Friday, February 26, 2010

getting organized

next stop eBay

I've been doing home improvement projects for the past few months. I'm wrapping up the most recent phase and have been trying to get the house organized again after shuffling everything around from room to room.

I did the big purge of junk I've accumulated over the years during the summer and fall. Now I'm down to things that are borderline useful and valuable. I've got a good name for this stuff: pre-junk. I think that's the stuff that plagues most people's households. It's stuff you think could be valuable, but really, for all practical purposes, isn't. (unless you sell lots of stuff on eBay)

Everyone draws this line in a different place. Sporting goods, bike stuff especially, and electronics tend to pile up in this category. Since I've worked in high tech companies for several years, I've trained myself not to have illusions about electronic junk. Once I stop using it: goodbye. It's time to recycle it, or trash it. I've worked at companies that filled store rooms and offices with old PCs and monitors like some crazy person on Hoarders. Unless you're a professional recycler, for most people an old PC or cell phone is worth less than $0.

I haven't gotten that ruthless about bike stuff. I tend to think I'll sell it on eBay, or give it to someone, or build up a bike for a friend or relative. But I don't. So I have a bunch of old crap wheels and components and even frames. Frames and wheels occupy lots of space!

The problem with pre-junk is that it camouflages things that are actually useful and valuable--so it actually costs something to store it. I re-learned that lesson again last night when I was organizing my bike stuff storage closet.

I sorted everything and boxed it up in clear containers. In the process, I discovered things I didn't know I had. I thought I had maybe 4 spare innertubes. Turns out I have about 20 of all different kinds. I thought I had a handful of old tires (for emergency replacements) when I actually have a whole pile of them. I thought my only 120 mm stem was on my cyclocross bike. Actually, I have one on the cross bike and two spares. Did I order those in my sleep?


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