Ski Hoarders!!!!

[Native Vail Gal]

I'm watching the Oprah show on Hoarders and cleaning up clutter! OMG!!!! I can relate!
Peter Walsh has some really great ideas about cleaning out the clutter in your home/life.

Is it easy for you to get rid of your clutter? Your Ski Clutter? Or are you emotionally attached to your ski gear or life memories?

 

[Robyn]

A friend of mine calls the cleaning up process de-crapifying. I've done a lot of de-crapifying of late but not relating to ski gear.

 

[Swamp Dog]

that show was a rerun and I couldn't watch it again, it was too painful the first time. I just cannot imagine having that much stuff!

My husband is a hoarder and I am the anti-hoarder. We are pretty decluttered these days

Sometimes when he can't find something he accuses me of having thrown it away. Sometimes he is right! LOL

 

[vanhoskier]

I usually need about a year of non-use to consider getting rid of something like ski or bike gear. But some things I am emotionally attached to. I have a pair of Salomon 1080 twintips that I bought about 6 years ago and I don't use them anymore, but I can't get rid of them. They signify my discovery that twintips are a blast. So they still occupy their little space in the basement.

I have a pair of K2's that are only 2-3 years old but I am going to get rid of them at our next ski swap sale next fall. The attachment is no longer there.

After I stopped bike racing, I sold my track bike, time trial bike, race wheels, road racing bike, and other equipment almost all at once. It was a massive unloading, and it actually was an unloading of weight off my shoulders. Liberating. And it also made me happy to see others pleased at the stuff I sold to them. I also got rid of ALL my team cycling clothing - 2 big bags of it. Gave it away free. That felt GREAT. ( I still ride but want to wear plain "anonymous" clothing and be a normal fitness rider, not a racer).

But there is still ski stuff in my basement that is probably unsellable. Lonesome orphans that occupy a shelf down there. A pair of backcountry skis from when I lived in CO and did 10th Mountain hut trips. The edges are rusty and they are beat but the memories are worth the space they occupy. A pair of combi skis that I first learned to skate on...the bases are in crappy shape but they represent a time of transformation for me, so there they remain.

Our basement is unfinished, but we plan on finishing it in the next year or two. I plan to take those unused skis that I can't part with and mount them on the walls.

 

[Swamp Dog]

After I stopped bike racing, I sold my track bike, time trial bike, race wheels, road racing bike, and other equipment almost all at once. It was a massive unloading, and it actually was an unloading of weight off my shoulders. Liberating.

funny you should mention this. I just sold my TT bike after deciding not to do Ironman Florida which BTW cost me a fortune to sign up for. "Liberating" was the exact word I used to describe how I felt after selling the bike. It was one thing to decide not to train for or do the race, but then I had to see that bike every day. Not any more!

 

[MaineSkiLady]

Oh boy, you wanna see clutter, come on up... Very often, a marriage consists of one semi to very neat freak and a "collector." Having been married to a serious "collector" for a looonnnngggg time, I've about given up....then we moved to a place with some acreage....and a barn....don't get me started. I try to wear sunglasses 24/7 in there, it's beyond bad. DH does not just collect "stuff" - he collects cars. Old cars. Not just NICE cars: really crummy old cars. Achieves this by never getting rid of replaced ones. Forum members have ski quivers. He has a vehicle quiver. But that "garage" is his haven.

And I do promise to take a quiver pic once I can wade my way through the junk....Maybe I'll take an official inventory, at the least, and list it here. Not just skis. All things ski-related. Plus, he scuba dives. There's another equipment-heavy sport. Water skiing, of course, requires a boat. Basically, when people show up here, the question is "What do you want/need?" We probably have it. (Whether anyone would WANT it is debatable.)

This is definitely NOT my style, but hey, I like the guy.

Marriage=compromise??

 

[SuperMoe]

UGH, I could just shoot my husband on this one. He has the nerve to call me a "pack rat." This, from the guy who after we bought our new leather furniture and I thought we were going to have a big bonfire to burn the old (EWWW) junky stuff we had for about 15ish years...went and moved the "dining room" around to accomodate the old sofa. Then, he stuck the old recliner in the attic of the garage and COVERED IT!

:yell: I found my clarinet that I played in school (right around the late 70s/early 80s) It was used when I bought it, just not worth saving, so I pitched it this past fall. WAAAAAAA, I found it sitting in the garage. WTF for?

OMG...I just had to vent. Must take a deep breath and relax the blood pressure again.