Storing stuff until it's no longer useful

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Storing stuff until it's no longer useful

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Started 2 years ago by 365lessthings
Latest reply from Gypsie
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365lessthings
Member

citygirl inspired me to ask this question.

Who out there has stored things for so long that they are no longer useful, perished or stopped working.

My story is one of moving overseas and storing a whole lot of items expecting to only be gone for two years and ended up staying away for seven and a half years.

The circuit board on my Kenwood Chef mixer failed from being unused for so long and blue smoke started billowing from it the first time I used it.

My son's bicycle came out of the removal truck and we burst out laughing because it was so tiny and he was now sixteen (he was eight when we left).

Since moving back to Australia we haven't used out ski gear and finally yesterday I pull it our of the cupboard to put on eBay and two pair of ski goggles are no long useable because the cushion that sits on your face has perished.

And there are plenty more stories where these came from and I am sure you all have at least one or two of your own. Please share them with us.

Posted 2 years ago #
ArtGal
Member

I had a box of snack cakes in a bread box for 21 years! :) Here's how (in case anyone would like to try it)...I was cleaning my kitchen 21 years ago and decided that my grandmothers bread box, (which I never used) no longer fit the decor of my kitchen. At the time, I couldn't even think of getting rid of it (sentimental, you know) so I gave it a quick dust (didn't look inside, because, like I said, I NEVER used it :), put it in a box with other unused items, and stored it in the basement. Fast forward 21 years...I'm going through the stuff in my basement and come across the bread box...open it up...and out fall the snack cakes! I showed this to my husband when he got home from work and he sheepishly grinned and said, "So you finally found my stash...I wondered what happened to that bread box!" Apparently he had been using it to store his "forbidden food" and when the bread box disappeared he just figured I had found it and tossed it. Although slightly petrified, scarily, the snack cakes didn't look that much different. They were a conversation piece for a while in our home, but you will be happy to know that they have since been thrown away...and granny's bread box is now in my studio storing art supplies. :)

Posted 2 years ago #
JuliaJayne
Member

I had to throw away nearly the entire contents of a first aid kit because what was in there either expired or started deteriorating.

I have jeans from a long time ago that I meant to fit into but it hasn't happened yet. They aren't in style anymore. I know I should get rid of them.

Posted 2 years ago #
Bobbi
Member

Once upon a time we owned a washer and dryer, then moved to an apartment without hookups, so we stored them in an outdoor shed. Eleven years later we moved, expecting the appliances to still work. They didn't. Bought new ones. Now, twenty-two years later, we are renting a house that already has a washer and dryer. Instead of storing ours in the garage and taking the chance the seals would dry out or whatever (and taking up a lot of space), we gave them away on freecycle. The new owners will be able to use them, at least for awhile longer, and we will save up for the possibility of needing to purchase when we move again. It was scary giving away large appliances with large replacement ticket costs!

Posted 2 years ago #
Bobbi
Member

ArtGal - doesn't say much for the nutritional value of snack cakes with a 21 year shelf life! Ewwww.

Posted 2 years ago #
Amy
Member

I am bad about buying ahead to keep my pantry stocked. I finally used up a bottle of salad dressing and when I went to fetch the spare in the pantry, it had already passed it's expiration date. I'm going to use it anyway. It just goes against the grain to throw away my hard earned $2.50 I spent on the item.

Posted 2 years ago #
Stacia
Member

Anyone remember the "Mushroom" brand of shoes (probably from the early 80s)? My mom & I were cleaning out stuff from her house & came across a bunch of old shoes -- one pair was an old pair of wedges that I had loved many years ago. I slipped them on & when I stood on them, the wedge part 'exploded'. I guess they were filled w/ a type of rubber or plastic. It looked like the marshmallow cream stuff, lol! We had a huge laugh & tossed them in the garbage.

Posted 2 years ago #
citygirl
Member

This is great! Cool idea, 365lessthings (ps - love your blog!)! My losses have, fortunately, been small things. For instance, I would hoard "cute" pens (or ones in cool colors" and never use them -- and would store them so long that they dried up and I couldn't use them at all. What a waste! Same with stickers -- I would buy cute ones for decorating cards, etc. -- and waited so long to use them that they were either goopy or not sticky at all any more. I still do this some times (I know, what does it take to teach me a lesson?) but am MUCH more likely to go ahead and use those cute things and enjoy them in the "now" instead of sadly seeing them go in the trash years from now.

Posted 2 years ago #
MellieTX
Member

About a year after a chaotic time of multiple moves, I decided to do a clean out of our car's glove box. I was astounded to find about 45 pens, half of which had dried beyond use. Apparently one of us had stuffed them there while moving the contents of our office and forgot them.

