Clean up and keep it that way!

[Gt.350]

Hello all, I've been lurking here for a while but after finding the "what's on your wall" thread I'm addicted. You guys have fantastic ideas, that I'll be steeling. I spent all morning digging out my welder to do a 30 minute job. Enoughs enough!! I'm going to clean up and clean out! You guys have inspired me to do it and do it right. I'm not much for writing **** in forums, I just lurk till I find what I need, then I'm out. Sometimes I ask a question when I just can't find what I'm looking for but that's pretty rare, there's a lot out there and it seams like there really isn't much that hasn't been done, even when I think I've come up something original it's not long before I find pictures and write ups of what I planned on doing. So for me I've just never really had the urge to put much on these things until today. My garage is a mess, it needs organization, I want to and some tool or piece of equipment, and so on. So why start now, something I read here, when I wasn't just looking at pictures. A member suggest to someone else that they should start a "build" thread, or something like that, so that people could give him ideas and advice. But it wasn't until he mentioned that by posting regular updates would also help him stay on task and a kinda accountability type of thing as he would get encouragement and support from other members. That's what did it for me, so here goes. They say the first step to recovery is to admit you have a problem. I have trouble finishing things. I have trouble staying on task. I have multiple projects going and am more likely to start a new one than finish one. It probably wasn't necessary to give you all that blah blah. Time to start!

I will include picture when I figure it out.
Today I sat in the middle of my garage looking at a lot of stuff I don't need nothing put away and garbage on the floor. I thought about what I wanted and needed to do in the space and how to get there. I then took pictures of each elevation, picked up a note pad and started to sketch no measuring I pretty much know how big it is and no scale. I'm excited to get started and am anticipating how close the finish product will be to my first sketch and to see the be and after pictures. Well really just the after I'm actually very embarrassed to show the before but I think that will be step 2 of my x step process.

Phase I: move and get rid of stuff in bay 2 for staging purposes. Photos and more details will come in phase III.

Phase II: Empty bay 1 of everything, what ever it takes!!!
To be continued

 

[egnorant]

Welcome! Sounds like you have reached that point. Something just clicked, the fire was lit, whatever happened you realize that you want something better.

I was embarrassed and ashamed at the mess I started with, but I tried to throw it all out there to hold myself accountable. This is my mountain and I am gonna climb it sort of thing!

Have fun! Impress yourself!

Bruce

 

[Strouty]

Been there, well, wait, I am still there. Only been a few, well, several years. Welcome to the club.

We like pictures, lots of pictures!

 

[reader2580]

Be sure to ask yourself hard questions about if you really need to keep things.

I started about two months ago on a project to clean out my garage that I thought would take two weeks and isn't close to done. I ended up getting a hernia somehow and had hernia surgery 10 days ago so I can't lift over 20 pounds for about three more weeks. I hope to finish my garage cleaning in October before it gets cold here.

A big problem for me is figuring out how to get rid of some of the stuff without spending money to throw it away. I hate to throw things away that somebody could find a use for.

Good luck!

 

[Gt.350]

First draft for new layout
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=579923&stc=1&d=1472969310

 

[Gt.350]

Here are my before, well now pictures http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=579925&stc=1&d=1472970155
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=579925&stc=1&d=1472970327
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=579925&stc=1&d=1472970432

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=579925&stc=1&d=1472970516

 

[Gt.350]

I don't think I'm doing this right, as far as posting pictures but I got some on there.

 

[RWorth]

Just when I didn't think it was possible to have a messier garage than mine.

I ran out of room on my lot, so I'm in the process of putting a concrete slab and a 13x24 portable tent garage beside my shop to store all the big tools in as well as my CJ-7.

I'll Race ya

 

[sberry]

I am on my second major clean of the year. I move it off if I am not working on it and the place is empty now. Its the way iit was designred.

 

[Al Bundy]

I am on my second major clean of the year. I move it off if I am not working on it and the place is empty now. Its the way iit was designred.

Where does the door lead?

 

[sberry]

The overhead? Originally was going to build an elevator and that was the furniture entrance. Forklift reaches it.

