We recently “inherited” 2 old computers within a week of each other.
“Inherit” probably isn’t the best word to use here. Mother-in-law recently decluttered Father-in-law’s desk (he passed almost 3 years ago) and was going to just throw away his computer into the trash. John grabbed it and brought it home for me to “clean out” and decide what to do with it.
Now “cleaning” an old computer when you know what you have on it is so much easier – you just transfer everything to the new computer, digitally wipe it clean, and get rid of it. I started going through files and quickly realized my time could be spent doing more enjoyable things (like decluttering my own computer!) This computer hadn’t been accessed in the previous almost 3 years. How much of it would I really want to download?? They didn’t have any photos saved.
My job became much easier with the decision to 1) remove the hard; 2) have John destroy (literally) the hard drive (I think he used a drill and hammer); 3) have John take the destroyed hard drive and rest of the computer to hazardous waste.
I know we could have sold some of the parts BUT it really isn’t worth the effort. How much would we really get from a 3 year old computer???
After my Dad passed, Mom was decluttering some stuff. She also wanted to throw out an old computer. What’s with people just wanting to throw out computers???? This one was about 10 years old and hadn’t been used since she got a laptop about 5 years ago. I didn’t even bother to turn it on – just removed and destroyed the hard drive and send the stuff on its way.
Now back to thinking about clearing out my own computer!
Decluttering the Stuff 
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