Decluttering your life (e.g. computer parts)

[tranquility]

I still reminisce when my wife and I moved from a relative's place we rented to our very first home many moons ago. We hired a mover dude and only needed 1 trip in some really small van (picture maybe the size of a Civic): that was it, all our worldly possessions in just 1 vehicle, including fitting all three of us.

Fast forward many years and a few more moves and now we need a freaking huge transport truck. (Ok, a lot of that was furniture cuz that rental was furnished, but still...we've accumulated a lot of stuff.)

I have a whole box of non-working, old computers and wonder what the heck I'm keeping those for: is there a place that buys them for spare parts or can I just junk them? How about other things? Either trash or give old clothes away to needy places? Sell all extraneous furniture, appliances?

Anticipating a move in the near future, I wonder what tips you guys have for those who actively wanted to declutter and minimalize?

[freakystyly]

CPU bits can go to an electronic recycler. Some places might even give you some money for them. Think coffee money amounts of money though, unless you have a lot. Might be a good idea to smash the old hard drives, regardless of what you remember being on them, plus it's fun. I submitted around 500lbs of old computers and parts to one place by me (old storage from my company) and it returned about $80.

Clothes can usually go to a place like value village or goodwill. It's easy to accumulate clothing. I'm guilty and need to clean out old stuff too. Furniture and appliances too I think they'll take them and resell them.

The other harder, more time consuming option is Kijiji, Ebay or some other marketplace if you want actual money for your old things.

[tranquility]

Originally Posted by freakystyly

CPU bits can go to an electronic recycler. Some places might even give you some money for them. Think coffee money amounts of money though, unless you have a lot. Might be a good idea to smash the old hard drives, regardless of what you remember being on them, plus it's fun. I submitted around 500lbs of old computers and parts to one place by me (old storage from my company) and it returned about $80.

Clothes can usually go to a place like value village or goodwill. It's easy to accumulate clothing. I'm guilty and need to clean out old stuff too. Furniture and appliances too I think they'll take them and resell them.

The other harder, more time consuming option is Kijiji, Ebay or some other marketplace if you want actual money for your old things.

Like computer repair shops or there are specific computer parts recycling stores?

Ya, I definitely have a lot of stuff to get rid of.

[M_Six]

I have a bunch of old servers and PCs to dump. One is a huge tower server with dual 800mhz Pentium III processors and some SCSI drives. I think it will still boot up. Plus there are 6 or 7 old tower PCs. A local second hand computer store offered to take them all last year, but I still haven't gotten around to removing the drives and transporting them to the store. They're buried under stuff in a corner of my garage, so getting rid of them also entails cleaning up that corner. I also have two huge Tupperware containers filled with old cables, speakers, keyboards and mice, etc.

With the exception of my 27" iMac, all my currently used devices would fit in a box smaller than the aforementioned Pentium server.


We could never move. In the 22 years we've been here, Wifey's book collection has grown to over 12k books, and bookshelves to hold them all. We'd need a few semis to move all our stuff.

[OtoPA]

Originally Posted by M_Six

I have a bunch of old servers and PCs to dump. One is a huge tower server with dual 800mhz Pentium III processors and some SCSI drives. I think it will still boot up. Plus there are 6 or 7 old tower PCs. A local second hand computer store offered to take them all last year, but I still haven't gotten around to removing the drives and transporting them to the store. They're buried under stuff in a corner of my garage, so getting rid of them also entails cleaning up that corner. I also have two huge Tupperware containers filled with old cables, speakers, keyboards and mice, etc.

With the exception of my 27" iMac, all my currently used devices would fit in a box smaller than the aforementioned Pentium server.


We could never move. In the 22 years we've been here, Wifey's book collection has grown to over 12k books, and bookshelves to hold them all. We'd need a few semis to move all our stuff.

Sounds like a kindred spirit.. I still have an Atari 1040ST, with monitor, that came out in '86. Till most recent move, had my first computer an Atari 800. While I don't have the computer now, I still have the boxy floppy drives and a box full of disks. still have a hp PDA..lol. Cables, transformers...etc.

Also in our final house.. removal feet first only. amazing amount of stuff I've accumulated in 6 yrs of retirement...zero turn, tractor, logsplitter and such. Retired to the county on 55 acres and those are toys now.

[M_Six]

Yeah, we still have an old Gateway that boots up OS/Warp2. That one might be worth something now.

[vreihen16]

One word...e-waste. The lead solder in those pre-ROHS antiques makes them a problem in the landfill.

