WooHoo

[D-Dan]

Well - sort of, at least I have backup.

As many of you will know, I pretty much abandoned my life, including the vast majority of my belongings, in a (somewhat premature) attempt to emigrate. Although I came back sooner than expected (and hopefully only temporarily) and despite leaving instructions about what I wanted recovering from my old home, I finished up with very little (My main PC - minus most peripherals, most audio CDs, most DVDs) and little else (Poor Else - she's only 4'3").

Anyway, occasionally, something more comes to light that a family member had "appropriated". My cordless drill (my middle brother), my TV (My youngest brother, who has kept it since his broke - mine was only 6 months old, too), my kitchen knives (my mother), and the clothes and the odd personal effect that I actually took with me.

On my computer I dual boot Windows 7 and Linux. Linux is easily replaced, but none of my software made it through the cull, until now. My mother found my Win 7 DVD amongst some bits, so at least I have a recovery path for when if it goes t!ts up

It's amazing how the small things start to mean so much when you pretty much gave away everything you ever owned

Steve

[Simon]

When I moved from my old flat, I had so much clutter it was unbelievable.  Everything was boxed up, and taken to the new place.  I'd marked all of the stuff I didn't think I'd immediately need to go into the garage, with the intention of sorting through everything once I was straight inside the new flat.  The new flat is now getting just as cluttered as the old one, and five years later, all the old stuff is still boxed up in the garage!  I don't know if I'll ever get round to going through it, but as I haven't needed it for five years, what are the chances I'll need it in the future?  I really should just get rid of it all, but I know, as soon as I do that, there will be one or two things I'll suddenly wish I hadn't thrown out, but I'll never get them back.

[David]

I am not familar with what happened to you Steve but good luck with it all and most of the stuff we lose can be replaced and usually is,

When I moved from my old flat, I had so much clutter it was unbelievable.  Everything was boxed up, and taken to the new place.  I'd marked all of the stuff I didn't think I'd immediately need to go into the garage, with the intention of sorting through everything once I was straight inside the new flat.  The new flat is now getting just as cluttered as the old one, and five years later, all the old stuff is still boxed up in the garage!  I don't know if I'll ever get round to going through it, but as I haven't needed it for five years, what are the chances I'll need it in the future?  I really should just get rid of it all, but I know, as soon as I do that, there will be one or two things I'll suddenly wish I hadn't thrown out, but I'll never get them back.

They say if you havnt used something for 6 months you should get rid of it Simon...... not sure I go along with this..

[D-Dan]

To be honest, despite it including a lifetime of stuff, there's very little I miss. Some of the DVDs and CDs that didn't make it, some old photo's (though my mother packaged up what photos she'd found, and many others I had digitised), my vinyl records, my hi-fi and one of my jackets. Other than that, there's nothing really lost, esp as I will be making a new start.

Oh, and my computer chair, for which the replacement has finally arrived.

My PC does TV (two tuners), radio, CDs and DVDs. The only media it doesn't play are vinyl (irrelevant now - see above) and cassette tape (irrelevant for the same reason). Believe it or not, everything else (furniture, electrical, even the flat itself) was just "Stuff" now I think back, and can all be easily replaced.

The beauty of it is, at 45 years old, I was in a job I hated, one failed marriage and three failed long term relationships behind me, sod all to show for my life in any real terms. At 46 years old, I have the chance to start it all again, with 46 years of experience behind me, and a firm plan for the future. All I have to do is get the ball rolling. As soon as a decent new job comes along (for as long as it takes me to put £8k- £10k in my pocket), my life starts afresh

And I know from experience, £10k isn't much, and since I've been living on £65 per week for two months, I reckon I can write of the first £100 per week of salary and the rest goes to my future

Steve

Steve

[Rik]

Good luck, Steve, I know it must be a very difficult time for you.