When the collection takes over.

[ukcol]

Comments made by Steve is post 5 of this thread struck a chord with me.

My collection passed 100 sets a number of years ago and I haven't made a count since. I also have lots of test equipment and a large stock of components.

Apart from 4 or 5 sets in the house my collection is all in my workshop which is a larger than standard single garage that I share with a freezer and a few other domestic bits and pieces. As it is the house doesn't suffer from this out of control collection but moving about the workshop has started to be a problem.

I have started to sell off some of my collection to concentrate on some more interesting (to me) sets but I have a long way to go.

This must be a common story.

[G0HFCFrank]

Steve's comments also struck a chord with me, Colin. At the moment apart from twenty or so radios together with sig gens, scope, spares etc I have also, ver the years, bought and kept 2 pre-war cars, a pianola, six grandfather clocks, countless other clocks and parts of clocks. My workshop is so full I have to step over stuff just to get in. I have enjoyed the current bowling season to the exclusion of everything else and need to get a grip. In the ten years I've been retired I seem to have accumulated projects rather than finished any. Daughter says when I die it's all going down the tip!
Frank C.

[vinrads]

The same thing had crossed my mind Frank, as I get older I think I must get rid of some of my collection ,but instead I find myself extending the storage shed to house some of the stuff from the radio room ex garage , it was meant to be a room where I could sit and enjoy listening to records and radio's ,but instead there is hardly room to stand up. The tablets don't seem to be working ,Help ! .Mick.

[Jeremy M0RVB]

Wow - I can't imagine 100 sets, its bad enough having 2,000+ valves and CRTs in about 30 boxes in the garage. I did actually consider selling the collection recently, then came to my senses! (the collection got to 3,000 before I cut back)

[McMurdo]

Sometimes less is more. When I had say 10 radios I could spend time going to town on them and treasuring each one with love. Now faced with around 300 valve radios and 50 or so historic transistor sets, all I get is an overwhelming sense of hopelessness at the task ahead. Roll-on retirement.

[PsychMan]

I second that Kevin

I've stopped adding to my pile now as currently it will probably take a few years to complete all to my satisfaction, though I'm certainly a under 100 in total. Its a real challenge finding as much time as I'd like to spend on them with a full time job etc.

Very easy to "service" the interest and maintain enthusiasm by acquiring more, but it simply makes the problem worse. I'm trying to be strict with myself right now, one radio on the bench and nothing else gets touched till that is done, and no more bits of kit allowed for the foreseeable. We'll see how long that lasts

Adam

[vinrads]

Hi kevin Less is more ! I know what you mean but it hurts to go less I will try, I may have to double up on the tablets . Mick.

[greenstar]

In some ways an accumulation can help conserve stuff - wonderful for future generations to come across a hoard. Necessity of making arrangements so that it is passed on. In my 20's, and without a settled home or transport, my grandparents belongings and furniture - I had been promised 'anything in the house' - my uncle took it all to the tip. I was in Germany at the time. Possibly the thing is to have a store separate from workshop and home? What would have happened to a lot of these sets if they had not been rescued?
Tony

[HamishBoxer]

Sadly Tony one word landfill.

[Horris]

Kevin
Don't think you will have more time when you retire,because you won't.

Dave

[toshiba tony]

Sorry to butt in but I followed this post with interest, it was Frank's post from Manchester that got me, when he sadly demises his stuff is going to the tip.
I have collected, over the years, some high end Sony gear from the 70's. It's playing at the moment some old reel to reel tapes. It's used daily, I won't part with it but having had five strokes and currently overcoming encephalitis I even struggle to operate it sometimes. My family tell me the same, when the inevitable comes it's going to the tip. ****** peasants. They are not being cruel, we all laugh about it. But to think of their intentions will haunt me for ever. And now I have just been told today by a kind member on here, I've got "tape shed syndrome", is it fatal?

[dave walsh]

Steve did sum things up nicely in the other thread but this is probaly one of the the most frequent topics on the Forum and the same anguished dilemma's keep re-surfacing. I'm sorry to say that retirement may not be the solution Kevin, unless you do have nothing but radios to focus on and even then I'm trying to deal with the issues as raised but I've also got a vast audio/video trove books/records other interests et al.

It's not really just about this hobby but changes in society and a generation or two that has actually been ABLE to aqquire vast amounts of "stuff" and some free time. Currently I'm reclaiming living areas-admittedly because I've got the roof space boarded and accessible for the first time but I AM going to down size [really ]. It's great to see the whole landing again and I do want to view and access the paper and otherwise recorded materials with ease. I don't like it when people conflate collecting with hoarding but it's probaly a fine line in the end.

