us.

 

[scottyrocks]

I had read somewhere that over the course of its life, the average mattress gains about 10 lbs, due to dead skin , colonies of dust mites (which feed on dead skin), oil and moisture. So do I want anyone's used mattress? Nope.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It's funny the family keepsakes that really end up meaning something. Most of the furniture is long gone -- it was cheap junky stuff to begin with and it fell apart years ago --and the crockery we only saw on rare occasions anyway. There was never any jewelry to speak of in the family other than a couple of inexpensive watches, and, fortunately nobody had much of a taste for knick-knacks.

There are only two pieces of family memorabilia that I'd run into a burning house to save -- my great-grandmother's breadboard, hand-made sometime in the 1890s and still in regular use whenever I get off my backside and bake something, and my grandmother's big hard-bound ledger from the gas station. Even while she was dying she kept it at her bedside and kept the entries up to date to the very end. It's of absolutely no value to anyone else but it's the most direct connection I have to her.

 

[seres]

There are only two pieces of family memorabilia that I'd run into a burning house to save... and my grandmother's big hard-bound ledger from the gas station. Even while she was dying she kept it at her bedside and kept the entries up to date to the very end. It's of absolutely no value to anyone else but it's the most direct connection I have to her.

Funny you should mention that accounting ledger…

My parents had the Pure Oil station in my hometown in WV for a few years in the 1950’s, and Mom kept the books. Mom used one of those huge ledger books, and all the entries were in fountain-pen ink. I remember sitting at her desk watching her work. Mom even had a fountain-pen loaded with red ink, for those accounting losses, and on those rare occasions when she had to change an entry, she had a small bottle of bleach with a glass rod in the cap to “erase” the entry.

When we cleaned the house after my parents died at least 50 years later, I found that ledger from that station. It must be over 4-inches thick. The entries were meticulous, with the names of all our neighbors, their accounts, and even what they failed to pay. Mom kept it safe all those years, and now it’s one of my prize possessions.

 

[1961MJS]

From living in the South, if you want the stuff on the curb to get taken, you have to mark it $25.00 to $50.00 so that they'll think they're getting something worth stealing. Left a lawnmower that I got for $25.00 with our first house. Put it on the curb, no one took it. The neighbors (local born and raised) said to put $25.00 on it. 20 minutes later it was GONE.

Later

 

[tonyb]

I had read somewhere that over the course of its life, the average mattress gains about 10 lbs, due to dead skin , colonies of dust mites (which feed on dead skin), oil and moisture. So do I want anyone's used mattress? Nope.

I've read that a far amount of dust mite excrement collects in pillows and mattresses, if you let it. That's among the reasons you oughta wash pillows every now and then and put some sort of protective cover on your mattress.

 

[Fading Fast]

From living in the South, if you want the stuff on the curb to get taken, you have to mark it $25.00 to $50.00 so that they'll think they're getting something worth stealing. Left a lawnmower that I got for $25.00 with our first house. Put it on the curb, no one took it. The neighbors (local born and raised) said to put $25.00 on it. 20 minutes later it was GONE.

Later

Sad comment on human nature and great example of game theory.

 

[2jakes]

I needed a replacement tire tube for my old bicycle.
The local bike shop which mostly caters to high priced foreign frames
happened to carry my size tube.
During the conversation with the
young salesclerk, he made reference
to a "Peewee Herman" bike that his
uncle had given him.
He went on to say that it was heavy,
with no variable speeds equipped
only with coaster brakes.
Although he was fond of his uncle who passed away, the bike held no
sentimental value and asked if
I wanted to buy it.
The peewee bike happened to be a
Western Deluxe X-53 bicycle that had
been home spray-painted to a hideous color but was complete and rideable.
I took it home and carefully removed the top overspray paint to reveal the shiny chromed fenders and original paint on the frame.
It was a labor of love to bring this bike
to the way I remembered.
This was the first bike that my mom and uncle put on layaway at the Western Auto store when I was ten
which I got for Christmas.

I don't know what will become of it
when I'm gone but for now I'm
having a blast riding it!

 

[scottyrocks]

Sad comment on human nature and great example of game theory.

We have an old piano that my wife would like to sell/give away.

The problem is that no one wants it, and even better, no one can, or wants to move it because it weighs 8 million pounds.

If I can get it to the curb in one piece with a 'FOR SALE - $500' sign on it, maybe someone will haul it away in the middle of the night.

 

[seres]

Pianos are hard to sell, or even give away, today. My parents had a fairly modern upright, ca. 1980, and we called and called friends and acquaintances until we FINALLY found someone to take it, FREE. So sad, as it probably cost my parents over $5000 when they bought it new, and it still looked new.