How much stuff to keep really?

[reader2580]

Most of the garage disorganization came from moving last fall. I moved in on Nov 15th and we had a ton of snow really early last fall. It was too cold and snowy last year to do anything. I've been busy this summer re-siding the garage and trying to get the yard into shape.

I tried to find the photos of my nice clean organized garage at my last house, but I can't find them right now. What I did at my last house to clean and organize my garage was to rent a storage container for a month. I tried to just take everything out of the garage and to organize it all in one day, but it never worked. There was never enough time in a day and everything got shoved back in at the end of the day.

I am going out to clean some of the junk out of the garage right now.

 

[BDT/NWMN]

Most of the garage disorganization came from moving last fall. I moved in on Nov 15th and we had a ton of snow really early last fall. It was too cold and snowy last year to do anything. I've been busy this summer re-siding the garage and trying to get the yard into shape.

I tried to find the photos of my nice clean organized garage at my last house, but I can't find them right now. What I did at my last house to clean and organize my garage was to rent a storage container for a month. I tried to just take everything out of the garage and to organize it all in one day, but it never worked. There was never enough time in a day and everything got shoved back in at the end of the day.

I am going out to clean some of the junk out of the garage right now.

""Everything got shoved back in at the end of the day""... This is what I have termed "flutterbugging" , which is a ceremony of dragging things back and forth with little gain.. It is better to determine one or two things that should be discarded, and drag them towards the door, if not pulled outside and loaded for an exodus. Just don't do like one Gal that I know; and drag two things home for every one that is discarded.. She would make both of our places look like wide, open prairie.

 

[ez-duzit]

There appears to be plenty of room in the garage for stuff. Your shelving is really poorly utilized. Look at all the open space on the shelves. You've also laid out the shelving so you have access to both sides of the shelves. This effectively doubles the amount of floor space which you need to keep clear to access the shelves. Put them flat against the walls. This allows the space which is kept open in front of the shelves to not only be used to access stuff on the shelves but also to be used for moving around the garage. Figure out a way to store the large long stuff against the ceiling. Get the demolition debris out of the garage. It is debris not precious stuff to be sheltered from the elements.

This. Good post.

Also you might build shallow shelves (6"-12"), spaced close together (10"-12"), against one wall, for small stuff.

 

[Strouty]

BDT, I like that term "flutterbugging". I am a flutterbugger for sure, it is painful knowing that you are moving the stuff only to have to move it back, sometimes more disorganized than it originally was.

 

[Kevin54]

You can't put 10 pounds of **** in a five pound sack.
You must strive to reach equilibrium, where the stuff fits the space in a way that you can use it.

Most people on this forum increase the space to meet the needs of the stuff, sometimes over and over.

Bigger sack or less ****, or both.

Bill

Bill, Bill, Bill.......I've seen how many handsaws that you have

On a serious note though, if you haven't used it in 10 years time......shitcan it. If you can't remember that you even had that item.....shitcan it. If something jumps up and bites you, kill it with fire and shitcan that whole area.

Look at it this way.....there are many others out there that MAY be able to use what you don't need. Have a garage sale, or donate some of the stuff to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore so that others may be able to use it.

The worst thing that most people does is attach a monetary value to things, and when they do, then they find it very hard to dispose of. Just because you paid $15 for something 20 years ago, does not mean that it is still worth $15 today. Or if you received something worth $50 for free, don't look at it like it's still worth $50.

Over the years, I have received quite a bit, but I have also gave away a lot of things. Karma has a way of balancing things out too. So don't be afraid of giving some items away to someone who can make use of them that you didn't even remember you had. I purge every once in a while on things that I know I won't use. Just the other day, I gave my neighbor a brand new RotoZip in a case because I already had another, and my dad didn't know and bought me one. I've been trying to give away a Craftsman Reciprocating saw to someone that didn't own a reciprocating saw, but no luck since everyone I know owns one. And I sure don't need duplicates of everything. I already own a Milwaukee Sawzall. I gave away a 1/2" drill because I own a Dewalt cordless, and also have a B&D 1/2" drill. I got them for free, so they go away for free.

So if you can't get around where you are, and have 2 tons worth of stuff you didn't even know you had, it's time to purge and help some others out, or have that once a year Garage Sale to unload some things. Use the money you make to buy a new, much needed tool

 

[Koolmoose]

One way to answer the question is to simply kick the bucket for a day.. Come back as a new customer to your own estate sale, and put a slip of paper on the things you want to buy, and the price you would be willing to pay... Take note of the mess.. Aren't you glad your garage doesn't look like that?

