Unhoarding

Today I went to the Cincinnati Recycling and Reuse Hub

https://www.cincinnatirecyclingandreusehub.org
Cincinnati Recycling and Reuse Hub

It one of my favorite places to shop, the prices are free and the cool and dedicated staff know me by name.

I have been shopping their free store for a few years now.
It's a clean and organized version of my own reuse obsession.
Lately, due to weather, I've been curating the basement portion of my horde.
I was up tol the wee hours , sorting, condensing, scrapping and emotionally letting go of  mountains of  tools and materials.

As a result, I was able to bring them a load of vintage hand tools that I simply did not need
I'm talking half a dozen handsaws and just as many pruning shears, plus crazy bits of hardware like garage door springs.
Even though this is a place that has things like an entire bin of bread bag wire ties, I was still nervous about offering them my treasures.
I know their wares and their policies, but I am weird old Gob-Father(Father of Goblins), and I'm often the only one who sees the value in a given bit of detritus.
So I made them promise to correct me if that was warranted, picked out a few containers to take home with me, and spent more than an hour talking to an archival librarian about poetry, reuse/upcycling/curb crawling, aging parents  and the years he spent WOOFing  in his 20's.
We exchanged numbers.

I am envisioning a future where my hoard can serve it's intended purpose as fuel for creativity instead of being a burden.
The old tools that I kept can be restored or remade, the potting bench can foster new life, and I'll be able to cast parts for stoves.
The hope is to have a fully functioning workshop to enjoy and leave to my kids, instead of an indoor dumpster that mostly makes me sad.


Thanks for letting me share my emotional unhoarding story.
What is your relationship with your hoard?
Does it enable your creativity or hold you back ?

I call it "The Three Pleasures." (Dear Wife might call it "the unholy trinity.")

1. Pleasure in acquiring (esp. free stuff)

- I have great sources for free stuff, and a lot of good stuff comes home with me. This is much more fun that shopping on Amazon, because it's free. I know how to clean stuff and repair / reuse it. It does tend to pile up after a while.

2. Pleasure in repairing / regifting

- Snow shovels, for example. The blades get worn and people toss them out and buy a new one. I can repair one in about 5 minutes with a fine tooth wood saw. So I collect and repair them year round. At the first snow I thin out the collection and give away what I can't use.

- Recently I scrounged a whole box of reading glasses. Like, 40+ pairs. Obviously someone cleaned on their parents' house and set them out in the "free" section. I grabbed the whole box, cleaned them up with soap and water, repaired a few that were damaged, and kept the ones I could use. The majority went to the local thrift shop, where folks will get good quality readers for 10% of retail.

3. Pleasure in refocusing the collection ("making order" -- turning a jumble of chaos back into a reservoir of resources)

- Hello thing. I can still use you. I'm going to put you where I can find you.

- Okay, thing. Plans changed. Thanks for stopping by. Now off you go to entertain / irritate someone else.

- Sorry, thing. I'll never get around to repairing you, so off you go to the recycle / landfill.

As soon as I get the feeling my "stuff" is starting to own me, instead of the reverse, #3 is activated. It's easier to be ruthless when it was free in the first place.