Whoohoo! Have gotten rid of hundreds of VHS tapes!

[CathyA]

Yes, I'm ashamed that I ever had this many VHS tapes, but the good news is that last year I found a plastics recycling place that takes them! Its about 40 miles from here, but is worth it. This is about my 3rd trip there in the past year and today I took about 100, along with a bunch of old CDs, jewel cases, and audio tapes.

I don't know why I'm able to "let go" of so much recently. Its a GREAT feeling! I'm usually so insecure about getting rid of anything. But I'm really on a roll now and it feels great. I think its helped alot this past year to have more local recycling. The old recycling place only took #1 and #2 plastics. Now they take all numbered plastic, and they used to only take corrugated cardboard and now they take all sorts of boxes, like cereal, pasta, and even the boxes that the VHS tapes were in!
(and of course they take all glass, metal cans, etc.).
And they're taking the entire newspaper instead of just the black and white print, and magazines, office paper, catalogs, etc.
So I'm much more likely to get rid of a bunch of stuff if I know it isn't going into the earth.

And......I've learned my lesson, to quit bring so much stuff into the house.
Feels good! :cool:

[gimmethesimplelife]

Right on, I know what you mean! I am in this process too and it feels great to just get RID of stuff! But I think too the catch is not bringing anything across the threshold of your door that replaces the unnecc. stuff going out.....Rob

[fidgiegirl]

Nice. I also feel like purging lately at work and at home. Today I almost dumped a whole pile of magazines, books, etc. at work without looking at them. But I couldn't bring myself to do it. Maybe tomorrow ;)

[Gina]

I too have a couple boxes of video tapes to get rid of. Maybe 50 tapes. I am jealous you could. I can't quite bring myself to do it....

[CathyA]

I honestly don't know why I could do it now. I've held on so tightly to so many things for so many years.....and now I'm able to let go. Maybe I'll freak out eventually.....but I don't think so. Plus, those old tapes play so poorly anymore. And almost anything is available anywhere.....so its not like we'll be without.
Now I haven't mentioned the approximately 100 more I have of family! A couple years ago I bought a DVR so I could transfer them to discs. The "how-to" book that came with them was about an inch thick. I just couldn't figure it out. I'd love for all of those to be on discs.......

[Zzz]

Good job! I gave away two shopping carts worth of those last summer. Fortunately for me, they were in pretty good shape and the local thrift shop still sells a lot of them for a dollar or two a tape. People buy them all the time there. It's about the price of a Redbox rental and no late fees...

[Greg44]

My dw puts them in the Goodwill box as she is systematically replacing them with the DVD version! But seems the DVD cases are 1/2 as thick she can buy MORE! :~)

[sweetana3]

I must be one of the few who has a little tv that plays VHS tapes (and is hooked up to a DVD player). I only turn it on when sewing so the quality is not a problem.

[CathyA]

All of mine were ones that I'd taped TV shows on. I mean seriously, how many Martha Stewart shows can you hoard? And I don't even like her anymore!

[Fawn]

All of mine were ones that I'd taped TV shows on. I mean seriously, how many Martha Stewart shows can you hoard? And I don't even like her anymore!

I'm sure Martha will sell you a color coordinated storage system. :~):laff:

[Kat]

Awesome, CathyA! Keep going! :+1:

[CathyA]

Thanks Kat!
LOL Fawn. Martha Stewart always talked about simple living and making the most of what you have......but I swear, she's the most excessive person I've ever seen! :~)

[Selah]

Thank you for inspiring me once again, everybody! I started following this thread when it began and now, three months later, I finally took a DEEP breath and got rid of ALL my old cassette tapes. I'd already purged at least 150 of them before the cross-country move we made in November, and was down to about 75 that came with me, but today I said goodbye to all of them. Gosh, some of them are 25+ years old! I loved them all, but seven years in the harsh climate I just moved from really took their toll, and they were all starting to tangle and tear every time I tried to play one. Still, it was very hard to let them go! Anyway, what's done is done and now I can not feel guilty about hauling more crap that I don't use on our next overseas move.

[CathyA]

Good job Selah! Don't you feel alot lighter now? :)
It IS hard.....and it will probably be hard every time we try to get rid of stuff we've hoarded for years. But every time, we get a little lighter!
Congratulations!

[beckyliz]

The VHS part of our combo vhs/dvd player went kaplooie a year or so ago, which gave me the excuse of getting rid of all of our VHS tapes. Don't miss a one.