Posted 2 years ago #
365lessthings
Member

Bobbi - I know exactly where you ar coming from with the washer dryer thing. Mine were in storage for 7.5 years and when we got them back I tried to use the dryer and it seemed like it would work but as soon as it stared to heat the fuses would trip in the house. I was planning on replacing the washing machine anyway but that crazy thing still worked but I bought a front loading washer-dryer combo for water and space efficiency.
ArtGal - I had a good laught about those snack cake. You should have made him eat them for being so naughty in the first place ha ha.
JuliaJayne & Amy - That first aid kit and the panty are common problem areas I think. I just cleared both mine out the other day.
Citygirl & MellieTX - Pens are a problem of mine as well. You probably know from my blog that I just through about a dozen gel pels just recently.

Anything with elastic in will also perish with lack of use.

Posted 2 years ago #
365lessthings
Member

Oh, I forgot to mention the vacuum cleaner that was stored for 7.5 years as well. It worked fine when it went in but when it came out it still worked as it should but the foam lining around the motor had perished and when I turned it on black stuff would blow out the air vent. Luckly I had tried it out in the garage before taking it into the house. I bought a nice new Dyson to take it's place. I love not having to buy or store vacuum cleaner bags.

Posted 2 years ago #
JuliaJayne
Member

Very lucky you tried it in the garage.

Posted 2 years ago #
ArtGal
Member

365lessthings- You're right, I SHOULD have made him eat those lovely snack cakes! :) Ha!

Posted 2 years ago #
Laetitia in Australia
Member

365lessthings - Oh, no! Which brand of washer/dryer combo did you buy? I saw in Choice a year or two ago that at least one used more water for the dryer function (for condensing purposes) than it uses in the wash cycle!

We went for a Fisher Paykel washer a couple of years ago (and received the Qld Gov't rebate for water efficiency). So far so good. Now I just have to win the latest Surf Lifesavers prize home that (oddly) comes with a new fridge/freezer, microwave (we keep considering replacing our old ones) and dishwasher but no clothes washer. :-)

We also bought a new Dyson last year; we are now renting a house with no carpets. Maybe I should get an extension cord long enough to let me vacuum the car just to keep it ticking over. lol

In terms of my things dying from lack of use, the only one I can think of apart from the usual pens etc. was an appliance remote control that died from the batteries leaking.

Posted 2 years ago #
365lessthings
Member

Laetitia in Australia - yeh MATE thanks for reminding me. The water guzzling dryer model was the one I bought. It wins hands down when it come to wash water and has some great features but the dryer is a lemon all round and everything comes out wrikled. It is a GE washer & dryer 8/4kg WD1457RD. Luckily I try to be energy effecient and don't use a dryer much.

I use my Dyson to do my hard floors as well it is so much more efficiant than a broom. Then I just mop with a damp mirco fibre mop with(no detergent).I have shiny white tiles and they clean up beautifully this way.

Posted 2 years ago #
misskittin
Member

Ya my dad saved a shirt still new in the plastic that was given to him as a gift for more than 10 years. When he went to use it crumbled into small pieces, apparently the chemically plastics or manufacturing chemicals should have been washed off sooner.

Posted 2 years ago #
themusiclivez
Member

I held onto a few stuffed animals that I had as a baby that in all honesty, I really and truly didn't want but felt guilty throwing out. After going on a minimalizing spree, I took them out of my closet and found that not only were they seriously rotten looking but smelled musty! I stored these things for 27 years!

Posted 2 years ago #
Lori Paximadis
Member

Oh, yeah. I moved from Ohio to Hawaii in 1996. Originally, it was only going to be for a year or so. It ended up being six. I took some stuff with me, but ended up storing a number of plastic bins in my mom's basement and some cardboard boxes of books in an unused closet at my aunt's house.

Everything that was at Mom's was musty (old 45s I was keeping for some reason, a keepsake cloth doll from my childhood, yearbooks, blankets, some favorite sweaters), and some of it was completely ruined. My aunt had a fire a couple of years after I left, and my books were smoke damaged.

With the exception of a few hardy sentimental things (my grandmother's teapot, , I would have been much better off donating most of that stuff and taking the tax deduction, and taking one small box of sentiment with me, than imposing it on other people's space for all that time. But I didn't know at the outset that I would be gone for as long as I was, so it seemed to make sense to hang onto it at the time.

Posted 2 years ago #
Amy
Member

Today I had a major score at the thrift store...Someone donated an over the door shoe rack, new in the box, and I got it for $4.00!
DH has been complaining that he doesn't have enough room to store his shoes and now he will.
Someone who saved this for "later" finally got rid of it and did a nice thing for a complete stranger.
Perfect motivation to go clean out another closet.

Posted 2 years ago #
nellieb
Member

I just got rid of a suitcase full of lingerie! It had been in the suitcase for at least 4 years and some of it was almost 20 years old! The suitcase was clawed up by my cats (and was also about 15 - 20 years old) and the elastic on the lingerie was in sad condition.

This year has been an incredible one for realizing what is important in life...and it's not stuff! I have donated, sold, recycled, or tossed over 500 items since November, 2009 and have not missed any of it! I am literally getting rid of things I've been carting around for 50 years! What a relief it is to photograph items and then let go of them! I cringe when I calculate how much I've spent on items that are not even meaningful. And it's not only the cost of the item but also the cost of storing, packing and moving it over all these years!

Yikes!

Posted 2 years ago #

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