 

[demeter008]

Hello all, I've been lurking here for a while but after finding the "what's on your wall" thread I'm addicted. You guys have fantastic ideas, that I'll be steeling. I spent all morning digging out my welder to do a 30 minute job. Enoughs enough!! I'm going to clean up and clean out! You guys have inspired me to do it and do it right. I'm not much for writing **** in forums, I just lurk till I find what I need, then I'm out. Sometimes I ask a question when I just can't find what I'm looking for but that's pretty rare, there's a lot out there and it seams like there really isn't much that hasn't been done, even when I think I've come up something original it's not long before I find pictures and write ups of what I planned on doing. So for me I've just never really had the urge to put much on these things until today. My garage is a mess, it needs organization, I want to and some tool or piece of equipment, and so on. So why start now, something I read here, when I wasn't just looking at pictures. A member suggest to someone else that they should start a "build" thread, or something like that, so that people could give him ideas and advice. But it wasn't until he mentioned that by posting regular updates would also help him stay on task and a kinda accountability type of thing as he would get encouragement and support from other members. That's what did it for me, so here goes. They say the first step to recovery is to admit you have a problem. I have trouble finishing things. I have trouble staying on task. I have multiple projects going and am more likely to start a new one than finish one. It probably wasn't necessary to give you all that blah blah. Time to start!

I will include picture when I figure it out.
Today I sat in the middle of my garage looking at a lot of stuff I don't need nothing put away and garbage on the floor. I thought about what I wanted and needed to do in the space and how to get there. I then took pictures of each elevation, picked up a note pad and started to sketch no measuring I pretty much know how big it is and no scale. I'm excited to get started and am anticipating how close the finish product will be to my first sketch and to see the be and after pictures. Well really just the after I'm actually very embarrassed to show the before but I think that will be step 2 of my x step process.

Phase I: move and get rid of stuff in bay 2 for staging purposes. Photos and more details will come in phase III.

Phase II: Empty bay 1 of everything, what ever it takes!!!
To be continued

A major issue for me is making sense of how to dispose of a portion of the stuff without burning through cash to discard it. I would rather not discard things that some person could discover an utilization for.

 

[sberry]

A major issue for me is making sense of how to dispose of a portion of the stuff without burning through cash to discard it. I would rather not discard things that some person could discover an utilization for.

Paying storage for junk in case someone else may want it is,,, well,,, . I have people want to give me their stuff too good to throw away, its got to have some potential or out it goes. I made space for stuff I want to keep but don't want in work area.

 

[ratdoggy]

My mantra....
It's hard to get organized....
It's easy to stay organized

 

[Boilerhouse]

A major issue for me is making sense of how to dispose of a portion of the stuff without burning through cash to discard it. I would rather not discard things that some person could discover an utilization for.

Unless something has considerable value, which I list on a Craiglist or equivalent, I like to donate to a charity and let them resell it to help fund their good works.

 

[sberry]

We compulsively pick and sweep after every chore and it still adds up. I spent a day just nit picking little stuff. I throw away a lot of cardboard and packaging. I saw a hoaeder show on TV, some had so much stuff and set out but one guy would have been somewhat manageable if he would have stripped out the boxes.
I looked at a shelf yesterday and figured out about 20% was useless boxes and I giving comfy storage to junk, was so easy to get some space back for free by getting rid of a couple boxes I will never use. We were contemplating building a couple more things but have come to the conclusion we really don't need it.

 

[sberry]

Unless something has considerable value, which I list on a Craiglist or equivalent, I like to donate to a charity and let them resell it to help fund their good works.

Most of that kind of stuff they really don't want either.

 

[Lee Celtic]

I'm really short on space.. I'm also like you as far as I need to get organised.. I spent a couple of months going through the big stuff and dumping lots of stuff at the local dump (4 trailer fulls, it's a small trailer) then got one wall sorted out where my workbench is..

next stage has started with again dumping the big stuff that was easy to see then started going through the small stuff.

It feels never ending but one of my kids came in and said "Wow Dad.. I can walk to the bench without stepping over stuff and you have a floor..!!"

I think progress has been made..

As with a lot of things the final steps will be the hardest but most rewarding.. I'm already finding having stuff to hand has made working on stuff easier and quicker. Keep up the good work.

 

[sberry]

Some of it is hard to sell. We got a couple spaces we created out of the way that is isn't painful to keep and we strip a lot of it out to use. I don't want to wade thru it in the shop, doesn't have a lot of cash value.

 

[kaymccampbell]

A major issue for me is making sense of how to dispose of a portion of the stuff without burning through cash to discard it. I would rather not discard things that some person could discover an utilization for.

