Unused Stuff

2026-06-29

A few things up top, Honda CRVs are made (assembled) in the US. Also we were able to find some snacks at Costco, both the fancy trail mix and edamame, so we bought a few and will last for two months. One more thing about name brands, I bought a crappy USB hub on Amazon (USB-A to USB-A) and it worked for perhaps a year but now it broke and so I bought a more name brand one (still pretty cheap) and I hope it lasts longer.

Ok onto the main topic. I sometimes fight with my lovely wife Sneha about stuff around our house and why we have it. We actually did a pretty good job of cleaning up this weekend but that is an aside. I really like minimalism and throwing things away, I wanted to implement a system where I put post-its on stuff and if I we dont use them in a year then we throw them away. We never implemented this system and it probably wouldn’t have worked well but I really want to throw stuff away.

But I thought about looking introspectively and I realize that I am not perfect, sadly very far from it, and there are a bunch of things that I want to keep but do not use every year. So I wanted to write them down here and maybe why I want to keep them.

The first thing that comes to mind are photos, we have a bunch of photos that we dont use but it makes sense to keep them. They are small, thin, and are only for reminiscing. Also I really like physical photos. Sneha also has a ton on photos, I think this is something that we agree that we both really like and are ok having.

Ok second up Sneha is probably less happy with, I have a lot of book in a bookshelf. And I really like books, they are beautiful, I love knowledge, I try to lend them to people. But I do not re-read every book that I have once a year so if we implemented the system I would have to throw out all of the books. So I am very happy we have a nice bookshelf with lots of books I can read.

Next up are a bunch of kitchen gadgets, I use most of them but if I kept really good track there are probably a few that I have used in a year. I think our meat tenderizer, our candy thermometer, maybe one of our knife sharpening stone, etc. I guess this reminds me I should try to make some caramel. I am not too worried about these things, they all fit in a drawer and are pretty useful in general. I think the big thing is to make sure I watch my kitchen purchases and only buy things that I need.

Lastly on this list is computer stuff, I have a computer upstairs that I want to turn into a server but I have been busy with work and trying to launch a start up. So it has just been sitting up there. Hopefully soon I will be able to turn it into some kind of NAS.

There are exceptions to most rules, and these are mine, it is good to own up to them. I dont feel bad about any of them which I think is good.

-Gary