On the other hand, all my stuff is relatively clean, not putrid and doesn't stop me entering the house or leaving it in an emergency. I think that's the baseline but I could be deluding myself. I actually prefer a tidy enviroment but it's much easier for some people as the empty space in their heads also surrounds them and they just live in the here and now with no interest in the past or much else. It's not gender specific but it is more likely to be technical "junk" with men of a certain age [like myself] I think.. rather than, say, clothing or shoes. Fifteen years ago I read an account in the Telegraph [academic Dylan Mag] of a typical middle aged Bob disciple and his surroundings ie audio/video tapes/books/records etc etc. I looked around and it was me-just substitute radios! Then they found a rare Dylan tape recording in the basement study of a distinguished but deceased New York journalist.
Same sort of setup

Dave W

PS. I crossed with Dave and Tony there as my post had been on hold while "computer Ian" raked out the Windows 10 updates that regularly paralyse my HP Pavillion.
I'm often in Church District Tony searching out long lost relatives great place and pie shop! Just tell your family you'd like them to have the money your vintage gear will bring-that might keep it out of a skip!

[TonyDuell]

I was going to say that my collection of radios just covers one and a half windowsills here, and that I only have one (semi-)vintage TV. And then I remembered the 2 6' shelves of portables (one mostly valve portables, the other transistorised).

But then radio and television is not my main interest. There are quite a few tape recorders, large and small, here. And over 100 classic computers, from things that easily go in a pocket to things that live in a couple of rack cabinets. And telephones, test gear, data books, service/technical manuals, general books, other books, etc...

I have often jokingly said that my house is not big enough for me to get married and start a family... So I don't.

But I don't see the collection as a problem. I hate this modern idea of empty, 'uncluttered' houses. If I visit one, I generally feel the occupants don't do anything very interesting. I want to see books everywhere, fall over items associated with hobbies (not necessarily electronics-related), etc. The people who live in that sort of house will have much to talk about.

I now try to restrict what I buy to only things that interest me. Problem is that I have too many interests for that to help much...

[greenstar]

I struggle to understand when wishes are expressly made that surviving relatives may not respect them. If it is not enough to instruct them there is the option of a will. Quite apart from the fact that things have value, and for example, a bequest to the BVWS and converting it to cash should be simple ...
Tony, I agree completely. I think it all stems from the 'just in time' mentality, wheres past generations made provision for lean times. And also that people seem to be working longer hours and often have no hobbies - we have been robbed of the 'leisure society' predicted in the 70's.
My home is stuffed with books and old things, and the long term girl friend would not contemplate living with me - but we stay together!

[TonyDuell]

You (everyone here!) need to make a legally valid Will, and to appoint an executor who understands the value (historic or financial) of your collection.

As I understand it (having handled my late father's estate), until probate is granted, none of the assets of the estate can be disposed of, sold, or anything like that. And the executor has to swear or afirm an oath that they will abide by the wishes of the deceased. It was made very clear to me that not doing that could result in very serious penalties, including, I believe, a jail term.

Certainly don't leave everything to your family if they aren't going to look after it!

Getting back to the collection 'problem', I probably have enough projects to last me several lifetimes. So some things will not get done. But at least I am never going to be idle, never going to be seriously bored. There's always something to do. And that's how I want it!

[stevehertz]

(Laughs) sorry to have started something! For sure - or at least for me - retirement did not herald lots of spare time to work on radios. My mom has become 'elderly' and needs my help and support a few times a week, my father died and kind man as was he used to look after my large garden. I have to do that now including cutting down and getting rid of some seriously overgrown trees and hedges that he couldn't handle and I seemed to overlook, I still do some freelance writing for my old company, I do guitar setups and repairs, I cook, I shop, I am selling stuff on Ebay (photos to take, descriptions to write, packing, taking them to PO), I have some flats that are constantly becoming empty or in need of work, and all the paperwork etc involved with those, I spend time with my partner... pause for breath... I think it's something in the nature of a 'collector' that they unwittingly pursue busy lifestyles, often with their fingers in lots of pies. That's how it is with me anyway. I am addressing my situation, I have to get my garden under control and into low maintenance mode and I need to de-clutter big time. Some of the other stuff I just have to live with, bite the bullet, they eat away at time, and some are money earners. Hopefully at some point I may be able to enjoy those dreamed about 'lazy days' supping tea and restoring vintage radios and hifi. Will that 'retirement' day ever arrive? Hmm, I hope so!

[vinrads]

As my late farther used to say I don't know how I found time to work ! I am now in the same situation plus I have all his stuff that will come in handy one day . Mick.

[bluepilot]

I collect far more things than is good for me. I bought an old farm in S. France and the barn is just about big enough to get everything in. The radios, the records, the cigarette cards, the books and magazines, the model trains, the cars (real ones) etc. As far as books and magazines go computers are a godsend. Scan them in and you save a lot of space. But then scanning takes time. Sadly I'm slowly beginning to realise that life isn't long enough to do everything that I want which includes mending the house and going on holiday. One day my children will inherit everything and it will probably all end up as landfill. Then again, I'll be dead and that won't worry me.

[wireless_john]

Originally Posted by Horris

Kevin
Don't think you will have more time when you retire,because you won't.

Dave

Very true. I had a pile in the loft to restore when I retired and in six years, I just haven't had the time!!!

[HamishBoxer]

How many times over the years have I heard that phrase "I don't know how I had time to work".
My problem is I made the mistake of wasting in the main ten years in the frozen North and if I had the facilities to enjoy my stuff ie a proper workshop and not been repairing stuff for others than perhaps just perhaps I would be willing now to down size my collection.

What the answer is I don't know as I still have loads of other things to sort now back in England.