Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with stuff

Something to get off my chest

Sully — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 11:07:23 -0800

If I strap a suitcase to my chest so that it's open, almost like one of those trays that an old-style 'cigarette girl' has, and walk on the street downtown, selling little odds and ends, is it legal? I wouldn't be selling cigarettes, maybe little handmade zines, candy, quirky items that you might find on Etsy. I ask this because in my head, this is kind of a grey area, legally.

I have googled garage sales, and in some places they want you to tell the city that you're going to have one, but in other places they don't care, or the law goes unenforced. But then the other day I passed these tables on the sidewalk downtown and the people there were looking for donations and signatures to shut down puppy mills and cruelty to animals. I asked them how it was they were just on the street outside this major dept. store and they told me that they had to apply to the city for a permit. Which leads me to think that I would need a vendor's permit too.

But then I think about the people who sell stuff on Craigslist, then meet in some parking lot to do the trade. Technically they are selling something too.

I guess what I am asking is, is it okay to sell stuff off your chest on the sidewalk if you are just walking along with the wares displayed on your chest-tray? Has anyone heard of such a thing before?

Can my landlord toss my stuff?

ian1977 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:43:54 -0800

Can my landlord throw out my stuff in a storage unit? So my apartments management company decided to clear out and reassign the storage areas so that they corresponded to the right apartment (ie Storage Area 1 goes with Apt 1, etc)

There was a note pinned to our doors on a Thursday stating their intentions to clean out the storage area so that they could reassign them. The note said....anything not removed by Monday will be thrown in the trash.

The previous month they did the same thing with the garages. They wanted to reassign the garages and also put new garage doors on. The note they left the tenants said that all of our stuff had to be out by such and such date, and to please remove our cars so that the workers can put the garage doors on. The note said that any stuff not removed would be thrown in the trash and any cars not removed would be towed.

Besides being highly obnoxious (in my opinion at least)...is that legal? Can they just declare martial law on your stuff like that? What if I was out of town for those days and came back and found my junk missing? This is in the state of Minnesota if it matters.

I didn't have anything thrown away but one of my neighbors did. Does he have any recourse?

This is a fairly large management company with several (dozens I think) buildings in the metro area I live in. I would assume that they would have a good handle on what they can and can't do but this just seems iffy to me.

What really long lists can I put my name on now to thank myself later?

2legit2quit — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:31:24 -0800

Long Term Planning: I just submitted my name to the Packer season ticket waiting list, which is supposed to be 30 years long. I don't even live in Wisconsin, but life could take me anywhere in 30 years, and I like the feeling of knowing it might be an option one day. Are there any other lists or similar things I should do now? Please no general health or exercising advice.

Importers / Wholesalers advertising on Google?

Squid Voltaire — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:18:07 -0800

Any have experience dealing with online wholesale importers as an end consumer (i.e., not a retailer, just a guy who wants some buckles) ? I'm trying to find a cheap source of metal buckles (my boots are simply too plain--they need augmentation!) and along the way I've stumbled across tons of sites like AliBaba or China Trade Online. These folks have really neat stuff for very low prices in vast quantity. Monster Steel, it turns out, provides wholesale cock rings. My mind is blown.

They have really cool stuff, but it's pretty clear that they are set up to deal exclusively with retailers (China Trade Online has a minimum order of $1,000, the smallest I've been able to find is a minimum order of $100). I'm fascinated by this all, but have no experience in this area. I suppose my question is twofold:

1) Do you know of any place like this who would be happy to sell me $30 or $40 worth of merchandise, or perhaps $20 worth with a $20 service charge? (I'm guessing not--I assume that these places all make very little per item and thus need quantity to survive, but it is worth checking).

2) Any idea how these places feel about folks like me asking for price quotes and then ordering whatever their bare minimum is? If they deal with this sort of thing on a regular basis, cool, but I don't want to bug / create unnecessary work for them when I'm clearly not their target customer.

