Explain why white collar people buy pickups

[Pete]

One thing about the modern era is that I now have all my music, books, movies, photos, writings and documents (and I have a ton of all that) in electronic form in the cloud that takes exactly zero space.

I have some hardcover books that have special meaning, but not many. And I need to just donate my DVD collection as I already did with hundreds of CD's after they were digitized.

I actually use all that media more in electronic form because I have easy access anywhere, any time. And it's all more organized as well.

I have a ton of tools, but I use them and they are all neatly organized and put away in very nice garage cabinets. (The tile stacked up in the left foreground is one of the items going on Craigslist)




And because I love to entertain, I have tons of dinnerware and glassware. One of my Covid projects was to install a big hutch in my dining room and get it all on display, so I know exactly what I have -- and it encourages me to use it.


(before on top and after on bottom; and yes, that's the wallpaper I was groaning about installing in another thread)

I love my things but there is a way to have them and not have clutter and excess. People think I'm already a minimalist but I'm so organized that it's all tucked away while knowing exactly where everything is.

To be fair, I live alone so I have things exactly the way I want without battles over what should stay and go.


(BTW, I find this meandering thread one of the most interesting we've had in a while.)

[catch22]

Insane angle on that treadmill, are you into parkour?

Looks great - come to Colorado and clear out my house! Will provide beer!

[Pete]

^

I've thought about offering my org skills to others.

I've learned a lot and those projects are very satisfying.




I also built a shed (using a kit; another Covid project) to hold my lawn equipment and a bunch of other stuff, mainly Christmas items. But it's only about 25% full and I'll be purging a bunch from there and then using it to store my outdoor furniture in the winter.

[catch22]

A shed is on my list for this year - after I financially digest the expensive install of central AC later this month (pretty common for older houses here to not have it). I plan on making it large enough to store both of my motorbikes, as well as comfortably store some of my larger items (lawnmower, outdoor furniture, etc.) so I can get the car into my single car garage. (what was discussed upthread). My only regret with my house purchase was not getting a 2-car garage, but the market was so hot I had to take pretty much whatever I could get a deal signed for that wasn't in a bad neighborhood or in disrepair. I looked at dozens of houses, and every single one of them was under contract within hours of it being listed. Most of the houses on the list my realtor and I didn't even make it to as they were under contract within minutes of her getting the code from the seller's realtor. If I had waited another month or two I would not have been able to get anything. My house has gained $70k in market equity in less than 2 years. So, in hindsight, it would have been nice to score a larger garage, but it was just a luck of the draw on what I could actually even see, much less offer on.

Pete, was that a kit (a la Home Depot, Lowes's) or did you just gather the materials yourself and go for it? nvm - reread your post I see it was a kit. Looks great!

[MikeLucky]

One thing about the modern era is that I now have all my music, books, movies, photos, writings and documents (and I have a ton of all that) in electronic form in the cloud that takes exactly zero space.

I have some hardcover books that have special meaning, but not many. And I need to just donate my DVD collection as I already did with hundreds of CD's after they were digitized.

I actually use all that media more in electronic form because I have easy access anywhere, any time. And it's all more organized as well.

I have a ton of tools, but I use them and they are all neatly organized and put away in very nice garage cabinets. (The tile stacked up in the left foreground is one of the items going on Craigslist)




And because I love to entertain, I have tons of dinnerware and glassware. One of my Covid projects was to install a big hutch in my dining room and get it all on display, so I know exactly what I have -- and it encourages me to use it.


(before on top and after on bottom; and yes, that's the wallpaper I was groaning about installing in another thread)

I love my things but there is a way to have them and not have clutter and excess. People think I'm already a minimalist but I'm so organized that it's all tucked away while knowing exactly where everything is.

To be fair, I live alone so I have things exactly the way I want without battles over what should stay and go.


(BTW, I find this meandering thread one of the most interesting we've had in a while.)

Lol. I'm finding it very interesting as well.

It would all certainly be easier if it were just me. I could live full time in a camper/RV.

[Pete]

Pete, was that a kit (a la Home Depot, Lowes's) or did you just gather the materials yourself and go for it? nvm - reread your post I see it was a kit. Looks great!

