Are you a hoarder?

[Siwastaja]

I was.

Possibly the worst combination for hoarding some 15 years back: bought a pickup truck (with the idea of converting it into an EV, but that never happened), rented a garage/warehouse with a large garage door, visited scrapyards and bought off some auctions etc. Super easy to just push more stuff in.

Finally found a woman (now wife), slowly got rid of 90% of the stuff within a year or so without sacrificing everything, moved away from the garage, then bought a house and manufactured the kid.

Now I have realized that electronic design work is mostly sitting on the computer anyway, and when prototyping in lab, you have to prototype with parts that would go into production, so can't really use any random crap anyway. And components are dirt cheap. So just order the parts for the project, nothing more nothing less. Then they stay in the Digikey/mouser cardboard box, one box per project, you can write the project name on the box. Pretty self-organizing with near-zero effort.

And if I truly need something, I probably can find some hoarder who has it. It's good we have hoarders, but I don't want to be one anymore.

[madires]

Another category: the pragmatic hoarder
Hoards what will be needed sooner or later anyway, saving a trip to the store or shipping costs, and no waiting time for the delivery. Might keep some spare parts which will become more expensive or even unoptanium in the future.

[mendip_discovery]

Another category: the pragmatic hoarder
Hoards what will be needed sooner or later anyway, saving a trip to the store or shipping costs, and no waiting time for the delivery. Might keep some spare parts which will become more expensive or even unoptanium in the future.

When working on a motorcycle I tend to make a note of parts needed for the next session, order them and keep them in a box of new parts and then when I have time and enthusiasm to fit them I get that bike out and fit. If I don't have the parts I then have to order them and wait for them to get here only for me not to be in the mood or have time for it. The only issue with this method is I get onto other projects and take a long time to come back to it.

[georges80]

I prototype designs I do and will order the standard 10 piece cut tape (for a few extra and often cheaper if you need 3 or 4 anyway. I order more of the parts that I know I'll use again, jellybean R's and C's etc.

I keep the parts for a proto in a labeled shoebox and the protos that don't get shipped to the customer for evaluation end up in the shoebox along with any programming/test fixtures.

Then time passes (year or two or ...) and the shoebox contents have been 'maturing' on the shelf. I eventually go through the shoebox and move anything that "could come in handy" to an appropriate  catch-all shoebox.

More time passes... the "didn't come in handy" stuff eventually makes it into a "if hell freezes over, may be needed" box. That box then gets donated via a posting on this forum or to an up and coming young hoarder 

Being in the US and having access to Mouser and Digikey parts within a few days, makes long term hoarding unnecessary.


I had to clean out a lab/office and storage of a company I started working at about 18 months ago. It was mind boggling the stuff that had accrued - it was worse than a junk store/warehouse. Huge amounts of stuff into e-waste - pallets and pallets. It took weeks to get through the junk and so much was brand new bags of parts that "could come in handy". It was barely possible to walk down a narrow path in the lab (at least 500 sq.ft). Workspaces were overflowing with 'stuff' with tight walk 'trails'- no way it could ever pass any safety inspection.

 The urge to bring some of it home was high, but from past experience I knew that it was necessary to resist and be very clinical with the whole process.  I also found that complete reels of discretes had dried out so much that touching the leader tape would have the adhesive layer let go and parts would be spilling everywhere.

I don't have any old laptops, drives, test equipment etc. Test equipment is relatively modern with LCD etc - no boat anchors and not multiple units that provide no 'unique' benefits. No databook library and anything I'm ever likely to need is in PDF on the web. I do 'hoard' PDF data sheets - but only since they live in the project folders so I have access to the version that was used during the design process. I can then compare publication date with the latest in case there was a correction and I based part of the design on a datasheet error.

I'm well past 60, and have evolved to utilize new tech and just look back on the "good old days" as the "mostly simple/primitive days"  Give me SMD and 1 week turn PCB's any day vs point-point soldering an 8080 veroboard or wire-wrapping z80/dram etc.

cheers,
george.

[bookaboo]

Recovered hoarder. I still hate throwing things out and still have drawers of unopened or barely touched devkits. But I've gotten more ruthless with throwing out old projects and prototypes, never missed one yet.

I do wish there were some sort of "goodwill store" where you could send all the stuff that would be useful to someone but just ends up in the dumpster. Practically every engineering firm I've ever visited has tonnes of stuff lying around that's only on death row until its thrown out.

[Siwastaja]

Another category: the pragmatic hoarder
Hoards what will be needed sooner or later anyway, saving a trip to the store or shipping costs, and no waiting time for the delivery. Might keep some spare parts which will become more expensive or even unoptanium in the future.

I don't think that's called any type of "hoarding". It's just... sensible and normal. Hoarding by definition means extreme form of keeping stuff, most of which have near-zero change of being ever used. But sure just like most alcoholics don't think they have a problem, same with hoarders.