Magically delicious.

cobain_angel — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 15:39:28 -0800

Help me send my friend in Ireland some very American things. Bobby's birthday is coming up, and I would like to send my dear Irishman some mail-resistant stuff that he wouldn't be able to find in Ireland in a store. An example is Lucky Charms, which he informs me, is NOT available in Ireland.

Any ideas?

....but what if I need it someday?

wild like kudzu — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:35:21 -0800

Okay. I have too much stuff. It's a major pain in my derriere, but just treating the symptoms of too-much-stuff-itis has not cured the disease. Aside from the obvious physical act of giving away and/or throwing away tons of my stuff (which I do periodically and always have-- I moved a lot growing up so anything I accumulated was eventually trashed when I moved) I need to address the underlying psychological causes for my too-much-stuff-itis.

I know part of my issue is that I've never had much money. Sometimes I find myself lamenting the loss of some rarely used item because I simply can't afford to replace it with a new one. So I hold onto things that may one day come in handy (i.e. "Oh well, one day maybe I'll need a graphing calculator...")

Then there's all the crap that follows me because I simply don't know what to do with it. By this I mean old checkbooks that are for closed out bank accounts and with incorrect addresses. Unidentifiable cords and manuals for gadgets also fall into this category. These things usually end up stuffed in a bag and under my bed or in the closet.

And then of course are the chotchkies. I have some random stuff. I mean, geez. Of course, I'm an artist and I like weird things so I have right now a deer jaw on my dresser, coke bottles on my windowsill, old tequila boxes that I once thought I'd use for some art project...

And on top of all of that is the limitless number of sentimental items. This I believe is at the heart of my issues, as a pair of glasses my grandmother used to wear, boxes of photographs and old journals are always in my face and cluttering up my room.

It's worth noting that I am in college, and everything I own is in my very small bedroom in my small rented apartment. My parents are too up in the air for me to store things with them for the most part, aside from a few suitcases that I'm keeping at my mom's. Also I'm an artist, which means I have this ever-growing reservoir of old art and doodles that I can't bring myself to throw away.

Right now I am in the thick of trying to reorganize my room (and thereby my life) and I'm attempting to give away a number of my old art pieces and clothes of which I'm no longer fond.

So... are there any MeFis out there who have struggled with and overcome compulsive retention of crap? I tend to vacillate between holding onto everything until I can bearly stand it and then the desire to throw everything away and start over. I know it's not the healthiest approach, does anyone have any suggestions?

what does babby need?

logic vs love — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 14:33:15 -0800

I am going to have a baby sometime in the next month. What things do we need to have before the baby gets here, and what things are we better off waiting on? And what are we better off skipping altogether? Because we have only just now finished moving into our new place, we have yet to buy anything for the baby. This is our first kid and we're both a little clueless and overwhelmed when it comes to baby goodies and gear and whatnot. And every though I want my son to have everything his adorable little heart desires, I'm in favor of buying the least amount of stuff possible because I'm not rich and I'm secretly afraid of my life becoming overrun with horrible, primary-colored plastic things.

So...what things do we absolutely need right away, what things do we absolutely need eventually, and what do we really not need at all?

BABY CAR SEAT/STROLLER

Tayniksgranny — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 08:41:38 -0800

Which baby car seat should I buy for my soon to be born grandson? Are the baby stroller/car seats combo's a good idea.?

GrossFilter: Sometimes when I talk for long periods or get really mad, I get this buildup around my lips and eyes.. which I discover afterwards and feel embarrassed that all that time I had shit growing on my face.

In Heaven — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 02:21:11 -0800

GrossFilter: Sometimes when I talk for long periods or get really mad, I get this buildup around my lips and eyes.. which I discover afterwards and feel embarrassed that all that time I had shit growing on my face. It's really strange, maybe since I don't talk much anymore. But when I do, and what I mean is... say I'm in this long heated argument, or something where you're really in the convo and take no breaks, and kind of tense, like bulging eyes and stuff lol. I'm talking hours.. few times it happened, luckily I was on the phone. I got off, went to the bathroom, and in the corners of my lips, where they meet, was like white stuff, like when my lips open and close in the crease it leaves a white shit that's like half skin mixed with saliva turned solid white grossness.