Don't fall into this trap. It's where I was going. If you don't need it, won't ever use it, it's gone. I must have given away a 40 yard dumpster worth of good stuff and another of just stuff, because someday I might have a widget to use it up on. I also learned that selling your **** is a slow road to perdition. Plopping it on the sidewalk and offering it for free on CL with no contact info is the way to go. There are plenty of poor ***** out there with our affliction and less willpower, just begging to own our ****.

 

[Lee Celtic]

If I want it gone but think it's worth something then a week on ebay.. then a week on freecycle then off to the dump or weighed in for scrap depending on what it's made of..

be ruthless it pays off in the end.

 

[ScottsGT]

I got the same bug here about 3-4 years ago. Keep in mind though, small 3 car wide garage with two doors. One side is my workshop area. I had more tools stacked on shelves than I did in my old Snap On box. Went to HF, bought the 44 top and bottom and two sides and filled it up quickly. Started moving and throwing **** out and things were starting to look roomy. I could actually pull a second car back into the garage at this point.

Fast forward a year or so, my oldest son has his car totaled. So he bought it back to pull off all the high performance stuff. Read: complete drivetrain, suspension, etc... So now I have an engine on a stand, a trans on a trans jack, complete suspension scattered about, etc.... He has a very busy life and I'm not going to be that Dad my friends had growing up that shut their kids off when they moved out. One day we'll get that blower on his replacement car along with everything else in the garage.

A messy garage is a lifestyle I guess. It keeps finding you, no matter how hard you run from it.

 

[Gt.350]

Thanks all for the words of wisdom! One of the things that I'm working on over coming is that I hard a life changing injury a couple years ago. Now, I'm where I'm going to be, so this is my new normal. I know some of the stuff I planned on doing something with will probably never happen and needs to go. Another thing I picked up here as well as in life is that putting in some extra effort and making something nice that you can be proud of is easier to keep up. It's like the difference (for some of us) between a car that's you've had for a while that's got a few bumps and bruises worn out interior and so on is more likely that you'd eat in it and not sweat a spill and that the packaging gets left behind. But take that same car strip it down to the frame and put your blood sweat and tears as well as cash restoring it and now there are rules in it, no eating, water only, dust of your feet before you get in and so on. Now that car is always clean garaged every night with a cover on it. So that's the plan, restore my shop! Along with keeping it real as to what really needs to be kept, and taking it to the point that I'd be proud to post pictures of instead of embarrassed. It will still be a daily driver not a trailer queen. Oh one more thing, the pictures were after pulling a car out and digging in to get the welder out

 

[Gt.350]

I've liked some and haven't found what I was looking for but I'm sure it's here so if someone could point me in the right direction please. I want a painted ( real epoxy) floor that can stand up to working on. Creepers, engine stands and other steel wheeled items chemical spills and such. I need product suggestions and application tips.
Thanks

 

[larry_g]

As for posting pictures:

For me I find it easiest to up load pictures to an album on this site. You do that under the users CP tab. Then you just put the BB code into your post and it comes in great and doesn't get lost when Photobucket or some other hosting site goes south.

If you click on my user name, and then public profile you can see my albums.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[larry_g]

My mantra....
It's hard to get organized....
It's easy to stay organized

My Mantra;

When in doubt Throw it out

lg
no neat sig line

 

[Sine Swept]

Goes along with this one. When someone offers you something, take it and sort it out when you get home.

 

[ScottsGT]

There's a great section here dedicated to flooring.

 

[egnorant]

You want Mantras!!

Start, Do it, Finish! This is a tough one but you just keep doing this until you keep doing this!

If you pick it up, put it down where it belongs. While cleaning the shop I knew a lot of stuff would end up in a different place. For a while, a tub of screwdrivers or 12 volt electrical stuff is where it belongs.

An hour of doing beats a week of planning.

What's on TV? NOTHING...it's boring, go do something in the shop!!

Do something every day! You may just walk through and decide you need a roll of yellow electrical tape and put it on your list...it is something! You will often find that projects just appear and need 10 minutes.

Bruce

 

[Gt.350]

Thanks, I've spent a couple hours going through it I didn't find quite what I was looking for so thought I'd ask and get back to work in the shop

 

[RWorth]

Don't fall into this trap. It's where I was going. If you don't need it, won't ever use it, it's gone. I must have given away a 40 yard dumpster worth of good stuff and another of just stuff, because someday I might have a widget to use it up on. I also learned that selling your **** is a slow road to perdition. Plopping it on the sidewalk and offering it for free on CL with no contact info is the way to go. There are plenty of poor ***** out there with our affliction and less willpower, just begging to own our ****.