It's a Keter shed that I bought through Sam's.

The material is a blend of wood and plastic fibers and you can actually paint it (black/gray was the way it comes) and drill holes and hang things.

It was a bitch of a project but I took my time and did it without any help; including the base it took 3 days. I have adjustable shelving inside and a slick rail system for hanging things.

And as soon as I moved everything in there, I have systematically starting to cull stuff just because now everything is organized and I can see it. And as I'm undertaking various projects, I can store materials and work-in-progress in there and keep my garage squeaky clean.

[Bill Robertson]

I wasn't going to keep the off track going but Pete has so what the hell. LOL! About 6 or 7 years ago when Bikini's was open my wife and I were there one night for dinner. A very common happening. My son-in-law showed up and he and I and a couple other guys shot pool for a couple hours. All this time unknown to us a horrible coincidence was going on at home. The hall bath toilet had 1) clogged and 2) the flush valve had stuck open. So about 3/4 of our house had water soaked carpet and wood flooring when we got home. When we had to move all the stuff we had in closets and stored in the two bedrooms we don't really use we decided to get rid of everything we don't regularly use. It was eye opening how much stuff we got rid of and have never missed. The only semi-hoarding thing we've done since is staying stocked or over stocked on the things that were hard to get last March/April/May. But we had lots of room to store the TP, paper towels and such!

[catch22]

It's a Keter shed that I bought through Sam's.

The material is a blend of wood and plastic fibers and you can actually paint it (black/gray was the way it comes) and drill holes and hang things.

It was a bitch of a project but I took my time and did it without any help; including the base it took 3 days. I have adjustable shelving inside and a slick rail system for hanging things.

And as soon as I moved everything in there, I have systematically starting to cull stuff just because now everything is organized and I can see it. And as I'm undertaking various projects, I can store materials and work-in-progress in there and keep my garage squeaky clean.

Fantastic. I need to adopt your mindset. I have OCD to some degree - but I also have some form of executive dysfunction. So finding the motivation to stay organized is a chore, and when I do I eventually run out of steam; the result is tons of wasted dollars on storage solutions or a mess in the garage because I was in mid-sort when the dysfunction kicked in. Really I need to just go away for the weekend and pay someone to do an "estate sale" while I am gone and get rid of a bunch of stuff, then pay you to organize whatever is leftover with the proceeds. Lol.

Maybe I just need a huge ass truck.

[Ward]

I was talking to a friend who has a great job, doesn't get his hands dirty or is out in the weather.

With a mess of kids, he said they can all get in the truck, luggage too, and just go.

He said we just don't have big American cars anymore and the 4 door pickup has taken up that slot.

I found that to be a rather interesting point.

Works for him.

[PaddyShack]

Pete, do you like the flooring in your garage? Has it held up well to the vehicle weight?

[Pete]

Pete, do you like the flooring in your garage? Has it held up well to the vehicle weight?

Yes.

Just hard to keep clean so that why I bought the mat that my car sits on.

That combination works really well. The floor has been installed for a couple of years and still looks like new.

[PurpleChicken]

^

Here are reasons to be bothered by people buying them for no practical reason:

1. Very bad for the environment
2. The weight and bumper height means any sort of collision with a non-monster truck can result in serious damage/injury to the other party
3. They block views of the road and parking lots
4. Most don't fit in garages so they litter driveways and streets
5. They can be viewed as the ultimate expression of excess

I park in my driveway, that’s a problem?

[PurpleChicken]

When I lived in California I visited a friend in Oceanside who created an office in their garage and so they parked their car in their driveway. Well, the HOA got wind of this and that wouldn’t stand so they made them park in their garage. Oh, they also couldn’t hang clothes outside to dry either.

[gopokes88]

When you say massive trucks are you talking about 1/2ton (150s, 1500s) or 3/4 tons (250s, 2500s)?

If you're not using it for work there is 0 need for a F-250. Sure you get those guys who love that diesel and it is 'murica so more power to them. But with you on the F-250 like in the original picture, you don't need it. Just an ego thing.

