We are all kindred sould, but...

I saw a couple of people mention - "It'll get better if I build some bookcases," or something similar.

Get over it! When I realized I was dealing with a bookoholic, I started building bookcases (and buying a few "nice" ones for the upstairs). With an even 30 6 foot x 3 foot cases, plus some built-ins, we now have 205 "shelves" totaling 459.8 lineal feet, many of which are filled "double deep." Any book actually in use will be found in one of several piles near where we need them, because the shelves are full. Stir occasionally.

I'd build some more, but we've run out of walls.

A couple of people have said "if it's 15 years old and you haven't used it you should throw it away." There is no statute of limitations on TREASURE.

In 1962, a former spouse complained that our new clothes dryer was "making funny noises and sounds like it's going to explode." Naturally, I surveyed the situation, made knowing noises, and bought a repair part (which I hid in the sack of replacement vacuum cleaner bags where I knew she would never see it.) Since I had "done something," the dryer was now ok. In 1991, the part in question broke, and - 29 years later - I installed the "new" part.

(Yes, it was still in the sack with the cleaner bags - but I'm not telling whether the sack still contained some of the 20 original bags.)

In 1992 I encountered a "technical problem" of serious proportions that had been "studied" by a group of a half-dozen quite competent engineers for several weeks without resolution. A NASA report that I had "squirreled away" in 1959 made it possible for me to provide a definitive answer with less than two hours work. The "correct" answer prevented a supplier from "cutting corners" in a way that would have seriously compromised emergency evacuation provisions on a major passenger airplane.

You don't have to keep anything, but what we keep becomes part of what we are. That's the scary part.

John