As I ease into my 70's and take inventory of all of the worthless stuff in my household (now supplemented by a rented storage unit), I realize that over the years my wife and I have been accumulating certain stuff neurotically, to the point where we might have to buy another house just to store the stuff. There are just some things in life that we cannot pass by if we see ones that we like.
Women-folk traditionally take this path with shoes and purses. When they see one they like that is reasonably priced, they buy it, recognizing that you never "need" a new purse or a pair of shoes; it is always an impulse. Then at some point you look around and find that you have 25 purses in a closet somewhere and at least 50 pairs of shoes, most of which you haven't worn in at least 20 years. You get the idea.
In my case, I like flashlights. Any time I see one advertised that looks powerful and "manly," I buy it. Now I have probably 25 of them, most of which have dead batteries that are corroding the terminals as we speak.
I also accumulate winter gloves. As a motorcyclist who rides all year, I find that the one factor that causes me to go home in Winter is that my hands get too cold to tolerate, so I'm always sort of on the lookout for winter gloves that are "guaranteed" to keep your hands warmer than any other gloves previously known to mankind. But eventually and grudgingly I have realized that this is all nonsense. All gloves can do is RETAIN the heat that is already in your hands, and when your hands are gripping the handles of a motorcycle they are not generating any heat, so in a time period that is no longer than an hour, your hands are going to be so cold you can't stand it. But I have a large box of these wonderful "guaranteed" gloves, all of which are good, but never good enough. Thankfully, the previous owner of my Goldwing added grip warmers, so I can wear whatever gloves I feel like now, and my hands are fine.
My wife also accumulates umbrellas. We have probably a couple dozen of them in various places around the house and our cars. And I won't even mention jewelry.
How about others out there? Do you accumulate certain things neurotically? What are they?
Women-folk traditionally take this path with shoes and purses. When they see one they like that is reasonably priced, they buy it, recognizing that you never "need" a new purse or a pair of shoes; it is always an impulse. Then at some point you look around and find that you have 25 purses in a closet somewhere and at least 50 pairs of shoes, most of which you haven't worn in at least 20 years. You get the idea.
In my case, I like flashlights. Any time I see one advertised that looks powerful and "manly," I buy it. Now I have probably 25 of them, most of which have dead batteries that are corroding the terminals as we speak.
I also accumulate winter gloves. As a motorcyclist who rides all year, I find that the one factor that causes me to go home in Winter is that my hands get too cold to tolerate, so I'm always sort of on the lookout for winter gloves that are "guaranteed" to keep your hands warmer than any other gloves previously known to mankind. But eventually and grudgingly I have realized that this is all nonsense. All gloves can do is RETAIN the heat that is already in your hands, and when your hands are gripping the handles of a motorcycle they are not generating any heat, so in a time period that is no longer than an hour, your hands are going to be so cold you can't stand it. But I have a large box of these wonderful "guaranteed" gloves, all of which are good, but never good enough. Thankfully, the previous owner of my Goldwing added grip warmers, so I can wear whatever gloves I feel like now, and my hands are fine.
My wife also accumulates umbrellas. We have probably a couple dozen of them in various places around the house and our cars. And I won't even mention jewelry.
How about others out there? Do you accumulate certain things neurotically? What are they?