IIRC, Best Buy offers free e-waste recycling, but has a limit of how much per person per day.....

[Car-Addicted]

Electronic waste has grown to record levels. Here’s why that’s a huge problem
Wed March 20, 2024
The numbers are staggering. In 2022, the world generated 62 million metric tons of electronic waste, also known as “e-waste,” according to the United Nations Global E-waste Monitor released Wednesday.
Less than a quarter of e-waste (22.3%) produced in 2022 was documented as collected and recycled, according to the report. Since 2010, the growth of e-waste has outpaced the growth of formal collection and recycling by a factor of almost five, the report calculated.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/20/clima...-un/index.html

My small company goes through a workstation every couple years and a server every 10 years. I have a pile of HD's to destroy on the shelf. I have a pile of APC batteries to recycle sitting next to them. I suspect we are not unique. I recycle everything but the sad fact is that once they are in the bins at the recycling center, most end up in a land fill.

[M_Six]

Fifteen or so years ago there was this big exposé about "recycled" computers from the US. The images showed riverbanks in China littered with computer cases. A shit ton of them has "Property of the University of Illinois" tags on them. UIUC was paying some vendor to recycle PCs, but somewhere along the line they got shipped to China to be stripped of anything of value and then dumped along a river.

[UncleWede]

Now, if I buy a pair of pants, two go to some good cause. Same with shirts.

I, too have a couple of drawers of "parts" that I always seem to forget to bring to work and dump in our e-waste pile.

All the hard drives go with an evidence officer when he takes guns to be destroyed. They either go the way of the Terminator into a vat of hot metal, or they go into some sort of industrial shredder. It used to be fun to hammer a hard disk into pieces, and pull out the magnets. I have a few stuck on the fridge (because I can't pull them off!)

[M_Six]

Univ. of Illinois had a huge table that looked like an air hockey table. It had electromagnets or some such thing built into it. You'd fill the table with hard drives and power it up. It would buzz really loudly and vibrate and the hard drives dance around the table for a bit. When you were done, the hard drives would be sanitized, but completely useless. Never to work again.

[UncleWede]

Originally Posted by M_Six

Univ. of Illinois had a huge table that looked like an air hockey table. It had electromagnets or some such thing built into it. You'd fill the table with hard drives and power it up. It would buzz really loudly and vibrate and the hard drives dance around the table for a bit. When you were done, the hard drives would be sanitized, but completely useless. Never to work again.

degaussed. I only had the hand-held version, was worried about my little swimmers when I used it.

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by UncleWede

degaussed. I only had the hand-held version, was worried about my little swimmers when I used it.

Yep, that's what it was called. My age-addled brain couldn't pull that word up.

[OtoPA]

Originally Posted by M_Six

Univ. of Illinois had a huge table that looked like an air hockey table. It had electromagnets or some such thing built into it. You'd fill the table with hard drives and power it up. It would buzz really loudly and vibrate and the hard drives dance around the table for a bit. When you were done, the hard drives would be sanitized, but completely useless. Never to work again.

When data security and data leaks coincide...

[M_Six]

I use my rock hound hammer. Accomplishes the same thing without the fuss.

[OtoPA]

Originally Posted by M_Six

I use my rock hound hammer. Accomplishes the same thing without the fuss.

Anything to shatter the platters . I just got to combine some fun with housekeeping...lol

[UncleWede]

Originally Posted by OtoPA

Anything to shatter the platters . I just got to combine some fun with housekeeping...lol

A few times I provided "targets" for range days

[dradernh]

Originally Posted by M_Six

I use my rock hound hammer.

Growing up, those were always around. Dad was a geologist.

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by dradernh

Growing up, those were always around. Dad was a geologist.

My undergrad degree is in geology, with a heavy side of chemistry.

[Reborn_]

I have found that trying to get money back counters the effort. E.g. trying to sell some old items vs. just donating or dumping them. Your computer parts can go to e-waste.

[tranquility]

Originally Posted by M_Six

I use my rock hound hammer. Accomplishes the same thing without the fuss.

I have a mini-hockey stick in my bedroom in the extremely unlikely chance (knock wood) some crazy dude(s) wanna Clockwork Orange me lol but damn, I need to UPGRADE.

[Car-Addicted]

Originally Posted by M_Six

My undergrad degree is in geology, with a heavy side of chemistry.

My undergrad work was in geology, specifically stratigraphy, with a side of comp. science. Never used the geology and wish I didn't use the comp science. I've got a very used rock hammer to show for my time