For Housing

Old Treasure

When you are nearing retirement and on the brink of some extreme life changes, you take a look around and one of the things you ask yourself is “what am I going to do with all this stuff?” Memories will not let you part with some of it and yet you are at a loss as to what to do with it all.

I have been self-employed in the construction business for more than 30 years. Before that, I was climbing high-line towers for a union electrical contractor. During these years, I did a lot of traveling all across the US. My construction company grew from an office in the back room of my residence to a 26,000 square foot building. Over the years, I have accumulated and collected tons of “stuff”. I call it treasures but some would probably call it junk. And there is alot of it.

Oddly enough, there are a large number of people interested in junk. There is a new TV show about junk collectors who travel around looking for old treasures – and they actually buy it. I am sure if they came to my warehouse and poked around, they would be apt to find one of those priceless original oil paintings worth thousands or maybe a stack of old barn wood that I really needed, but can’t remember for what right now, or better yet, an old comic book – like the recent story on the internet about the first Superman Comic Book selling at auction for $1,000,000. Can you believe it? I know these kinds of treasures are buried out there underneath that mass of junk somewhere.

I am not alone. Not by any stretch of the imagination. Whether you have been self-employed or not really does not matter. People accumulate and collect stuff, for unknown reasons, their entire life. Most generally, at the time, you have a purpose for buying it, but that purpose never comes to fruition so you just keep it in case you might need it later. And then there is the stuff you buy but you can’t use it because it is too good – like my wife’s dishes – they sure look pretty in the china cabinet but I have yet to eat a meal off them.

Some of these treasures are really sentimental. I was going through some of this stuff the other day and many of the items brought back memories of things I had almost forgotten. No, these treasures aren’t worth anything to anybody other than me and I have not yet resolved what to do about it. Most of the time our kids are left with the problem of cleaning out the attic. Good luck to mine.

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