[armandine2]

No, I'm not a hoarder  .

...I might be a resource investigator

https://www.belbin.com/about/belbin-team-roles

...with lots of cold cases 

[pardo-bsso]

If the available space keeps growing (like the Achilles and the Tortoise paradox), is it still considered hoarding?

[Brumby]

Assuming we step over the practical issues of that paradox ..... Where did you get a TARDIS?!!!

[xrunner]

Most of my friends are hoarders. I told them it was a very destructive habit, and I'd help stop that bad habit. You just bring all your extra stuff to my house.

[jonovid]

if u live in a rubik's cube, spatial awareness & storage efficacy is a must.   
as do not have amazon's warehouse robots. however a miniature floor to ceiling domestic robotic/ automated storage tub system would be highly desirable.
if it was both available and affordable .

[Kjelt]

if u live in a rubik's cube, spatial awareness & storage efficacy is a must.

We do have cube houses in Rotterdam, without vertical walls the amount of storage is limited 

[adinsen]

I hoard ideas, projects, and the stories that go with them. I buy stuff to support those ideas and I find it hard to get rid of the stuff, I have collected and no longer use. I'm learning to save the stories and let the things go.

[EPAIII]

Considering that I still have a CK722 sitting in a bin, I had to say YES.

I wonder if it is an antique yet.

[bat]

I don't think i'm a hoarder but I like to own "things"
I have yet to get myself a storage unit but in the future I might get one...

[bborisov567]

I understand hoarding as when you actually need something but you cannot find it because of all the stuff you have accumulated and you just end up buying a new one.

[pcprogrammer]

I understand hoarding as when you actually need something but you cannot find it because of all the stuff you have accumulated and you just end up buying a new one.

That is only for the unorganized hoarder. The ones with ocd have a system in place to know where everything they own lies. 

[Alex Eisenhut]

I understand hoarding as when you actually need something but you cannot find it because of all the stuff you have accumulated and you just end up buying a new one.

That is only for the unorganized hoarder. The ones with ocd have a system in place to know where everything they own lies. 

I keep a spreadsheet with storage box IDs and a list of junk in each.
For the vintage computer stuff, it's itemized with descriptions, provenance, work done, condition, and serial numbers.
I think it also helps with the urge to get more, I just read the list and like... that's enough now.

[pcprogrammer]

I understand hoarding as when you actually need something but you cannot find it because of all the stuff you have accumulated and you just end up buying a new one.

That is only for the unorganized hoarder. The ones with ocd have a system in place to know where everything they own lies. 

I keep a spreadsheet with storage box IDs and a list of junk in each.
For the vintage computer stuff, it's itemized with descriptions, provenance, work done, condition, and serial numbers.
I think it also helps with the urge to get more, I just read the list and like... that's enough now.

My system is not there yet. 

Most of my old crap is in boxes with labels on them to list what is in the box, but that is a bit global. Not itemized so when I need something I still have to look in the box. But it is not that much anymore. All the old computers (<Pentium 3) are gone. It is power supplies, relays, old components, floppy drives, etc. what is in the boxes.

The stuff I buy is only new stuff for project ideas that come up, and ends up in a box with a label, so at least I can find it again.

Just returned to an old project that needs finishing. A STM32F303 with a PCM1808 and a PCM5102 module attached to it. Why, because I ordered a couple extra PCM1808 and PCM5102 modules from Aliexpress that need testing when they come in. It is a way of dealing with procrastinating. Force myself to write the software needed to test the new modules. 

Edit: Added some pictures. The scope shows the output of the PCM5102 module, while it also generates the signals going into the PCM1808 module.

[Alex Eisenhut]

Bagging and tagging is also important. Quick, what's in here?

[Postal2]

.... Quick, what's in here?

This is mine.

[Smokey]

...
I do wish there were some sort of "goodwill store" where you could send all the stuff that would be useful to someone but just ends up in the dumpster. Practically every engineering firm I've ever visited has tonnes of stuff lying around that's only on death row until its thrown out.

Sounds like a new section for the buy/sell forum category.  Post it here and someone will probably be interested.
..yes you will probably just be transferring it to another hoarders collection but at least it's off your hands :⁠-⁠)

[tautech]

Yep, sheds full of stuff. 

However moved some stuff on recently to make room for stock......

[nctnico]

I understand hoarding as when you actually need something but you cannot find it because of all the stuff you have accumulated and you just end up buying a new one.

That is one of the side effects c.q. symptoms.   

[langwadt]

I own two storage units, one 44sqm, one 31sqm.
Where do I apply for my club card?

In the words of the late George Carlin, "Have you noticed that their stuff is shit and your shit is stuff?"