Lately, there's been tons of emphasis on living simple lives with less stuff. We're starting to feel like a bit of a pack rat for keeping the things we don't need—well, right now anyways. We've made a habit of keeping our old tech, just in case we need a backup for the new stuff. Is there anybody else out there like us?
In my kitchen junk drawer is an old pay-as-you-go phone. It's leftover from a former apartment—my first in a new town, and where I needed a local phone number for my guests to buzz me at the door.
Even though I'm a few moves removed from that phone (and now sporting a local "404" cell number), it's made the cut through several de-cluttering clean sweeps. Why? Well, I keep it around just in case my main iPhone dies and leaves me.
Is there anybody else like me? Somebody who stashed their slow-but-functional 2004 PowerBook in the closet after an upgrade to a new MacBook?
Or would you rather recycle, sell or give away your old tech? Go ahead and leave a comment!
(Top image: Photoillustration, Inside Image: GardenWeb.com)
The Roeders' Modern Life is Beautiful 
How To Keep Your Bathroom Clean In 5 Minutes A Day
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Shopping for Ice Cream Makers: 5 Models We've Reviewed
How to Cook Moist & Tender Chicken Breasts Every Time
Comments (6)
I have built multiple computers out of parts that I had sitting around. They make great gifts for grandparents since they don't need to be fast and they are always impressed.
What? At least it's not a necklace made of macaroni!
In an attempt to declutter our lives I have been fairly ruthless with old tech. Old phones get donated to women's shelters. (If my phone ever dies, I'll just get a temp until I get a new one...)
We tend to give our old but functional stuff (computers, monitors) away to family and friends.
However I definitely do keep extra cables and such around (they still try to sell printers without cables!) and I have an old plug in style keyboard for those times when the old PC is being stupid and needs some serious BIOS tinkering.
After several moves hauling four extra large storage tubs of electronics gear, I realized it's better to get rid of stuff and just buy new if you reaaallly need it. Besides, unless you keep those tubs preternaturally organized, you're going to spend an hour searching for the long-stored part, give up in frustration, and go buy a new part anyway. At least, that's what happened to me...
No way.
Computers are heavy, and I only need one. I just passed on my old iMac, and couldn't feel better about it. http://doggieeyes.blogspot.com/2010/07/imac.html
I put everything on it on a couple flash drives, and gave it to some friends. They're having fun with it, and I don't have to think about moving it, or where to keep it.
I have an old G4 "sunflower" iMac in the closet, should I ever need to use it.
My Wife dont let me store computer things, because i have a LOT!!
I have 3 PC without monitor just waiting for a Windows/Linux Installation, a Pentium MMX 128Ram Working as Test Slackware Server, and a box full of cables and several parts.. i need to make a garage sale..
I have several old cellphones tucked away in the event that I see a FB post like "help- my phone broken, does anyone have a spare"? What can I say, I enjoy feeling needed.
I greatly mourned the death of my 3rd gen iPod late last year. Every few months I see it in my drawer and turn it on in hopes it will start right up. Instead, I always see the dead mac. Still can't let it go.
I did, however, successfully abandon my 1st gen iMac when I left LA in 2005, after many failed attempts to figure out how to get gmail to work on it, and realizing my iPod had more memory. :(