Well today, it happened again, but this time I was with someone, and it wasn't my lips.. it was my freakin eyes!! The two outer corners, that white shit was there. I was like wholy fuck. It looked like I had two dabs of lotion on my eyes.

Has anyone had this happen?? It never used to happen, maybe it's old age?

Any way to treat it other than making sure to wipe my face every half hour?

how much for this tank?

tylerfulltilt — Fri, 08 May 2009 09:21:52 -0800

How much should I charge for a 57 year old 1,000 gallon propane tank in perfect working condition, but poor cosmetic condition? At the full tilt household we just switched over to natural gas. So we now have a 57 year 1,000 gallon propane tank sitting in our backyard that we'd like to unload.

It's in excellent working condition, all seals, gauges, and regulators work great. The tank has been re-certified in the last ten years, and our propane provider filled it up with 200 gallons about three months ago so it's obviously in good shape.

I've looked around and seen that a brand new 1,000 gallon tank sells for about $1000-1300, so I figure that $550 is a fair price.

Am I wrong? How much is this thing worth?

I need a home for my stuff.

jbickers — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 07:49:43 -0800

Self-storage solution for linens, toys, etc.? So we've got a bunch of Rubbermaid totes full of various kinds of stuff - toys, pillows, linens, books/magazines, etc. - and we really want to store them somewhere other than our smallish house. We've got a shed, but it's not waterproof or bug-resistant, so I'm icky about putting these things out there.

Aside from getting rid of stuff or getting a bigger house - both of which are things we're working on long-term, but a lot of the stuff is gonna be hand-me-downs from older kiddos to a new baby, so we need to keep it - is there a good off-site storage solution that's good for this kind of thing? Is there a shed that I can buy that's sufficiently ick-resistant that you'd be willing to store linens in? What about those rental self-storage places - would you store linens in one of those?

The most reliable ways to get free stuff

By The Grace of God — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:42:56 -0800

Where can I get good free stuff, such as USB sticks, phone lanyards, and pens, and also better free stuff, up to flashlights, crappy Chinese MP3 players, and notebooks? I love getting swag - the kind you get at conferences and so on. I go through lots of pens and can always use good freebies for lots of purposes. Furthermore I don't mind receiving junkmail - it gets recycled by me, I LOVE getting mail, and a lot of it can be used as proof of address for citizenship stuff I'll need next year!

I am also interested in *better* swag - will take the standard stuff, but completely out of the way stuff, mp3 players, headphones, Notebooks, stickers, jewelry, phone lanyards, cellphone socks, etc. etc. is welcome!

I also know lots of nonprofit organisations that can always use the stuff I don't use.

I want stuff that works, that doesn't make me sign up for offers (no iPod promos and so on, although I do covet an iPhone, sigh)

Good forums for this are also welcome.

I've got plenty of free email addresses, and am in the UK.

Too Much Stuff!

divabat — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 16:03:32 -0800

Less than six months before moving internationally - how do I manage all my stuff? I just completed my degree and am waiting for graduation in March. I'm doing some uni research work over the holidays - I don't know yet how long the work will go for, but it typically lasts till Dec/Jan. I might then go home for a short while and return for graduation, or just stay in Australia until graduation day, when my visa stops being valid.

What do I do with all the stuff I acquired? Specifically, what's the best plan of action I can take that won't add extra stress (with this research work and all) but also won't leave me with too much to do before I have to leave the country?

The complicating factor here is that I've suddenly been evicted from my earlier room rental and have to find somewhere else to stay in a week. (I'm currently at my boyfriend's place.) This makes it harder to go through my stuff thoroughly, as I'm only back at the ex-house for a few hours a day (I don't trust the houseowner much anymore and feel unsafe there). So I have about a week to pack everything up, including things I likely won't need, and chuck it somewhere. There is a possibility of me moving back to college till February, or else there's private rental.

I have tons of books, some clothes, some electrical goods (fan, iron, kettle), accessories, toiletries, and other miscellania. Also LOTS of paper.

