MetaChat REGISTER   ||   LOGIN   ||   IMAGES ARE OFF   ||   RECENT COMMENTS




artphoto by splunge
artphoto by TheophileEscargot
artphoto by Kronos_to_Earth
artphoto by ethylene

Home

About

Search

Archives

Mecha Wiki

Metachat Eye

Emcee

IRC Channels

IRC FAQ


 RSS


Comment Feed:

RSS

11 September 2007

What are you bad at throwing away? [More:]With me, it's stuff my mother gave me (thankfully, she doesn't give me a lot of crap, but even the crap she does give me, I find it hard to part with), and "best of" magazines (because I figure "someday" I will get around to going to the top 25 best restaurants according to Whatever Magazine. Of course, by then, they'll all be shut down...)

What about you?
Magazines. One day I'm going to be found drowing in a pile of New Yorkers.
posted by jokeefe 11 September | 18:57
Underwear I've worn just a few times. I just don't like the style or size anymore. I don't want to throw it away because it's almost new and that would be wasting. But what do you do with still-good-once-worn-underwear? Same goes for bras. Alright, I admit it - I'm addicted to underwear. I buy too much.
posted by youngergirl44 11 September | 19:04
I get a lot of magazines, so they pile up really easily. I'm decent at throwing them out, or passing them along to a friend...
posted by ThePinkSuperhero 11 September | 19:04
OMG underwear! I must have..50? Over 50? pairs of underwear. One can never have enough! Or so I tell myself. So I keep everything, even the stuff I don't really like "just in case".
posted by ThePinkSuperhero 11 September | 19:05
Magazines. Definitely magazines.
posted by sisterhavana 11 September | 19:15
TPS made me want to count my underwear.
Grand Total: 102
I must be insane
posted by youngergirl44 11 September | 19:19
Ok, I have to go count now, too....
posted by ThePinkSuperhero 11 September | 19:25
Ah ha, I was right! 55 or so underwears.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero 11 September | 19:29
Altoids and other mint tins.
I seem to be far behind in the underwear race. Must go shopping!
posted by casarkos 11 September | 19:29
Magazines for me, too. I'll regularly have years-worth of the New Yorker and (for some reason) Real Simple in teetering stacks all over the apartment till I finally throw them out (usually when I'm about to move, and I'm faced with the choice of either boxing them up and taking them with me, or just throwing them the hell out).
posted by scody 11 September | 19:32
Bodies.
posted by jonmc 11 September | 19:36
Magazines, but really everything. I look at any piece of junk and see some promise in it.
posted by drezdn 11 September | 19:37
"really everything. I look at any piece of junk and see some promise in it"

Totally. We've been in the same apartment for just over two years. I feel like I haven't really cleaned since then. I was the most organized when I was moving every six months. Now I feel crowded with junk. I need to move.
posted by youngergirl44 11 September | 19:48
I'm finding gifts in general to be tough to throw away- I feel like I'm letting down the giver if I discard their gift. I remind myself that I certainly don't feel that way about the gifts I give, so there's no reason I should imagine others feel that way.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero 11 September | 19:52
single gloves and/or socks. i mean What. The. Hell?

I must have like two dozen mate-less gloves and/or socks roaming around.

also broken bike lights. I have the pieces of (at last count) seven lighting systems that are basically useless to me. either the mounts break or the lights themselves crap out. I'm useless at sending shit back for warranty.
posted by lonefrontranger 11 September | 20:21
Computer parts. Until we moved last month, I didn't really realize how much crap we had. Monitors, cases, hard-drives, hundreds of cables, modems, network cards, video cards, sound cards, power supplies, etc.
posted by octothorpe 11 September | 20:41
Computer parts here too.

Anybody want a CRT? I can't chuck them out, they STILL WORK!!
posted by pompomtom 11 September | 20:52
Yeah, computer parts here, too. Boxes and boxes of useless shit that still works perfectly.
posted by dg 11 September | 21:08
written on 3 x 5 cards
printed out rules to free games, or games I don't own (yet).
any sort of electrical cord
broken flashlights
containers of any sort.
posted by craniac 11 September | 21:37
Magazines for me too. Plus make-up and other samples that are gifts with purchase (Clinique bonus time, anyone?) - I have tubes of mascara that I've never used and probably never will use and lipsticks that look horrid on me but I'm loathe to throw them out. Oh, and receipts and old statements...
posted by phoenixc 11 September | 21:40
I'm bad about throwing away bras too. I don't necessarily wear these misshapen bras, but they seem to be everywhere I look.

