This little tidbit applies to basically every facet of your life.   What do you really need?  Of course, the answer is very simple.  Food, water, and shelter.  These are the 3 very basic things a person needs to survive.  When I say survive, I mean literally not dying.  This is not living, its just not dying.   The key to "living" is the first 3 a written above, and add two more: companionship and MONEY.   Money can provide you with all the material things that you need to survive, and companionship can give you your sense of love, purpose, socialization, offspring, etc. 

------Switching gears a bit.-------

 A few months ago I got a call from a lady, asked if we bought appliance parts.  She proceeded to explain that her husband was a repairman, and that his van was full of parts, as well as the basement.  I jumped in my car and got over there.   

Literally, hundreds upon hundreds of timers.  If I had to guess Id say roughly 4-500.  JUST TIMERS.  There was a huge variety of stuff.  Enough to fill up a 16 ft box truck 3/4 of the way, waist high, and still didn't touch the van.  If I had to take a wild guess, this guy had at least $50k in inventory.  Just for the record, all of my numbers are wholesale (his cost) numbers unless otherwise noted.   All of this shit was more or less stacked, kind of organized in a chaotic sort of way.  Bottom line is that I was 100% sure that that guy lost track at some point and had no real idea of what he had.  

This is the problem.  The guy had a basement full of parts that he paid cash for, and was now being sold for $300.   Not a good ROI.  Not one of those parts was newer than 20 years.  All that shit just sitting there getting eaten up by mice.  Imagine if he would have invested all that cash in the stock market, or a mutual fund.  How much is $50,000 in 1970's money worth today?  

His wife had to sell the house, as she couldn't afford to stay there.  The guy worked until he died.  Never saved for retirement.  Now here she is moving in to a 1 bedroom apartment. 

To all you technicians: What is the point of hoarding parts in you basement? if its not in your van, your got to go back anyway.  No FCC.  Most appliance parts stores can get you your part in a day or 2.  I can completely understand the fast moving parts, like the 341241 dryer belt, ignitors, etc.  I usually buy in bulk if there is a deal to be had.  Last year I was able to buy 20 of those common ge boards for around $80 each.  Things like that are perfectly ok.  Timers, on the other hand, not so much.  Most will only cover 1 or 2 models, and they rarely go bad to begin with.  I do not stock a single timer, anywhere.  

The bottom line is this.  You can do a lot better things with your money than investing it in a depreciating asset that is appliance parts.  If its not in your car, you might as well let servall hold that depreciating bag.  They also have more space than you and can do a lot better job of keeping inventory.   You don't need a huge parts hoard to survive.  In fact, its just bad business. 

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I used to own a lot of things.  At one point I had 5 cars, a basement full of parts, and other stuff, a garage that was almost impassable.  Even my closet was full of clothes that I never wore.  All of these things exist in your mind just as much as they exist in real life, in the sense that if your garage is cluttered, your mind is as well.   One of the most dramatic changes in my life was the day I emptied my garage.  Just threw it all away.  I kept my tool box, lawn mower, and about 3 other boxes of "stuff".   Throwing all that stuff away made me feel sick. Sick like when you know you are throwing valuable things away.  That kind of sick.  Now the stuff is gone and my mind is clear.  I feel better. 

"What if I threw away something that you needed?" , Good question.  Ill just buy it again.  

Instead of having 5 shitty cars, I have one that is "good", and one that is "great", both Mercedes.  I had 5 cheap suits.  Now I have one tailored suit.  

Think about how much junk you have laying around in or around your house.  Pretend you die tomorrow.  Your wife/son/daughter is going to deal with your mess.  They don't know that control board is NLA and worth $550.  They are going to sell it to me for $5.  Or worse ,throw it away.   Further, you are burdening them with the responsibility of dealing with something you should have dealt with a long time ago. 

As an estate liquidator I can tell you this.  Im coming in your house, and with one sweeping motion I will empty your entire china cabinet in to a garbage bag. I will continue to do that until your house is empty, at which point I submit your children a bill for the cleanup.   Your children don't want your stuff.  They have their own lives, their own stuff.   Get rid of your junk and leave your kids a bank account full of money instead.