* What do I absolutely need to keep? Certificates, bank statements, anything else?
* I've been trying to get rid of some of my books through BookMooch, but they're not all going and I end up getting more. I've tried selling them to a second-hand bookstore and got measly returns. What else can I do?
* My friend might organise a garage sale soon, and I was thinking of selling off some things. I know the electric goods would go OK, and perhaps some of the books/clothes/media, but how about half-used toiletries (shampoos, creams, etc)? Magazines? Shoes?
* How do I get rid of any leftover dry food?
* I'm thinking of sea-frieghting some of my things back to Malaysia. However, I'm worried that Malaysia Post will lose them (it has happened), and I'm not sure if registered & insuring them will be worth the cost. What are some good strategies to ensure my things get home?

If you've had to move back home after international (or just outstation) work/study/travel, how did you deal with your things? What was your goal with your things? Did you get any return? Is it worth trying to get money, or am I better off just giving things away (and to who?)?

Help Me Live With Less Stuff

chrisalbon — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 13:34:23 -0800

Know of any blogs/books about living and working with less stuff? I am looking for blogs or books about living and working (not just backpacking Europe) with less stuff (for the long term).

There is a decent probability that I will spend 1.5-2 years finishing my dissertation while moving every two months or so (often internationally). I am looking for tips and tricks on staying productive and happy while having a minimum amount of stuff.

I known about Unclutterer, but that is more focused on being organized.

Thanks in advance.

Load me up!

twine42 — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 09:36:57 -0800

If I'm going to carry a bag, I might as well put stuff in it. Help me fill the thing with useful stuff... Okay... I'm a bloke. I'm used to having "everything I need" being limited to keys, wallet and mobile phone. I've never needed to carry a bag before.

New medical regime means I need to carry a load of pills with me, so I've started carrying a rucksack. A mostly empty rucksack.

So, with about 3kg/7lb weight limit and probably 15 litres of space, what things should I really carry with me? My MP3 player and digital camera have made it onto the list, but what else should go in there?

[ And just to make it more difficult, my phone is also a PDA, so contacts and diary are already covered. ]

If it matters, I'm an overweight geek who's into photography, who usually drives to his destination and shuns exercise. That said, weight is coming off, food is aiming for healthier and I walked to work this morning...

Babycycling for dummies!

Bardolph — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:06:14 -0800

Which infant/baby items can safely be bought secondhand? We're expecting a little one in the spring, and since we have plenty of time to prep, I was thinking I might try over the next few months
to see how much of the necessary apparatus I can pick up for free or cheap via Craigslist/Ebay/Freecycle. I'm wondering, though, if there are any big no-nos when it comes to acquiring used baby items from people one doesn't know too well.

I know everyone always says not to buy a used carseat, for example (I'm assuming because of structural integrity issues??); but are there potential dangers lurking in other used items-- evil, unsanitizeable viruses lurking on that cute onesie, deadly BPA leaching from that sippy cup? Assuming the item isn't visibly broken, is there an age range for things like swings, cribs, strollers, walkers, etc., past which materials might be too deteriorated or safety standards too outdated to make the item trustworthy around a baby?

Would welcome any tips for spotting the good, safe stuff, as well as cautionary tales of used-babystuff purchases gone horribly wrong!

GTA/Toronto area electronics surplus?

the dief — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:00:15 -0800

Any Toronto/GTA area electronic surplus stores? Is there a store in Toronto or the GTA (or Hamilton ideally, but I'm not holding out a lot for that) that is sort of like the US Bay Area's Weird Stuff or Chicago's American Science and Surplus? I need to get my hands on a power adapter for a random bit of electronics.