You hit it on the head. For me the space is more valuable than the junk. I sold a '46 Ford pick-up last year that was in pieces in my shop, the guy that bought it had a worse addiction than mine, He came with an f-350 and a 24' closed trailer, we filled them both. Right now I have a 30 yard dumpster in my driveway and items I think will go quickly I leave at the end of the driveway. Most of the items disappear while I'm walking back to the shop.

 

[Lee Celtic]

I was going to buy a couple of vices to rebuild but caught myself just in time.. I made a pact with myself that there would be NO NEW PROJECTS.. until the Bunker is finished.. it's going to be hard but it must be done..

Apart from the two petrol powered Briggs and Stratton jet washers a mate gave me.. I let them in but will not be touching them.. Honest.. Awe come on they were free.. lol

 

[Strouty]

Taking on new projects has always been an issue for me. I am now starting to see that I have had a good part of my life pass by dealing with projects, parts, storage, moving, acquiring, researching, dreaming, and I am sure there is more. Most of these projects have been stagnant for years, they are essentially a buffer to keep my mind off things that are truly important in my life.

Also if you have a few days, check out my thread, click the link in my signature. Be prepared to think a little less of me (LOL).

 

[Know Wosad]

I am on my second major clean of the year. I move it off if I am not working on it and the place is empty now. Its the way iit was designred.

Looks good. I do that once a month or so.I got no time to stumble over unimportant ****.

 

[sberry]

I had a couple guys stop thre other day, one said whats going on? said, had a job in earlier, it was done, no point in storing it, we cleaned and picked up and were done for the day. Another asked the same thing and in this shop it doesn't look busy with a couple guys working on a golf cart or 2. M oved a couple stalled piles earlier this week, just got tired of looking at them and can get it back in 5 minutes, it don't got to stay in the way.

 

[BMW Rider]

The weather is a bit cooler today, so I'm going to spend some time clearing junk from the attic. I too have been getting more ruthless with organizing my shop and disposing of unnecessary clutter.

 

[Gt.350]

I've been plugging away as I can and have made some progress. I'm pretty slow. Gave some tools to a neighbor and it felt great to know he would put it to use and I let go of something. I found out that a friend is having a yard sale this weekend so I'm loading up my trailer and for the most part if it doesn't sell it will go to charity or the dump but it's not coming back here. I have to be careful, I can spend many hours looking at great stuff on this sight and tell myself that it's all ok you're just doing research for the garage so it still counts. I better get back at it. It's nice that the yard sale gives me a dead line

 

[egnorant]

We all are slower than it appears here. I spent 2 years just knocking back the frontier so I could get to the shop. My first post was after a summer of clearing stuff late at night. I had a few pics from before I got electricity and it was 3 months before I had lights that were on a switch! And that was 4 years ago!

It can be intimidating sometimes reading others threads. I got on one and while I typed a reply, he put up an entire building and made 3 scrap metal runs!

My one thing today turned into 3 things and I am happy with it!

Bruce

 

[Gt.350]

It was my intention earlier to put everything on hold until my garage is exactly what I want. While working on it tonight I disided that there is at least one project I should finish. It will help keep me from rushing through my shop restoration and consolidate some stuff. So now it's clean up put everything away, get rid of a lot, finish building the 4.0 stroker for my jeep. I hope I'm not just making excuses to myself, but one engine in the stand takes up a lot less room than 2-1/2 engines disassembled. I'm glad to hear some of you are slow as well

 

[RWorth]

It was my intention earlier to put everything on hold until my garage is exactly what I want. While working on it tonight I disided that there is at least one project I should finish. It will help keep me from rushing through my shop restoration and consolidate some stuff. So now it's clean up put everything away, get rid of a lot, finish building the 4.0 stroker for my jeep. I hope I'm not just making excuses to myself, but one engine in the stand takes up a lot less room than 2-1/2 engines disassembled. I'm glad to hear some of you are slow as well

The 4.0 is my second project after the '65 F-175 build. But mine is a 258 and I'm thinking of doing a Clifford build with dual Weber 38 setup. I'm still driving the CJ so no engine parts in the way yet.

As for being slow, I bought a body for my '65 3 years ago, and only had it in the shop briefly a year or so ago and life got in the way again. Working on getting it in soon now.