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Post by disarray on Sept 30, 2010 21:49:10 GMT -5
I know everyone hangs onto things for different reasons. My reasons are often money related. I don't know what my stuff is worth, so I hang onto it.
Shows like Hoarders are very helpful for me. They tell me my stuff is worthless. What's that quote they often put up on the black screen at the beginning of every episode? "Compulsive Hoarding is a mental disorder marked by an obsessive need to acquire and keep things, even if the items are worthless, hazardous, or unsanitary."
However, shows like Antique Roadshow do me nothing but damage. So often people on that show bring in stuff they've bought at yard sales for two dollars, and they find out that it's worth thousands!
It makes me never want to have a yard sale again. (I have one coming up soon which is what is inspiring this post.) What if I impulsively throw something onto my yard sale that's actually worth a lot of money?
So what do I do to avoid this catastrophe? I research every. little. thing. I check ebay - is what I'm about to sell on ebay? If so, what's it going for? I google. I look all over the internet. If my research satisfies me that my item truly isn't worth much, I'll finally label it and put it in the yard sale box. If I can't figure out what it's worth, I keep it... I keep the item I don't want. I guess I'm keeping it until I can get it properly appraised (which will be probably...never.)
Because of shows like Antique Roadshow or American Pickers, marking stuff for my yard sale has become a very slow, tedious process. I often don't even want to deal with marking stuff since it takes so much time and effort, so I end up not putting as much stuff on the yard sale simply because I don't want to go through the process of trying to find out what it's worth.
Anyone else find antique shows make their hoarding worse?
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Post by luckyleprechaun on Oct 1, 2010 0:49:20 GMT -5
I sold a gun 22 caliber rifle that I sold for maybe $125 worth over 800-900 range....my bad mistake on not knowing what the thing was worth....it was my dad's old 22 rifle.
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Post by blossoming on Oct 1, 2010 1:21:37 GMT -5
your post is really good. congrats for realizing the shows make you worse. is it possible to block them on your tv, kinda like how you block things for kids? or when they come on and your missing watching them, what else could you plan to do instead? something fun? i start to say use it as cleaning time, but i know i would proably not like that. on a practical level, you could calculate all the time you spend researching the items, for example. pay yourself ten bucks an hour. if you must research each item, that realy begins to add up. then, figure out how much you basically spend using your home as a storage unit. how much does a storage unit cost in your area? so, by adding your research time and the amount of living space you take away by using your home as a storage unit, then that might give you a monthly figure of hte negative cost of doing this. good luck
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Post by shopgirl on Oct 1, 2010 1:30:40 GMT -5
Make sure you search COMPLETED auctions on ebay. (You have to sign in to ebay to have those results come up.) Many items have high prices, but zero bidders. The green ones are those that actually sold. The ones that didn't are in red.
My feeling is that ebay is so much work and time, anything less than $20 doesn't get kept for an auction "someday." I'd rather donate it and not have to see it, handle it, wonder about it, or decide about it again. Your mileage may vary.
Miss Disarray, I share your pain on feeling compelled to research everything on ebay before selling it or donating it. Very time consuming. But that's the price we pay for information.
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Post by fluffernut - now Jannie on Oct 1, 2010 9:49:55 GMT -5
I once went to a garage sale. She had lovely furniture out. I asked about a pair of coffee or end tables marked $75. can you do any better? (I was thinking $50). "No, these are "vintage". Got that from Antiques Roadshow. Fine. Keep your hoarded clutter. I like the show "Clean sweep". Especially the two women. They go to a messy home, drag eveerything to a warehouse for sale, sell everything, then redecorate. the two women hosts embarass the families, chiding them about "foolishness" (clutter, hoarding, shopping chnnel buys, ,etc). really embarass them. Sometrimes make them cry. But there's so much energy on these shows. I compare my home to theirs-hey, mines not nearly that bad.
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Post by Arid on Oct 1, 2010 14:06:37 GMT -5
disarray! Good to hear from you again--I've been missing you!!