The psychology of this thinking is GREAT!!!! I'm going to try this. Thanks, Steve

 

[bczygan]

I have so much stuff my garage is stuffed to the gills. I have a walkout basement and it is half full of boxes on the floor. My car recently sustained $3200 in hail damage because it doesn't fit in the garage right now. I moved last fall and I probably got rid of 20% of what was in my garage before I moved. I didn't have a lot in the previous basement because it was fully finished although I had an 8x10 storage room with a big set of shelves.

How do you decide what to get rid of? I have bins and bins of stuff in the garage, but when I look in them I decide I can't live without the stuff even though a lot of it hasn't been touched in 10 years or more. I have a lot of parts for my converted bus that take up a lot of space. I have two or three sets of seats for my bus. I have gone seven years without needing a seat part, Maybe I need to go down to one seat. (Seat parts are not available unless I find a very rare scrap model of my bus. Maybe a handful of scrap ones in the USA.)

My new garage has 30% more floor space than my old garage, but it feels like I have less room since the old garage was almost two feet taller. I had a 48" deep shelve hanging from the ceiling along the 24 foot wide back of the garage. All the larger spare parts were up there. Not enough height to do that is my new garage. I now have a riding mower I didn't have before with a snow blower attachment too. I still have my push mower and regular snow blower in addition.

My big garage is still five years out at least. I don't want it to just fill with stuff too. I want to go through my garage before it gets too cold, but I need to finish siding the garage first.

As far as shelving I have three sets of the pallet rack type shelves in the garage already. I also have a 4 foot by 4 foot set of shelves that is not yet assembled. The front set of shelves isn't very full yet and all my oil and other chemicals like weed killer is supposed to go there.

I don't think there is anything of sentimental value. It is just stuff. When I see the stuff every few years I think I will still need that in the future, but then I never remember that I have it. Some of it is specialized tools I bought for a single use that I will probably never use again, but I can't bear to throw it out. Most of the specialized tools are cheap $10 tools that aren't worth selling.

The bus seats are not like car seats. There is really no good way to separate the backs from the entire seat assembly. If I just keep one seat that would help save space. The seats used to be up on my high shelf out of the way, but no room for a shelf like that in this garage.

I attached some pictures of the garage as it is today. There is a pile of demolition debris in the center that needs to go in my trailer for disposal. I can't haul the debris away until I am done siding the garage. Yes, the riding mower can be driven right out of the garage. I was just using it today.

The only demo debris in the garage is the Bildrite. The rest of the demo debris is outside. I didn't want the Bildrite getting wet. The Bildrite will hopefully be out of the garage tomorrow as I am going to load it in my trailer for the dump. I still have a few things in the garage that need to go the Restore.

Moving the shelves against the walls is a good suggestion. The two back shelves are pretty much 100% full. The front set of shelves is not full as I was planning to put oil and chemicals on that shelf. I have a metal cabinet and that might be better for the oil and chemicals.

Just about any long stuff has already been put up near the ceiling. The long white stuff on the floor is new soffit and fascia for the garage.

The "stuff" I need to go through and throw half of it out.

My garage is not even remotely close to being on the Hoarders TV show.

I have so many totes now they are coming out of my ears. Over 2/3s of the stuff on the back two sets of shelves are totes. I even have empty totes from moving. (I got some Rubbermaid totes cheap.) The problem with totes is they are hard to find anything in. The stuff disappears down to the bottom. I think part of my problem is having so many totes that I can't see the stuff in them so I never see the stuff to get rid of it. I would like clear totes, but they break so easily.

I don't need more storage. I just need to start getting rid of stuff. Getting rid of stuff is hard to do because you always think you'll need it some day.

I don't think I could get the bus seats up in the attic due to the trusses getting in the way. I'll have to take another look. The Sonotube has stuff in it. I'm 95% sure it would never fit up in the attic.

Most of the garage disorganization came from moving last fall. I moved in on Nov 15th and we had a ton of snow really early last fall. It was too cold and snowy last year to do anything. I've been busy this summer re-siding the garage and trying to get the yard into shape.

I tried to find the photos of my nice clean organized garage at my last house, but I can't find them right now. What I did at my last house to clean and organize my garage was to rent a storage container for a month. I tried to just take everything out of the garage and to organize it all in one day, but it never worked. There was never enough time in a day and everything got shoved back in at the end of the day.

I am going out to clean some of the junk out of the garage right now.

After reading all your posts, I realize that you know what you have to do.

