first world problems, fun

Storing random crap *just in case* you need it one day

My friend in Europe sent me this link and I’m crying now. 😭😲

You see, I live with such a man. 😜

It’s not funny. 😅

Intrigued? The story is about a box. The box resides under a desk and is filled with cables.

Old cables. Decades old cables.

And other IT accessories.

We all know someone like this. I know two men who are like this. Actually, I know several people who are like this if you remove the words ‘box with cables’ and replace it with ‘box with ____’ (fill in the blank with whatever random crap is being hoarded).

Sigh.

Minimalism doesn’t exist (in my life, or anywhere that I have seen). Even Marie Kondo is selling random crap that doesn’t spark joy. 😂

Anyway.

The article talks about this guy who has been keeping a box under his desk for 15 years and decided to hang on to it. The box is filled with old cables and other IT related accessories. You never know if they “might come in handy someday so there’s no point using the space for something else.” 🙄  (omg)

He says:

“The thing about IT is that any component might go wrong, so this SCART connector from my old monitor could theoretically save my bacon one day,” he told us. “Assuming I ever own another CRT monitor, that is.”

He is holding on to a phone charger for a Nokia 3310. I had to google how old that phone is. According to Wiki it was released September 1, 2000 and looks like this:

So the guy is holding on to the charger because he at one time had this phone. Still does, except ” I don’t actually know where it is, but wherever that might be, I guarantee it’s still in good working order.”

The wife calls him a hoarder even though he doesn’t like the term. She speaks the same words I do:

“I just want him to make a dent in the crap he insists on keeping, that’s all.”

I remember before we renovated this house, we had stuff stacked in bins all over the place because the closets were full. When it came to empty the house to prep for the reno, I opened the closets which were full of boxes. I intended on sending them to the storage locker (or drop them in the garbage bin without telling anyone). Imagine my surprise when I discovered the boxes were empty.

He stored empty boxes. Just in case we need them.

I mean, ok, I can appreciate needing a box at some point but why not fold them first? You know, to save on space? So I can store stuff we actually use in the closet? (The bins mostly contained seasonal things like children’s snow suits and related items, decorations.)

I asked him about it and he didn’t even remember storing them. It also occurred to me that we live 5 minutes away from a liquor store that has free boxes available for anyone who wants them…

Don’t ask me. I’m not a hoarder.

Anyway. This article resonated with me and I thought I’d share it. 🙂

Enjoy your weekend! Stay out of the malls… 😛

28 thoughts on “Storing random crap *just in case* you need it one day”

  2. I was married to such a man. Cables, old computers, a closet full of telephone answering machines. These were not the reasons that I left him…but doing so made me feel so… light! Not that I don’t have my own issues, but when there’s no space for linens in the linen closet because of the ample collection of decades old telephone answering machines, it’s time for therapy.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  3. We have a drawer full of old cables and connectors. Not a shallow drawer, a deep one. As far as I know none of these cables has been used in the past 20 years, but my husband refuses to part with them.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. I have a man just like this. He has a box, sorry, a cupboard FULLof old cables, chargers, last count 7 video cameras, none of which work, but, one day….and much much more! But I love him.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  9. Pingback: My part’s done* | Writer of Words, etc

  10. No, it’s not funny at all. I lived with one such person for 34 years… 😦
    Even worse, he wore underwear that was coming apart at the waistband rather than throw it away. I think that goes WAY beyond hoarding.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

Share your thoughts!

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.