Yes; good, ol' "Antiques Roadshow" went a long, long way towards making my hoarding tendencies worse. However, in realizing that, I've stopped watching the show, for the most part.
Also, when I see those shows where the folks have paid $1.50 for a painting that is worth $350,000., I tell myself, "Arid, you have a better chance of being struck by lightning than having *THIS* happen to you!! Give up the dream, Honey!"
This attitude has helped me to cut out 95% of the "accumulating" that I had been doing.
So, yes--"I feel your pain."
Keep in mind, however, "probability versus possibility." It *could* happen for any of us, but how likely is it that it will happen . . . ? The possiblility of "striking gold" does exist--though at a miniscule level--while, the probability of our ending up hoarding and living in squalor as a result of this type of gambling (and it is "gambling," in many, many ways--taking chances, addictive elements, etc.) is very, very high--to the point of nearly being guaranteed..
Arid
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Post by howardsgirlfriend on Oct 2, 2010 4:12:58 GMT -5
That's why I don't watch those shows--only the "Clean Your House" shows.
Mom will occasionally ask me if I saw a particular episode of "Antiques Roadshow" or "American Pickers." After she tells me about it, I always reply that I'm glad Grandma didn't see it, and she agrees.
As much as we adored Grandma, she was the biggest hoarder in our family. Somehow this little ritual ("I'm sure glad Grandma didn't see it!" "And how!") keeps us from ruminating about "the Monet amidst the crying clowns and saucer-eyed waifs."
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Post by messiesweetie on Oct 2, 2010 9:17:59 GMT -5
Also, when I see those shows where the folks have paid $1.50 for a painting that is worth $350,000., I tell myself, "Arid, you have a better chance of being struck by lightning than having *THIS* happen to you!! Give up the dream, Honey
yup! I have a muppets glass from mcdonalds from the 70's..its worth like $7!! This is one of my valuable collectibles! Researching is fine if you think you can really get something for it..like beanie babies are WORTHLESS as are mcdonalds toys. Try not to stress too much about this stuff. it's so unlikely that you have anything worth that amount like on the show1
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Deleted
Joined: January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2010 11:43:52 GMT -5
Well, not me but others in my family have this issue. I have a stupid old stove which my brother asked me to store for his gilrfriend. She said it was worth over $400. Well she was in the early stages of alzheimers and has deteriorated a lot since then. My brother said he doesn't want the stupid thing back and she sure doesn't. So I had it appraised. No more than $25. Not worth even posting to sell online. OK, so here is the worst part. My husband thinks it is still worth $400. Even though I paid to have it appraised by an expert. Who does he believe? The expert or the woman with alzheimers. Of course he believes the woman with alzheimers. So he won't get rid of it. #$&@*!!!!!!
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Post by BetsyMarie on Oct 2, 2010 12:18:18 GMT -5
Even if something is said to be worth $---, that's generally retail price. Meaning what someone will actually pay for it. Well, that means you have to find that cash buyer, and that can take money (advertising, commissions), effort, time, and good luck. Or hiring a middle man who will take a big cut.
If you look at pickers or pawn stars (?), they may pay $100 for something, and then sell it for $200 and likely more. The original owner does not get the entire retail price, but rather the shop owners - that's how they make their livings, pay their employees, and rents. Even getting half of something's value assumes you are dealing with someone who is relatively honest - and what's the chances of that?.
Years ago I had a friend who actually did have nice things worth money. But it turned out it wasnt worth all that money to her, but rather the middlemen who bought it all from her. Yes, she got some, but it was a real lesson to me when she had to sell her stuff. Something might be worth something, but you have to find the right place to actually sell it, and it is near to impossible to get 'full price' for the original owner. Especially in these difficult economic times.
Ps, and if most items are not in pristine condition - no chips, scratches, blemishes of any sort, etc, the value is much less. I see this at yard sales all the time - someone trying to sell something with a chip and saying "I saw the same thing on xx for $xxx." Good luck to them, but they really dont understand.