Magazines are also a problem, but less so lately. I stopped subscribing a while ago. Now I subscribe to two favorites, read, and chuck. If I'm going through fashion magazine withdrawals, I'll buy it off the newsstand to satisfy the craving. This way I don't have 12 unread Vogues cluttering things up.

The kid's school papers used to be a problem. Now, I just keep the special art pieces and letters, and "first" papers. First spelling test, first math test, etc.

We also have hundreds of cables, old DVD players, and other electronic gadgets in the garage. We have a bin that houses the hundreds of snarled cables and cords. Husband keeps it just in case. "If I need something, most of the time it's in there."

I also keep earrings that have lost their mate. Just in case I find the missing earring. This never happens.

Lotions and potions. I rarely use body lotion. My skin isn't dry. Every now and then I think I "need" lotion. I'll really use it this time! I buy it and never use it. I have all kinds of lotions. Perfumed and expensive to organic and unscented. I could open a lotion store.

/not a pack rat
posted by LoriFLA 11 September | 21:43
Shoes.
posted by rainbaby 11 September | 21:44
Oh, yes, shoes...and come to think of it, bags too, be it clutch, shoulder, tote, duffle, etc...I have little beaded bags dating back to grade school!
posted by phoenixc 11 September | 21:48
Used-up "playmates." They fill up the basement but fast, and getting them to the reservoir in the middle of the night is a royal PITA.
posted by ROU Xenophobe 11 September | 21:50
Every now and then I think I "need" lotion. I'll really use it this time! I buy it and never use it.

This is me and Listerene. I buy the biggest bottle on sale, feeling very anbitious. I always end up throwing it away 2/3 full, after it sits unused for months.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero 11 September | 22:03
Oh, I know. Nail polish.
posted by casarkos 11 September | 22:40
Over the years I have trained myself pretty well, but the one thing I still have a problem getting rid of? T-shirts with sentimental value.
posted by gaspode 11 September | 22:44
Nothing. I will get rid of almost anything. I'm not sentimental about stuff.

Yeah, I have six guitars... but I PLAY them all.
posted by chuckdarwin 12 September | 05:14
I get attached to stuff fairly quickly. Magazines, clothes, photographs. I have a pile of everything.

Which reminds me--I've got to give my old clothes away to someone who really needs them.
posted by hadjiboy 12 September | 06:44
Ah, socks. Yes, I've formed the "socks without partners" club. I can count those who've been part of the organization for about 22 years. How could the perfect mate just disappear? Even when sole-mate-less shouldn't they have some use in life? Ocassionally, I'll take one out of the stash, and hope it's perfect mate has been located, but, alas, they don't quite mesh. And, then there's the couples who seem to go together with just a few minor differences; they are the type who seem good together except for close examination. Somehow they always end up staying together, but I wonder for how long....when will the perfect mate appear, if ever again?
posted by mightshould 12 September | 07:18
Newspapers.
posted by Hugh Janus 12 September | 09:37
As soon as you throw away a lone sock, its mate will magically appear in the laundry basket.

Someday, I will wallpaper the bathroom in New Yorkers. I wish they didn't use labels.

It's so much effort to sort paperwork, bills to be filed, letters, tax stuff, work stuff, that I have piles of paper. The dining room table is buried.
posted by theora55 12 September | 09:41
Shirts I don't fit into anymore. Keep hoping to drop a few (ok, mor ethan a few) Kg so I can wear them again.
posted by signal 12 September | 14:02
I have no trouble throwing out underwear, bras, and socks. A few years ago, as I came home on a snowy day, my then-housemate sang out, "How are you?" Not answering, I stomped breathlessly to the kitchen garbage, yanked off a boot, peeled off the sock that I'd spent all day yanking back into place, and threw it away. My housemate laughed and laughed.

I have a zero tolerance policy for ill-fitting socks, bras, and underpants. They go straight into the rubbish at the end of a day spent tugging and pulling.

I have trouble getting rid of other clothing. My body changes throughout the year, shifting through a couple of dress sizes, almost regardless of my diet and exercise, so I always know I'll cycle back around to the size of any given garment.

I worked in boutiques from high school 'til age thirty, and I accumulated an enormous wardrobe. Now I shop very rarely, and mostly in thrift and consignment shops, so it's very hit-or-miss. I recently donated about half my wardrobe and shoes to shelters and to Goodwill, and I still have far too much clothing.

Goodness, that's embarrassing to admit.
posted by Elsa 12 September | 14:09
MarkovFilter is cracking my shit up. || Jonmc defends the indefensible. Part III.

HOME  ||   REGISTER  ||   LOGIN