100 ton organized hoard of projects and hobbies

I need to move. I need to focus. I need to downsize and actually get around to selling things.

How do people do it?

I moved out of my parents house about six years ago. My mother is a hoarder of books, craft supplies, and kitchen gadgets. I always despised how she had to unstack things to get at something else. She always kept things to work on projects, but never got around to them. I told myself when I moved out, I would be able to do anything and everything, and access anything and everything.

I’ve been renting and living in a large 1600 sqft home with a basement and garage. Probably over 3000 sqft of usable space. I can never say no to a good deal or free things. and I rarely sell anything even when it’s valuable and I don’t need it right now. There’s always something in my head, some project or hobby that needs it. Or the cost of acquiring it later will be higher because inflation is out of control. Or I acquired it for next to nothing and will never be able to actually afford to buy it, so may as well keep it.

I love doing projects, I love creating, inventing, and working on anything and everything. I will DIY absolutely everything I can. I outfitted the entire house with removable custom LEDs. I have computers in every room of the house. I have a literal data centre in the basement.

My problem is my possessions are absurdly heavy, and valuable altogether, and I have more computers than most companies. I’ve managed to keep an organized hoard. Everything is accessible without unstacking and I know where absolutely everything is. I have 300 milk crates, which weigh 1000lbs empty, all full of electronics enclosures, tools, and copper wire from an extreme liquidation sale. All labelled with model numbers and quantities. I bought eight sections of commercial grade store shelving for next to nothing from a store going out of business. The shelving weighs over 10,000 lbs.
I have at least 10 other heavy duty commercial shelving units I got for free or cheap. I have at least five label makers. I have four heavy duty standing desks that weigh over 250lbs each. I have over 2000 plastic bins, all neatly labelled on every shelf, each dedicated to a specific item individually. Every type of cable or category of item gets it own dedicated box.

I work in IT, and I’ve been fortunate that no one at work wants to take old equipment home. Anytime equipment is end of life or being retired, I’m the only one that seems to take it when offered. My company has gone through six major acquisitions, every acquisition, we retire all the IT assets from the company we acquire. I’m not talking a few computers here and there, I have floor to ceiling server racks like a datacenter. I have at least 50 servers, 100 laptops that are all less than five years old, I’ve acquired free TVs, projectors, and meeting room equipment. Not garbage end of life projectors either, crazy high brightness boardroom laser projectors. 4K commercial TVs. I never say no to free things that have value. I have six companies worth of equipment in my house. I take them home, organize them, use them, never sell them, and continue acquiring. I give away computers to friends and family all the time. Most people don’t have a use for 10 laptops, even if I offered them.

I convince myself every time that something’s not worth selling even when it’s valuable because of what it could enable eventually, for myself or others. I do use my things, meticulously refurbish, label, and inventory everything. I enjoy my organization, but now I have to move. Do I really need absolutely everything I own? Probably not. I’ve had the staggering realization that if I liquidated absolutely everything I own at used eBay prices, it’s definitely a seven figure number.

No, this isn’t boasting, nor money laundering like other sub reddits joked about. Even crude math, do I own 10,000 objects that are worth $100 each used? Definitely. I’m sure many other hoarders are in the same boat open a thrift store and you have $1,000,000. But would we ever do it?

No particular thing is remarkably valuable. No art, no jewelry, no high value assets. I simply have a decade of earning decent money, spending constantly, and I’ve been fortunate to be at an employer that lets employees take old equipment home. Couple that with me buying industrial liquidated equipment and inventory, and never saying no to free valuable things, and suddenly I have over $1 million of assets, locked in thousands of different objects, which would overload many 53’ full size semi trucks.

Could I sell everything and buy a house? Of course I could, but what would I do in that empty house? Even if I wanted to sell “everything”, that would take years. My basement and garage is an industrial warehouse. I have hobbies, and I can DIY and manufacture absolutely anything I want. But it’s never enough things.

Organization is not my problem. Not having enough space is not a problem either. My problem is mass, value, constantly acquiring, and never downsizing. No other subreddits have taken me seriously. No insurance company will take me seriously either. Even friends and family think I’m joking even when they see it.

I now need to deal with the consequences of my actions, and remove 100,000lbs of personal possessions out of a residential property by myself. of course, as you might assume, I have four moving dollies, a variety of hand trucks, ramps, and powered winches to do it all myself. It’s insanity. I don’t know why I do it. I don’t need everything I own, but I can’t sell it or get rid of it for some reason, even when I know what it’s all worth. It’s a health risk in a different kind of way than a stereotypical hoard. It’s dangerous moving this amount of weight by myself.

My fiancée (who is on disability leave and can’t lift anything ) and I have been watching hoarders episodes, and I no longer see myself as any different from some of the messy hoards. I’ve always convinced myself that I’m essentially a workshop and business. I like doing things with my things. It’s not a hoard if its organized, valuable, and I can find something in seconds. I don’t keep things for the sake of keeping things, I keep things to use them. I keep things that are valuable because I do need them and might need them. I don’t have a problem letting go of genuinely useless objects and clutter, BUT I can’t get rid of genuinely useful and valuable objects. I have too many, constantly acquire, and will constantly find justification or a new storage solution to continue acquiring. I don’t have too many clothes. I don’t have too many shoes. I don’t have too many collectibles. No normal organization advice makes sense to me because I’m an individual with thousands of assets that normally belong in a large enterprise or manufacturing plant. I would love a forklift and Costco sized warehouse.

Does this make me a hoarder? Yes. My house is stacked floor to ceiling. Just because it’s in neatly labelled bins and heavy duty shelving, and I can see the floor and vacuum doesn’t change the mentality of acquisition. If it wasn’t all in the basement and garage, the house would easily collapse.

Now that I’m moving, and realizing the sheer amount of objects I own, I need to do something about it. I can’t throw it in the garbage that’s physically impossible even if I wanted to. I’ve never seen a hoard where someone had 100 tons of items.

I am a hoarder and I need help and advice.