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Rat holing old stuff
#1
Rat holing old stuff
You know what I mean. You've been on some kind of CPAP therapy for more than a few years .....

Maybe you're the person that throws out the old hose the day the UPS chick drops your new one at the front door.

But if not, you have a collection of tubes, masks, mask cushions, water tanks, headgear webbing ... Piles of this stuff, right? Some of this stuff you haven't used in the last five years. You saved it "just in case I need a spare some day". At some point, you look around and say "what the heck am I doing with eight - yes 8! - climate line hoses? four versions of the same mask frame? seven sets of headgear webbing" .... Do you reach a point where you, like Joel Goodsen in Risky Business, just says "what the ....?!?", grab a garbage bag and toss it all out? Or do you just keep adding to the pile? Or are you OCD enough to catalog each piece and rotate it out - "I only need five of those climate line tubes so when I get a new one, the oldest one, the one in the last slot, goes out?

What about supplies you rat holed because you got new ones on schedule from a DME but never used them because the old one was still working? I personally have like seven unopened standard 22 mm tubes around here because I switched over to slimline or climate line and had no use for them. I did recently throw out the silicone gel forehead pads I had accumulated for my old Respironics comfort classic mask that finally went away like four years ago.

Just wondering if I am alone in this.

BTW, I smoosh the slivers of the old soap bars into the new bar, too.

OMMOHY
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#2
RE: Rat holing old stuff
Sounds awfully familiar to me!!!

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#3
RE: Rat holing old stuff
on my way there...
هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه  هههههه
Tongue Suck Technique for prevention of mouth breathing:
  • Place your tongue behind your front teeth on the roof of your mouth
  • let your tongue fill the space between the upper molars
  • gently suck to form a light vacuum

Practising during the day can help you to keep it at night

هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه  هههههه
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#4
RE: Rat holing old stuff
Must be a regional thing. Here in the South, we call it "Pack rat". And I am one big time. I've had to rein in on my CPAP supplies though just due to sanitation purposes.

If it is unopened, I keep it forever. Hoses aren't built as good as they used to and I find my stash has come in handy. If I travel, I toss a spare unopened hose into the suitcase.

Filters take up so little room, I don't care how many I have.

Pillows, well, if it belongs to a mask I am currently using, I keep it. About once a year I go through the box and toss the rest. My DME ships stuff to me in this real sturdy box and that's what I use. I have 3 that I store stuff in. If a pillow is loose, as in not in a package, I toss it. Back to that sanitation thing. We have awful awful dust in this house. Y'all have seen photos of my CPAP filters. Silicone collects dust and gets sticky if left to breed.

With opened hoses, especially Climateline, I cycle through them. I take it off, clean it well, and hang it up side down round the top of a sturdy plastic handle. When I get a new hose, I do the same thing. I have a new hose, and two old ones. On the next new one, I toss the oldest. Sliimline I'm not keeping as long. They're so crappily made anymore. I'm just keeping one, sometimes two if I get one that feels like it is from the old stock and well made.

I cleaned off my dresser (a long 6' monster that I hate) and found pillows from my Breeze that I haven't used in, wow, years. They were opened so I tossed them. I also found a Swift LT (rather, the remnants of one) and a pile of unopened filters.
PaulaO

Take a deep breath and count to zen.




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#5
RE: Rat holing old stuff
I've only been at this 6 months and haven't accumulated much yet, but I am a hoarder and I find myself making room in a dresser drawer for "old" supplies!
I already have two unopened P10 masks and one PilaroQ mask never used. A pile of filters, several nasal pillows, four hoses. What will I have in six more months?
Oh-jeez


OpalRose
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#6
RE: Rat holing old stuff
I have an amazing, fool proof way of dealing with my pillows masks. I have a plastic bucket -- or jug--- or bowl, whatever the heck it is, that has a lid. In it I keep all my pillows masks. Must be 30 or 40 by now........ When I use a pillows set, and decide it's time to get a fresh one, I wash the one I had in nice soapy water, let it dry, then put it into the bucket, taking a different one out of the bucket while I'm at it. Once in awhile I like to "stir" the bucket to keep things evenly mixed up. But lately I'm not sure there's room to do that. When I get some new pillows? Yep, into the bucket.

I don't keep all the other stuff around though. I probably only have 5 sets of head gear "just in case" and a half dozen or so hoses "just in case."

..and one spare S9 autoset.

...... guess I'd better see about getting a spare for that spare machine.
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#7
RE: Rat holing old stuff
Wow! I get to claim only $300 of supplies every 12 months. Everything else is out of pocket. If anyone has an unused extra P10 set that needs a good home, PM me. They are going for $250 from the DME here.
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#8
RE: Rat holing old stuff
I feel fortunate that my hoarding brother didn't know he could get supplies more often. Anyway, this is a good reminder that I have to plan a space for my supplies. I'm thinking that I can adapt one of those hanging organizing bags in the closet since I won't be dealing with a full face mask. I have zero drawer space yet (cluttering is an ongoing event).
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#9
RE: Rat holing old stuff
Along with my CPAP museum, I have one storage tub with many supplies and another file cabinet drawer full, so you could say I'm a packrat, (Ha-Ha.)
About smooshing the old soap with the new, I do that, too, no need in having little slivers laying around, (ha-Ha.)
trish6hundred
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#10
RE: Rat holing old stuff
(05-14-2015, 01:57 PM)Mosquitobait Wrote: I feel fortunate that my hoarding brother didn't know he could get supplies more often. Anyway, this is a good reminder that I have to plan a space for my supplies. I'm thinking that I can adapt one of those hanging organizing bags in the closet since I won't be dealing with a full face mask. I have zero drawer space yet (cluttering is an ongoing event).

For new supplies like masks or tubes or cushions, they come in a factory bag that has a hole at the top for hanging on a peg board display. I just use a coat hanger and slip the hook wire through the hole and hang it up on the closet rod.

OMMOHY
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