tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1575603731696062553.post5750267471570220519..comments2024-03-27T16:08:30.313-05:00Comments on The Great Change: Spring CleaningAlbert Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627996921976501534noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1575603731696062553.post-43781825335160351352018-04-29T20:52:16.898-05:002018-04-29T20:52:16.898-05:00My county does cleanup twice a year. You get to go...My county does cleanup twice a year. You get to go through all your stuff and put whatever you're ready to stop hoarding out on the kerb. Usually people start putting stuff out a week or more in advance so other people can pick up whatever they want from your discards. On the last day the garage trucks come and haul away whatever nobody wanted. Then they go through all that stuff and whatever is salvageable they put up for sale; the rest goes to the dump. Twice a year you get to purge, you get to think about what you really need and what you can let go of. Or, you can join the parade of drive-bys and add other people's junk to your own collection...Anniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03787701515460812026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1575603731696062553.post-37511605652504940212018-04-29T18:30:09.674-05:002018-04-29T18:30:09.674-05:00I do have a hoard of useful raw materials (metal, ...I do have a hoard of useful raw materials (metal, plastic, wood, fabric), as well as a large stash of all sorts of tools (hand and power), gardening equipment, indispensable books, about 2000 CDs and records, camping equipment, cold weather gear, etc. All of this is potentially useful, either to me, my heirs, or others one of us may sell, give or barter away to. I have no intention of getting rid of that, uless I run out of room. I also have lots of things which still have some intrinsic value, but I know I'm never going to use them again. I also have things which might have been worth keeping, but are past their use-by date (parts for long-gone cars and appliances, for instance). That's the stuff I'm currently trying to shed. I also can't see much point in speculating about what to buy to survive dozens of different kinds of disasters, all of which might require very different responses and hardware. Loading up on one of everything isn't a very wise use of limited resources. Those are the kinds of things I think of when I read about concepts like the one in today's blog.<br /><br />Experience has taught me that I'll need about 2% of the stuff I hoard, and it's impossible to predict which 2% it will be. Periodic purges are healthy and necessary.<br />Jon Wesenberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15853030986817909622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1575603731696062553.post-86815097292824893562018-04-29T15:24:06.680-05:002018-04-29T15:24:06.680-05:00Take their pictures, their identifying makers’ mar...<i>Take their pictures, their identifying makers’ marks, barcodes, whatever, so that you can get them off eBay or Amazon if, for some weird reason, you ever need them again.</i><br /><br />How silly. If you ever did need them again, wouldn't it be better if they were right where you last left them, safe and dry in the barn or on racks in the shop? <br /><br />I live on a small farm. I have multitudes of stuff that you and Sterling would advise ditching, like my stack of spare lumber and plywood, cut off chunks of steel, stockpiles of old roofing and left over T-posts and hog wire from fencing jobs past. Many times beyond counting I have gone to the 'boneyard' and found just the right stuff to supply a new project. The most recent one was a loafing shed for a new ram, built with "everything else" already on site.<br /><br />A better rule for spare stuff would be to keep anything that you might need in the future and that can be kept safe and dry in a place where you can find it. Every household needs spares, from light bulbs and circuit breakers to spare parts for the tiller. Many of those things will not be needed except on a periodicity measured in years. <br /><br />Then, if one considers the fact that in extremis, after a typhoon, earthquake, war or financial collapse, eBay and Amazon won't be there for anyone. Everyone will be stuck with what they have on hand and what they can produce with their own hands from their immediate surroundings. <br /><br />A better rule would be to be aware that since there may easily come a time when money will be useless, make room and keep on hand all the things you would really like to have when that time comes. And yes, a deep pantry of freeze dried food or rice and beans might really be nice to have on hand if that quick trip to the grocery store can't happen and FEMA never comes. It might just keep body and soul together while the getting the garden, greenhouse and field crops maxed out. <br /><br /> Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01251330546889158364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1575603731696062553.post-17618020059144080382018-04-29T14:10:17.890-05:002018-04-29T14:10:17.890-05:00On a similar note, there is the Swedish practice c...On a similar note, there is the Swedish practice called 'Döstädning' (death-cleaning), which is the removal of clutter from one's place so that when we die, we don't leave a cleanup burden to the next generation. We need this in a big way on the cultural and civilizational levels.<br />https://www.thelocal.se/20171017/swedish-death-cleaning-decluttering-book-grandma-elderlyJon Wesenberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15853030986817909622noreply@blogger.com