Every now and then there's a win - win - win

[BobL]

Advertised an Item on Gumtree, young guy rings up about 3 hours later says he will take it.
When he comes around - on time, he's happy with the item and pays full price, and we get chatting and find out he's a lab tech and does "interesting home chemistry experiments" for fun.
So I'm able to sell him something else I have been trying to get rid for months, we keep chatting and then realised I had a present for him.

My MIL (who is 90 and was a pharmacist) gave me her childhood chemistry about a decade ago and I said I would find a good home for it.
The labware was pretty shabby and not worth hanging on to but there was two cardboard boxes of chemicals to deal with.
The chemicals were active and a bit dangerous to give a child, but not in good enough nick to give to a school or Uni or to sell.
I disposed of the chemicals that were relatively harmless (e.g. Sodium carbonate) down the sink but there was still one cardboard box of "stuff" that has been hanging around my shed for several years, under the table saw, on a side bench etc and I had no idea what I would do with it.
Anyway I asked the young guy if he wanted it and he beamed like all his Xmases had come at once.

I got rid of three things and even though they're but a drop in bucket of the things I need to sort out I still feel somehow feel cleansed.

[doug3030]

What makes me think that somewhere in Perth there is a "Darwin Award" just waiting to be earned?

Cheers

Doug

[fletty]

My current shed clean up (and clean out!) has required some painful decisions about disposing of prior treasures. I had some boxes full of stuff to go to a council pick up and they included some very old Polaroid cameras used to photograph oscilloscope traces on test equipment. A visitor asked if it was to be thrown out and could he have it. My answer was an immediate and grateful "YES"!
He returned a few dates later with pictures of the gear, all cleaned up and taking centre stage in his display collection of old "interesting camera and sound equipment".
Now, where's that 4 lensed Polaroid passport camera that I put in a safe place........
fletty

[Evanism]

Isnt it terrible. I have the same dilemma. Perfectly good early IT gear that is still 100% working and pristine, but absolutely and totally useless and worthless. CPUs, memory, digital cameras, hard disks. All perfect, but technologically useless and ZERO market for them.

It's such a terrible thing to throw them away, but out they go.

There is so much crrraaapppp that one accumulates. I moved 4 years ago and the sidewalk was piled high - like a mountain - FIVE times with things from the kids bedrooms, 6 storage rooms and garages. It was absolutely endless. It was, of course, taken within minutes by the passers by in Neutral Bay Sydney.... nothing abandoned stays still long there!

We have far too much "stuff" and far too many reasons to keep things we "intend to use"... but never ever do.

[elanjacobs]

Isnt it terrible. I have the same dilemma. Perfectly good early IT gear that is still 100% working and pristine, but absolutely and totally useless and worthless. CPUs, memory, digital cameras, hard disks. All perfect, but technologically useless and ZERO market for them.

Same problem at our place; Betamax player, a couple of Amiga computers, old PDAs and more camera gear than dad will admit to just taking up space.

[RedShirtGuy]

...young guy..."interesting home chemistry experiments"

After that, I read the rest of the post with the intro theme to Breaking Bad on loop in my head

Gotta love those serendipitous moments when you can help someone out and solve a problem of your own. Good win(s).

[BobL]

After that, I read the rest of the post with the intro theme to Breaking Bad on loop in my head .

Yeah I though of that but he won't be able to use any of the things I gave him to do that sort of things with.