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Post by Chris on Oct 2, 2010 12:23:04 GMT -5
dissarray -- I can surely relate to this. And, it surely is sad to find out the actual value of things is almost ALWAYS less than we paid, and less than we think. Just a few areas where that is not true are - old guns, old coins, silver and gold things. But who has a lot of those hanging around? I will say this -- I get a dose of reality when I see that show on the History channel where they have a pawn shop show and they explain repeatedly to people that they will only be able to pay about 1/2 the value for their item since they have to make a profit and they often don't sell things immediately. So, say you have this antique thing that is worth $100 -- they are likely to only be able to offer $50 to you. So unless we become expert and direct sellers (not too likely) we always have to figure on selling things at fairly low prices. Also, Craigslist and E-bay and garage sales -- are all fine but then if we take into account the time and energy we spend doing those things then the profit is even lower. I say these things knowing that for some, the selling aspect is not the main important thing anyway because the squalor recovery is more important. But even for those in maintenance -- selling used items is rarely a profitable venture unless you have nothing better to do with your time (well I've been at that point several times and I did benefit my squalor and my wallet then with some selling). But yes, all these words to just say -- I know I have to avoid thrift shops, antique stores, antique road show programs, pickers program , and stuff like that because it triggers my wanting to hold onto certain "antiques" for their possible value. And really, my home is much more important to me than any object that I really don't like or love. So, getting rid of stuff the easiest way possible is a good thing. Oh, but I am trying out a consignment shop. I put in a big pile of stuff for them to sell but after the 3 months are up I signed that they can donate anything they don't sell. I hope to do regular business with them if they treat us fair at all -- and if they don't I still got rid of a lot of stuff
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Post by success19 on Oct 2, 2010 15:40:43 GMT -5
If those shows are triggers for you don't watch them - the reality is only a tiny amount of people get on those shows out of a gazillion that try to get on.
It is like me - I can ocd at the library and check out a bunch of books that will keep me reading which I love - but not doing other things - which is avoidance.
So I go to the library less and I don't allow myself to check out books at all anymore.
I also could start working on genealogy and never stop - so I have to schedule myself small time slots only.
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Post by vega on Oct 3, 2010 8:39:49 GMT -5
I agree with everyone who says that if these shows are a trigger definitely don't watch them, but you might also want to try googling for images of the LINE to get in to have stuff appraised at the Roadshow. It's enormous! It takes anywhere from 3 to 5 hours just to get to the first table where they give you a slip of paper and send you to the individual appraisers for your type of item, then it can be another long wait in that line to actually get your item appraised. It takes so long because there are literally thousands of people in line. About half a dozen make the show. So, out of a self-selected group of people who have some reason to believe or hope that they might have one item (out of all their possessions!) that might be of value only about one in a thousand are interesting enough to make the show. Maybe that wouldn't help everyone, but thinking about those sorts of odds helps keep my "oh maybe it will be worth something" fantasies in check.
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Post by BetsyMarie on Oct 3, 2010 9:36:47 GMT -5
I would guess many of us have at least one thing that has more value than we think. But more likely that vaue is $100 rather than $1000.
And if we have hundreds of items, and have to investigate them all, and it takes an hour to check out each and every one, that's pretty low payment. Assuming we can even sell it for half of what we think it's worth.
Is it worth doing all that frustrating research in order to be paid $1 an hour or less? Wouldnt it be more fun to spend all that time taking walks in the park, playing with our kids or cats or significant others, or just watching tv or dancing?
Time in life is limited. Spend what extra there is doing personally enriching things rather than chasing a dream that likely won't pan out.
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mmedefarge
New Member
Joined: September 2010
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Post by mmedefarge on Oct 3, 2010 10:57:51 GMT -5
See, what I take away often are the ones where someone comes in with some family heirloom, something ugly as sin that takes up valuable house space, and get told that its a dime a dozen and could go for a few hundred at auction. How much mental energy have they used up taking care of this "valuable" item? How many times have they paid to move it, or store it, or clean it? How many times does someone come in and get told "Oh, if you hadn't taken off the ugly torn upholstery it would be worth thousands!" -- but in order for it to be worth thousands, they'd have had to live with its moldy, dirty varnish and faded, ugly fabric.
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