How to be prepared with out becoming a packrat?

[marnee]

I'm only 22, but seriously, I think I'm living the effects of the Great Depression. Both of my mom's parents were raised during the Great Depression and, thus, grew up with the "you never know when you mind need it" attitude towards things. And, they in turn raised my mom like this. Growing up in the home my grandparents had left to my mom, we had closets full of stuff that had been kept "because you never know when you might need it." Admittedly a lot of the stuff was really valuable and had some great uses, but other stuff was just junk. Now I'm finding myself doing the same thing from a preparedness point of view. A year ago I would have had no problem donating our boxes of baby clothes and "grungy" clothes to a thrift store or even to people having babies, but now I feel like I have to hold onto everything "because I never know when I might need it."

My biggest fight right now is with the many boxes of baby clothes my son has outgrown. My sensible side says to give them to someone who could use them because, heck, I'm not going to want to use the partially stained onesies and hand me down clothes on our future kids, especially if that's 5 years down the road. My preparedness self is nagging at me to keep them because what happens if our shtf when we have our next baby and we didn't have money, or heck, they'd make great bartering items to get things we do actually need.

So, I'm in search of suggestions from the wise about how to be prepared and a bit more self reliant but not a pack rat. Ideas?

[CanNerd]

Baby clothes are not exactly a "packrat" item.

Quite frankly, if you don't anticipate using them in the next 4-5 years, give them up for another family to use. Use that extra space to hold toilet paper that you need to be a packrat about in the coming few years.

[Cil]

If you know you are not going to use it for sure within the next 2 years, clear it out. Give to a family who can use it now. Open your heart.

[flatwater]

As long as a packrat does not turn into an excecive compulsive disorder , then there is nothing wrong with it and that's my story and I'm sticking to it

[rivahmom]

If you know you will not be using them in a few years then I would give them to someone that needs them. If you give them to someone in the family or a friend then chance are, when you need them again, they will help you out.

[marnee]

As long as a packrat does not turn into an excecive compulsive disorder , then there is nothing wrong with it and that's my story and I'm sticking to it

LOL! I sometimes feel like that too. Problem, it's not a problem!

[marnee]

Ha... I could just empty the closet and fill it full of toilet paper... then I could pretty much get anything I needed or wanted, assuming everyone had a shtf situation and not just us. If it were just us, though, that closet full of toilet paper would be kinda sad...lol

[swedishfish]

i too come from a long line of pakrats. I found myself becoming 'weird' about it, so I did two things to combat it while still remaining true to my proud linage.

1.) When I have the compulsion to save something. I do not ask myself what 'could' I use this for.. I ask, what WILL I use this for. E.g. Formula cans which I have from my baby boy. These seem like they should be reused. So I do not set them aside as a raw material. I set them aside to specifically be planters to start my peppers and tomatoes in.

2.) If I feel compelled to save something because I invested good money in it and I do not want to waste it, I sell it and stash the revenue for future needs. e.g. baby clothing.. it has value so if I can sell it, I can stash the money for use in a rototiller I will need for spring.

Now obviously these two rules do not apply to everything, but they have helped keep my hording instinct in check as well as keep me productive while tidy. Tidy because, if you have a specific purpose for something you will keep it organized and if you plan to sell it you will not just dump it in a box in the garage.

[jott]

I try to set an amount of space for storage, and then if I want to save something and there is no space for it something of less value has to go. So then the question is not do you save stuff, it is do you have enough storage space to save what you need. If one room can hold everything you need and it is full you don’t need anything more, you just keep things that are an upgrade of things you got.

[crafty2002]

I am a pack rat if there ever was one, but I have a knack for looking at something and coming up with something I can make with it, or need something and looking through the junk I have and finding what I need to make it with.

I think you said you were 22. Chances are you will become pregnate again fairly shortly. I hope you will hold off for a good while but, my first two children was planned and the last three was a suprise.
WTSHTF, and when you have another baby, those baby cloths will be a blessing to you. Pack them in boxes as tight as you can and put them in the attack. Just be careful walking up there or you may be back in the living room really fast, LOL.
If you have room to keep it, keep it.
I can't count the times I didn't have to go to the store and buy something because I din't throw something else away.
JMHO
Dennis

[Wyobuckaroo]

Hi I'm Wyo, and I'm a packrat.

I was raised by people who were young adults during the Great Depression of the 30s.

The key to this whole thing, for me at least, is organization.

If you have it, and find a need for it, but can't find the item then it is useless. Wasted space and money. Just recently I used one of the stretch springs off the old garage door I replaced several years ago, to take the place of the broken coil spring on one side of the door until the service man could fix it. Otherwise I would not have gotten out of the garage to go to work that day.

KnowwhatImean
Wyo

[RangerRick]

Think "atic organization". I've got a 25'X35' garage and the attic there is completely floored with shelving throughout. I keep all my drygoods there like TP, clothes, shoes, and just about anything that heat/cold won't impact. Keeping everything that may be important isn't packrating.

Rick

[CarolAnn]

Pack rat? Considering the size of my nest, I must be a pack kangaroo! I just bought TWO books on getting organized, though . . . I'll let you know how they work, after I find them. ;)

[Bootz]

Just hold on to the SHTF baby clothes. The few outfits that a baby would wear in bad times. Poly/cotton sweats that are easy to wash by hand and drip dry quickly. Ditch all the pretty stuff.

I lived through tough times when my boys were babies. Many a time they only had 3 outfits. One on their body and two drying on the kitchen chairs. I rinsed out an outfit as soon as I stripped it off their body. Sometimes their diapers were hand towels.

[marnee]

Thanks everyone for making me feel better about it. So far the only things I've been reluctant to get rid of are baby clothes and blankets (big people blankets, not baby ones), but I'm getting a good collection of plastic food containers, shoes, old semi-worn out clothes (to wear if tshtf and we no longer cared about wrong sizes, stains, fades, small tears, or to piece together into blankets), and books.

Wyo and CarolAnn, you made me laugh. Crafty, we don't plan on having more kids with in the next couple of years (I still want to get my 4 year degree, even if it's taking 6 years, but I don't want it to be an 8 year degree!).

So, if it's organized (meaning someone besides me can more or less easily find things) and has a clear primary purpose and possible secondary purposes, it's not really packratting? ;)

[crafty2002]

I just stopped by to see what else was said and add a couple more things and re read my post.
Make sure you put the baby clothes on the "Attack". You never know when you'll need the toddlers to be covering a window witha machine GUN, LOL. I type to fast sometimes. Most of the time.
And CarrolAnn, I thought the same thing before I read the last line of your post. It just popped into my head, "I wonder if she knows where they are??" I am not saying anything bad here, but I couldn't find my on head when I got up if it weren't attached to my body via my neck, LOL.
But one thing I have found really helpfull is shelves.
I am luckey, or was for a while anyway, that my sister and BIL both works for Columbia Flooring and they could get plywood seconds for cheap.
2 sheets of 3/4" plywood will make a set of shelves 8 feet wide and 8 feet high.
I have 9 1/2' ceilings so I even got 18" on the top shelve.
I have been a carpenter for years on end so I am sure I can build them faster than most people can but my 16 year old daughter ( she was 16 when we built them a little over two years ago anyway) and I built 3 - 8 x 8' set in one day and I am disabled, if that tells you how easy they are to build if you can cut a straight line.
If any one is interested send me a PM with address and I will sketch them and send them to you.
That has helped us more than any thing at being able to find what I am looking for.
And we always as spring or fall gets here, bag up out winter or summer clothes and sick them in the "ATTIC", Instead of putting them on attack. ;D
Dennis