The F-150s and 1500 Silverado's I 100% understand why having a truck bed is awesome. I do lots of woodworking, golfing, facebook marketplace trading. Truck beds are fantastic for that.

[oklip955]

Well one of the nice things about living in the county is no one telling you where you can and cannot park. i could not park my pickup in the garage, why? I dont have one.

[David]

Speaking from personal experience, from back in a time period where I walked around a fairly suburban neighborhood a lot the driveway parkers would really only annoy me if they parked down at the bottom of the driveway and blocked the pass through of people going by on the sidewalk.

[FighttheGoodFight]

Speaking from personal experience, from back in a time period where I walked around a fairly suburban neighborhood a lot the driveway parkers would really only annoy me if they parked down at the bottom of the driveway and blocked the pass through of people going by on the sidewalk.

It annoys me to death when the sidewalk is blocked.

[Pete]

Would you like to look our your front door and see 20 cars and trucks or have them all inside garages?

Kids and animals bolt out from behind cars; they also attract thieves to the neighborhood.

When visitors come over, they can park on your driveway instead of the street.


Garages are for vechiles.

I swear, if most people lived in a neighborhood with aircraft hangers attached to their house, they'd fill it with a bunch of junk and park their planes on the street.

[jn1780]

Not much to add what everyone else added. Keeping up with the Joneses. And you have those people who think their going to haul stuff but never do. The few times they do adds up to no where near they would spend if you just rented a uhaul a few times a year(and you can get any size truck you want).

[jn1780]

Would you like to look our your front door and see 20 cars and trucks or have them all inside garages?

Kids and animals bolt out from behind cars; they also attract thieves to the neighborhood.

When visitors come over, they can park on your driveway instead of the street.


Garages are for vechiles.

I swear, if most people lived in a neighborhood with aircraft hangers attached to their house, they'd fill it with a bunch of junk and park their planes on the street.

And some of those people are also paying for external storage in addition to using their garage as storage.

[T. Jamison]

When I lived in the Village, the streets were littered with cars. Driving through the neighborhood was like an autocross course. The folks across the street filled their driveway with 4 cars that rarely moved, and the street frontage would have two to three cars. When their frontage was filled visitors would park in front of our house. It wasn't a real issue but at times it would be difficult to get in and out of our driveway. Since we were on the corner of Penn, when we got off Penn we'd end up staring down oncoming traffic because it basically became a one-way street.

[gopokes88]

Would you like to look our your front door and see 20 cars and trucks or have them all inside garages?

Kids and animals bolt out from behind cars; they also attract thieves to the neighborhood.

When visitors come over, they can park on your driveway instead of the street.


Garages are for vechiles.

I swear, if most people lived in a neighborhood with aircraft hangers attached to their house, they'd fill it with a bunch of junk and park their planes on the street.

There was a lady in my hood running for state house. She knocked on my door one day with her campaign speech and i told her pretty fairly early on that i was absolutely not going to vote her.

She asked why, I said because you have a 3 car garage and park both of your cars outside because your garage is packed full of stuff.

[PurpleChicken]

When someone pays my mortgage and taxes they can tell me what my garage should be used for. Outside of that, unless I move into a HOA with clear rules regarding garage parking, I can use my garage for whatever I deem necessary. Some people have workshops, some people have game rooms, not everyone's garage is full of storage.

The best scenario is to move onto no less than 5 acres to have a degree of peace in one's life.

[Pete]

^

Nobody has approached telling you or anyone else what they can do with your garage.

If you don't want your questions answered, don't ask them.

[jerrywall]

Speaking from personal experience, from back in a time period where I walked around a fairly suburban neighborhood a lot the driveway parkers would really only annoy me if they parked down at the bottom of the driveway and blocked the pass through of people going by on the sidewalk.

Drives me nuts too, especially in my neighborhood where all the driveways are long enough that there's no reason for a car to block a driveway, unless you're parking 2 deep. We've got 4 drivers and 6 vehicles in my house, and we can still manage to not block the sidewalk path on our driveway.

I though that was actually against the law locally, but I couldn't find anything about it being on the books. I know in many cities/areas it is illegal to park that way.