How do I fit into my fiancee's cluttered house

warriorengineer — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 09:08:16 -0800

My fiancee and her family have too much stuff. How do I deal with this? My Fiancee grew up in a family that seems to have orgasmic levels of pleasure from having stuff. My soon to be Mother-in-law thinks a room is empty unless there is very tall dark heavy furniture covering every inch of wall space. not only this, but they have stacks and stack of useless crap that they "may need one day." Stuff that is useful [for something that no one in the house will ever do again]. They collect crap and palce it precariously. (I'm a big guy. I'm kind of clumsy. my soon to be MIL has yelled at me on more than one occasion for knocking over her precariously placed piles, because frankly, I can't fit in the house like this)

My fiance is not as bad as her parents. She may not like to live as spartan a life as I would, but she isn't awful. BUT, she is afraid of her mother who keeps giving her crap and telling her that she NEEDS it. I'm going to be mocing into my fiancee's house when we get married in a couple of months, but there is already no room for what little stuff I do have, let alone room to move around. Some times I even need to walk around to a different room just to get back to the same room I'm in. I just don't fit. (I also LOVE wide open spaces.)

I really think I could convince my fiancee to get rid of some of the excess furniture, except that her mother gave it to her and she would be WAY to afraid of the reprocussions. What should I do?

(BTW, I also have a completely different style and taste from my future MIL in every single imaginable way.)

Help me awesome my website.

By The Grace of God — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 13:48:59 -0800

Looking for swanky cool whizzey bangey mouse-interaction thingummies to do to my business website. I love it when you mouse on things and they do stuff! Especially when the stuff is useful, like accordion menus. Looking for the most graceful, easy to understand and re-style stuff, preferably ajax. These are to be integrated into a very simple and clean design, so keep that in mind. Free, open source please.

grab keys

raztaj — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 09:27:51 -0800

I dropped my keys down the elevator in my apartment building. Is there any way I can retrieve them? I was carrying an armful of laundry down to the basement, and dropped my keys. They fell down the elevator shaft. I'm on the second floor. They fell down past the first floor, to the basement (laundry level). From the basement, I can see the "bottom" of the elevator shaft - about 4.

Is there any way I can retrieve them with some magnetic pole/magnet on a stick device?

I do have copies, but lost like, my "member pass" keychain things, as well as keys when I visit family (which can be remade). This is more of a convenience factor, than dire necessity.

But seriously... has anyone had any luck with this? What kind of magnetic pole devices can I poke down into the 2.5-3" crevice?

I can't seem to hang onto anything.

wastelands — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 17:18:25 -0800

I am a purger. How do I stop throwing away so many things and start collecting? I suspect most people with OCD are hoarders. I am the opposite. My friends admire me for how minimalistic, organized, and "Zen" my home and computer spaces are. Yet, the flip side is that I constantly throw away things that I later regret tossing. This includes important items too, like a recent state employment department letter.

It's crazy, I know. My first reaction when cleaning house is not, "How might this be useful in the future," but instead, "Is there any way I can get rid of this?" I am completely unsentimental and merciless in purging things. A few years ago I canned a newly-purchased $250 watch because I became tired of winding it every day. I gave away a 5.1 speaker system to a neighbor when I felt the wires were unsightly.

I have improved since then; however, I still admire greatly people who can do what I can't yet do: build gigantic collections of music, books, coins, photos, whatever.

For example, I read a lot. I'd like to have a book collection so I can reference previously-read books, show people who visit my house what I'm interested in, etc. Despite reading hundreds of books in my lifetime, my current collection is a mere ten books... and even those are in danger! I'm sorely tempted to sell them for cash/trade value. They're just sitting around! It bugs me. It feels wasteful, and it takes a tremendous amount of discipline to not get rid of them.

I'm especially interested in hearing from people like me, because I don't know anyone who "purges" like me. I'd also love to hear from people who have big collections, people who can explain the mentality of how one goes about acquiring and retaining things in a deliberate, organized fashion. Thanks!

Low calorie snacks?

isoman2kx — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 20:03:07 -0800

Low calorie snacks? I need some low calorie foods you can eat the hell out of at 2/3 AM. So far I've come up with shredded lettuce packages where you have like 15 calories for every 2 cups of lettuce and even if you ate the whole package, it's like 150 calories tops.

