Are you a "flipper"?

[yojitani]

It depends. With computers I try to stay ahead of the curve on most things. By that I mean that I'll sell if I see that what I own is losing value. I sold my Mac Pro G5 just after the xeons came out, for example, and bought a 'Pro. Since Apple switched to intel though, the change has just been too rapid. I haven't been able to keep up.

I don't keep stuff if I don't use it any more though.

 

[11800506]

I wouldn't say I'm a pack rat, but I'm definitely not a flipper. I try to keep my Macs as my main machine for 4 years (I would upgrade sooner though if I had more money) and I don't sell them after I'm done using them. I tend to keep a bunch of junk, but I'm not reluctant to throw it away, it's just that it takes a little while for it to build up and bother me enough to get me to actually get rid of it.

 

[bbbensen]

I am a total pack rat... Its terrible. I cant get the nerve to throw anything away. It sucks. :/

 

[63dot]

Over the years I've noticed plenty of people on this forum (and in the "real world"), who seem to have a tendency to sell things quite often. They'll buy a Mac and sell it after a few months and get a different one, for example. Or buy a new car and keep it for only a short time before selling it.

Upon reflection, I realized that I'm the direct opposite of this. I almost never sell anything I buy, ever. I still have every Mac I've ever owned, for example. I'm a huge pack rat.

So , do you "flip" your possessions often? or are you a pack rat?

I did this flipping thing as a guitar collector. I couldn't make up my mind if I wanted electrics or acoustics, expensive ones or cheap ones, so I usually had one or two of each, would sell those, and buy more until I had reached over 60 instruments over the years. I never kept more than four at a time so I could tell myself I wasn't a hoarder, but more of a serial hoarder.

I had more fun driving hundreds of miles to just check out guitar stores and pawn shops, and the adventures and people I would meet. To change things up I would get a keyboard, bass, or drum set.

As a kid, I totally hoarded stamps and coins, and went beyond collector as I would have many of the same thing. The hoarding disease went onto plastic models, of which I built only 25% percent of them and stored the rest. The last instance of hoarding to get it out of my system was almost ten years ago when I had a Mac clone desktop, iBook, and two PC towers running OS 8.1, OS 9, Windows 98, and Windows 95 respectively. With this I had a scanner and two printers, one printer which just sat there for looks.

These days, I am a minimalist and use what stuff I have to its fullest, and avoid hoarding and flipping at all costs.

Thankfully, I got out of the wasteful hobbies of flipping/hoarding and did more constructive things with my life like college and actually using one guitar and learning to really play the thing well for a change.

 

[millerj123]

The only computer I still have from back in the day is a '95 PowerBook 5300. My wife keeps trying to get me to get rid of it.

I try to squeeze as much use out of each computer as I can, but if I get something new, I'll upgrade someone I know.

It's worth my time to make the most of what I have, but I'm not home enough to try selling something, so flipping doesn't make sense for me.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I did this flipping thing as a guitar collector. I couldn't make up my mind if I wanted electrics or acoustics, expensive ones or cheap ones, so I usually had one or two of each, would sell those, and buy more until I had reached over 60 instruments over the years. I never kept more than four at a time so I could tell myself I wasn't a hoarder, but more of a serial hoarder.

I am an habitual collector. Over the years I've collected:

Stamps (inherited most from my grandfather)
Coins
Baseball cards
Old Macs
Books (I read them all, don't just collect)
Military rifles

...and some other stuff. Of all that, I've never gotten rid of anything unless it was for the purpose of acquiring something else similar. I might get bored of a particular collection, but in that case I put it into storage rather than selling it.

That habit of collecting and hanging on to things seems to have found its way into other parts of my life too.

 

[63dot]

I am an habitual collector. Over the years I've collected:

Stamps (inherited most from my grandfather)
Coins
Baseball cards
Old Macs
Books (I read them all, don't just collect)
Military rifles

...and some other stuff. Of all that, I've never gotten rid of anything unless it was for the purpose of acquiring something else similar. I might get bored of a particular collection, but in that case I put it into storage rather than selling it.

With a house that was 900 square feet, to a slightly smaller apartment, back to a house that size, I had to drop the habit of hoarding or flipping.

Stamps - I gave them all, a couple of thousand dollars worth in the 1980s, to my cousin. They were stored away in the damp town I live in and they got moldy, messy, and sticky.

Coins - I did get rid of most of those, but to buy guitars so it was a transferred addiction.

Plastic models - One day I gave those model airplanes, cars, and ships to a young model builder who later took to mechanical things and went to a good engineering school.

Guitars - Met some rock stars, producers, and some rising stars, who all pretty consistently told me to pick a guitar or two and focus on improving my playing and songwriting, as one only has only so much time and attention in this short life. More than once people in the music business told me that in most cases, either you are a music collector (records/CDs, instruments, etc) or a starving musician who pays their dues and hopefully collects royalties/hit records/contracts. This isn't the case 100% percent of the time, but still 99% percent of the time.

Girlfriends - Definitely the dumbest thing to collect. It's OK, at least in this culture, to have one. But I don't live in a country, and you probably don't either where you can have them like a huge bag of potato chips. My generation didn't have AIDS to scare us into a more sensible approach and many saw abortion as a form of birth control. Anyway, collecting girlfriends is a great way to get hated.

Computers - (and extra perepherals) I soon realized that I gravitate towards one machine, regardless of how many others are sitting in front of me so I gave most of them away.

