Dave I/O

Long-term followers of this project may be aware that a grand total of bog all has happened. I’m still surrounded by shiny things that I never use; I still have to find space for stuff that I only touch to tidy away.

The main reason behind this has been time and energy. More specifically, the unpleasant fact that I’ve had insufficient quantities of both at any one time. Energy is required to go through everything, and time is required to list it all for sale or giving away.

However, there is a solution.

Just now, @victohenry – while discussing an unrelated matter – tweeted about the world’s most ridiculous ‘agony aunt’ article in the history of mankind. I mean, come on – “clearly he needs a girlfriend”?

Bollocks aside, she does make a good point a bit further down – a gleaming kernel of corn, buried in the scatological rough -

“Why don’t you suggest an open day at his house where he sells off the lot so he can start afresh?”

That’s actually quite a good idea. So, you know what? That’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to invite my friends to come to my flat over the course of a weekend, probably near the beginning of the month so that there’s some money in peoples’ pockets, and ask them to make me an offer.

Some things I’ll have to price in advance (though I’ll have to be open to haggling). I’ll also need to make a ‘just take it, please, oh god, take it away’ bin for things that I can’t sell, but want to get rid of. It’ll take a little bit of preparation, but removing the listing-writing and shipping factors is a huge weight off my shoulders, and in exchange my stuff goes to good homes for a fair price, and my friends get to buy themselves shiny things for a good cause.

Thanks, Mariella. Thariella.

The fact that I’m a gigantic geek shouldn’t come as any surprise to anyone reading this – after all, the reason you’re here is that my first instinct, when deciding to embark on this project, was to register a domain and start blogging about it.

As such, it’s no world-shattering revelation that over the years I’ve acquired a veritable trove of technological crap. As a compulsive project-starter, my mind likes to be sure that it has the resources it needs to pull off the next, as yet ephemeral, big idea. This is, of course, ridiculous – and the amount of physical computer that I have hanging around is a good target to start with.

The advent of virtualisation in recent years has meant that one decent piece of hardware can replace a roomful of vintage commodity machines. I do use some of the hardware that I have hanging around, but I can save space and reduce my power bill by getting rid of them and picking up a modern, compact server to do the jobs that they used to do with the proceeds.

With the thought of no loss of functionality in mind, I feel less anxious about getting shot of the physical hardware taking up so much space and chewing so much wattage in my flat.

I’ve kept every computer that I’ve ever owned. Some I wouldn’t dream of parting with, for example the BBC Model B that introduced me to the world of programming, but the majority are just on hand for ‘what if I need it’ reasons. This is the precise reason that I’ve decided to drop, and without it there’s no cause to keep hold of them all.

The next step is going through all of the hardware, testing them and cataloguing their specifications. Machines that are dead will be cannibalised for anything working and sent to a recycler if I can find one (any thoughts, readership?) or ditched if I can’t find one. Working parts or systems will be listed up here for a week, if there’s no interest they’ll then head to eBay and if that fails it’s Freecycle. Then the recycler, and then the landfill only if there’s no other option.

The next post will contain a list, with pictures, of the hardware after I’ve had a chance to go through it all. Prices will be low and all offers will be considered, so if you need any lightweight gear then watch this space!

Possess Less is on Twitter, at @possessless. I’ll be tweeting notifications of new posts as well as the shorter, more spontaneous stuff involved in cleaning up my life.

My name’s Dave and I like…stuff. For most people, that wouldn’t be a concern. After all, we’re all taught that the more possessions you surround yourself with, the more successful you are as a person. For all the ethical quandaries around that, for the majority of people it’s a non-issue – most people reach a stage where they realise that they have more possessions than space and do something about it.

By nature, I am not one of those people.

I’ve been amassing stuff all my life and have real problems getting rid of it. What if I need that device-specific cable for a broken camera? What will the person who gave me that passing gift ten years ago think if they find out that I’ve sold it or given it away?

I’m fortunate enough to be a fairly well-off guy. The fact is that for the various categories of things that I keep around out of concern for perhaps needing them in the future, I could purchase a new one that would do the job better. And for the vast, vast majority of the things that I keep around, I haven’t used them in anything from a year to ten years and almost certainly won’t in the future.

So it’s time to get brutal. This is a big deal to me – it’s a very difficult thing to do. This blog is here to offer an insight into how the process is going and how I’m feeling, and hopefully will be of assistance to others facing the same issue or those affected by it. This isn’t a blog of woe – I’m quite an upbeat and optimistic person, and it’s important to realise that people who feel this way don’t have to appear as full-on insular hermits.

I’m going to sell a lot of stuff, give a lot of stuff away and only throw away what I have to, so even if you don’t care about the issues you may want to keep an eye on this blog for details on a tirade of free and cheap stuff. I’m based in the N7 postcode, in North London.

Comments are more than welcome on anything that I have to say on here, but are moderated. Any comment that isn’t abusive or spam will be accepted and published, so while I consider it important to avoid censoring those who disagree with me, please keep things civil to avoid being deemed abusive.

Glad to have you watching.