I can't seem to stop late night eating . I can control myself during the day, but this 4-5 year late night eating habit is killing me. The only thing I won't eat is anything spinach, cabbage, celery stick related. I need something half-edible.

-Travis

Really, I've culled a lot out already.

Medieval Maven — Mon, 12 May 2008 18:58:37 -0800

Organization Filter: How do you organize a bunch of definitely weird and sometimes incredibly disparate STUFF? Or, theater filter. I have at this point a few bins of stuff from the theater that I'm trying to store/sort/use-reuse-recycle better than currently. Our biggest problem is that we are all the time losing things and rebuying them and then finding them. We are gypsies, essentially- we pack into our rehearsal/staging space 2x/year and then we pack out. Everything is stored in our garage. Here are our categories so far:

Kitchen & Concessions - coffee urn, tea, chips, nonperishable foodstuffs, signs, baskets, paper plates, etc.

Craft - hot glue, spray paint, that sort of stuff

Set and Tech - electrical stored separately, tools, fasteners, odds and ends from construction

Makeup & Costume - make up that is reusable, hairspray, curlers, shoes, wigs, and so far five Shakespeare casts' worth of costumes

We are making a costume closet in a storage space in the house, so the clothes are covered and the wigs all have wig boxes. Our biggest issue is losing track of the small items in the bigger bins. We need a system wherein we lose much less of those small things but also store stuff in a very portable way. That's why we have the bins going. We are open to non-bin solutions. Ziplock bags of stuff in the larger bins tend to get lost under bigger stuff (hammers, rope, hair dryer, etc) - I am not sure if better control of the bigger items is really the solution or not. We have thought of posting lists on the outside of the bins, but I am afraid of bin-list upkeep. Ideas?

Binders and Boxes and Bookshelves, oh my! I've got too much school stuff...

cheeken — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 15:03:01 -0800

I'm almost done with grad school, and all my academic detritus is taking over my apartment. How much of it do I really need to keep? I've been in graduate school since 2002, getting my doctorate in Marriage and Family Therapy. It's been a great program, and I'm well-equipped to go out into the world and do the stuff of both therapists and academics.

The problem is: What the heck do I do with all this grad-school stuff?

I've done the searches on uncluttering, getting rid of stuff, and living a 'leaner' lifestyle, but I'm not sure that it addresses the heart of my question, since I think that there's always a chance that I'll need this stuff for my career.

I have taken six years of classes (for Masters and Doctorate), and have kept: every textbook; every syllabus, correlated with all my class notes and papers (i.e. each class has a 1/2 inch binder devoted to it with everything from the class I received or completed); almost every recommended textbook, and most printouts that were involved in any research for a class (like lit review stuff).

I now have two huge bookshelves devoted to these textbooks and professional journals, as well as almost a dozen Rubbermaid containers full of my freakin' 1/2 inch class binders.

I'm done with my classes, but am working on my dissertation in a pretty specific area; however, since I'm not sure when I'll be asked to teach a class, or give a presentation, or write an article, I feel like it will always and forever be 'handy' to have these resources at my fingertips.

So: (1) Should I just find a more efficient way to keep all of this stuff?
(2) If you've been through grad school, what did you do with all your stuff? How much of it did you need again?
(3) What should I keep and what should I get rid of?
(4) Other general advice?

Thanks MeFites.

Help me throw away without guilt!

ocherdraco — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 15:27:30 -0800

Sustainable decluttering: how can I cull my stuff without feeling horribly guilty for throwing it out? Last June, I moved from a beautiful, light-filled, very spacious three-story apartment in Cambridge, MA, to a still very nice but significantly smaller (by two rooms) apartment in Queens.

I've got too much stuff, and I know the quickest way to solve that problem is to just toss things, but I hesitate to just throw things out because, well, landfills are atrocious. I've pretty much done the reuse and recycle part as much as I can, and the excess I'm left with is stuff that really doesn't have a purpose and wouldn't be taken by places like the Salvation Army or Goodwill.

What should I do with this useless stuff? (And I should mention that I don't have the time to craft, etc.)