Books - Now there is the computer/internet for reading, and I have actually found a use in the library, which has a collection far bigger than I could ever hope to have. I gave away most of my books to people so they could learn how to read, and gain knowledge at the same time. I used to keep all of my school papers but these days anymore, I just hang onto some law school stuff and a few key MBA books. I have a Bible and just a small stash of books on history, and the three Rs.

 

[balamw]

www.freecycle.org ! Dont toss it in the garbage.

one mans rubbish is anothers treasure.

Amen. Pack rat here. Freecycle has let me get rid of a bunch of stuff that has outlived its usefulness to me and has little or no value to a charity, but is just what someone else in the community needed.

B

 

[toaster_oven]

I wish I was together enough to "flip" stuff - I just end up holding onto things that I don't really want to give away for free, but am either too busy or too lazy to let people know they are for sale.

Freecycle is awesome, though... I've gotten rid of a lot of stuff - and am sitting on a really great office chair I got through it!

 

[IJ Reilly]

I'm not a clinical hoarder but I do find it difficult to part with things. Being in the history business, it's easy to imagine that anything you've got could be of interest or value some day. Most things are, to someone, at some time.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Being in the history business, it's easy to imagine that anything you've got could be of interest or value some day. Most things are, to someone, at some time.

I think that's a factor for me as well. It's part of my training.

 

[IJ Reilly]

I think that's a factor for me as well. It's part of my training.

I didn't need to be trained. Unfortunately, I was born this way.

Add to that, thirty years worth of books, reports and other research materials. One of these days, it's going to be the scanner or the shredder, or both!

 

[63dot]

I didn't need to be trained. Unfortunately, I was born this way.

Add to that, thirty years worth of books, reports and other research materials. One of these days, it's going to be the scanner or the shredder, or both!

You should make a website. It sounds like you have a lot of useful information. What were your specialties in history?

 

[IJ Reilly]

You should make a website. It sounds like you have a lot of useful information. What were your specialties in history?

We do have a web site. Local, architectural.

And is, not were -- I ain't dead yet!

 

[63dot]

We do have a web site. Local, architectural.

And is, not were -- I ain't dead yet!

Very cool, architecture, and still being alive.

 

[jodelli]

The only computer I still have from back in the day is a '95 PowerBook 5300. My wife keeps trying to get me to get rid of it.

I would too if I was an alien. Darn things blow up stuff.

 

[millerj123]

I would too if I was an alien. Darn things blow up stuff.

That, and blow up on their own. Hey, wait, are you suggesting my wife's an alien?

 

[kellen]

I am constantly flipping things I own... I think the problem is that I spend time searching for bargains.

For example. I bought a busted macbook pro on here a few weeks ago... brought it home, disassembled it, tried to fix it.. found the problem and decided it wasn't worth fixing. I sold it on ebay for $100 more than I bought it for.

My previous iMac, bought it 'refreshed' from an apple store.. kept it 6 months, then sold it on ebay for $400 more than I bought it for.

I bought a Nikon D700 last week from a desperate kid on craigslist who wanted just $1700 for it, I can't see flipping it.. but I might.

When there are so many idiots out there who have no idea how much they should pay.. it's easy to buy low, sell high and keep upgrading for free.

Same, although I am starting to realize that I need only one item and don't have to buy it just because its cheap. Problem is I will buy something for cheap and want to hold onto it because it didn't cost anything. So right now I have 4 powermacs that I spent less than 150 on. Plus a cube.

But I just bought a 2.8 octo so I am thinking of clearing house and keeping the pro, ditching the rest.

 

[jodelli]

That, and blow up on their own. Hey, wait, are you suggesting my wife's an alien?

Just an ID4 reference. I am an alien sometimes. And I don't have a green card.

 

[millerj123]

Just an ID4 reference. I am an alien sometimes. And I don't have a green card.

Oh. But, that would have explained so much...

 

[sushi]

I didn't need to be trained. Unfortunately, I was born this way.

I can empathize with that!

Add to that, thirty years worth of books, reports and other research materials. One of these days, it's going to be the scanner or the shredder, or both!

I promised my wife I would work on my collection. That was 3 years ago. I am working on it albeit slowly. Thankfully she's patient.

BTW, anybody need a utilities bill from 25 plus years ago?

 

[GGGUUUYYY]

I bought a 3rd gen. ipod before the whole ipod craze. Still use it to this day, couldn't be bothered to buy a new one really.

 

[63dot]

BTW, anybody need a utilities bill from 25 plus years ago?

Now that is hoarding disease in a nutshell. Or at least a book/paper hoarder. My grandmother kept coupons that were 20 years past their expiration date. There are good uses for extra paper, and there are great uses!

 

[instaxgirl]

I get all attached to things far too easily. I replaced the battery and repaired the clickwheel in my ipod mini despite having a 30GB 5G because I got the mini for my 16th birthday. After I got my iPhone I pretty much stopped using either iPod, I let that go on for a few weeks then worked out a system - mini plays through speakers, 5G goes with me everywhere, iPhone for videos.

Similarly I'll use this iBook until it breaks/becomes unusable. Even then I'll probably try to fix it/pass it onto someone else.

 

[FX120]

I tend to really only purchase things that I need, and plan on keeping for quite a while, and try to buy them of high quality so that they don't wear out.

When I do "upgrade", I usually hold onto the hold gear as a backup. For example: I've got a Soundcraft GB4 32 channel console in perfect condition, sitting in a custom road case, custom made analog insert snakes, and a whole rack of analog process gear that only will get used about once a year now since I have moved to a digital console. I won't sell it, even though I get told it's stilly to have $10,000 worth of gear just sitting around not being used.

Heh, storage is cheap.