We each have our own ways of living with the stuff of our everyday lives.

We run the gamut, from "Cleanies" to "Hoarders", and everything in between.

You must find what works for you.

Based on your life, and what you do, you will find a balance that works for you.

A combination of organization and sorting and better storage methods and even additional storage areas, will solve your problems and give you what you want.

There are plenty of ideas and threads on GJ for you to look at.

It will take a while.

If it were me, I would sit down and make a master plan.

Then start sorting through things.

Make piles sorted by where things will go.

Work on it daily, taking the days sorted piles to their destinations each evening.

Make a pile for maybe items.

Go through that pile again and again, looking for things you can discard.

Make a for sale pile.

Make a gift or donate pile.

Make a needs fixing pile. Then go through it again, deciding if you will ever get to fixing these things.

Bins can be a trap. Instead of lots of bins, get lots of trash cans and place them everywhere, to make tossing things easier.

Bill

 

[theoldwizard1]

I have a lot of "stuff" in my 2 car garage (no cars of course). A pop-up camper that has not been used in 5-7 years takes half of it. Typical yard equipment, a work bench and my tool chests.

I also have a good collection of 1by pine (not sure how I acquire it all), TONS of low voltage wire (different gauges and colors) lots of electrical connectors (various sizes of rings, splices, fastons, etc), lots and lots of shrink tube (multiple sizes, mostly black, but some colors), 2 floor jacks, 6 jack stands, large assortment of nuts, washers, lock washer and machine/sheet metal screws, oil, filters, ATF, anti-freeze (3 different kinds), fertilizer, garden chemicals, 3 pump sprayers, 4 - 6 gallon VP Racing jugs (best large "gas can" you can buy today) and on and on and on ...

I tell everyone that needs something, if it is a "consumable" (wood, wire, chemicals, etc) I do NOT want it replaced ! Of course having 2 grown kids with houses keeps me replenishing things and buying more, just "in case".

 

[Kellyblues]

Being most of my dad's side of the family including him when through the great depression I inherited the " don't throw that away,it can be used for something else" mindset. With that being said I have made some guidelines for myself to follow so I'm not over run with **** me or anyone else is ever going to need.

How long have I had it? If its something I've had and haven't used in 5-10 years it gets shitcanned most of the time. Some small things I may hold onto. I was a hand builder at Firestone industrial products 20 something years ago and have had a few of the rubber die springs I made in a box . 3 of them are under my new compressor providing a nice cushion to rest uppon. If I come across something I haven't seen in years and had forgotten about I shitcann it most of the time.

Potential for usefulness. Hardware never gets tossed. I've bought loads of hardware at auctions and has saved me tons of $.

What's it worth vs how much it may help me or be needed? Again I'm an auction junkie and sometimes I find **** I didn't know I had and sometimes it's worth a few bucks. If I'm likely not going to use it or its not something I collect it gets sold.

About me and auctions. Most of the time I will find something or a couple things at an auction that I can sell to cover what I spend at the auction. I have a really good track record with that. Last year I had to make two trips to get everything home, sold 3 things that covered all of the cost for the day and kept everything else.

It really boils down to potential usefulness. I have 3 spare 120 to 480 three phase VFD drives. 2 allen Bradley 160's and one GPD 205. Those aren't going anywhere .

 

[Strouty]

Another thought is to put everything on wheels, then you can move stuff around easy and make space when you need it.

 

[reader2580]

I spent a couple of hours out in the garage today and made a good dent at things. All of the demo debris has been loaded into my enclosed trailer for trip to dump. The shelves got moved to the side of the garage. I don't know why I ever set them up like a warehouse to start with. It opened up a lot of space. I need to get some help over to help me move some other things. I also loaded up some stuff in my van that will go to the Restore this week.

There is a lot of stuff that I can't figure out why the flip I ever kept it in the first place. I realized I only have two bus seats and not three. One is not in good shape so it gets thrown out. I should have gotten rid of way more stuff when I moved. I decided to move right around Christmas 2013. I only had about six weeks to get the house ready for sale and it was too cold to do much in the garage. It was one of the snowiest winters in a long time so that didn't help either. I had five weeks after the sale to move which wasn't enough time to throw out too much although I got rid of about 20% of the stuff in my garage.

I am not going to keep updating this thread because I don't want it to end up like Strouty's thread. My big priority right now is to finish the residing of the garage and then work on the garage organization if there is time before the snow flies.

 

[reader2580]

""Everything got shoved back in at the end of the day""... This is what I have termed "flutterbugging" , which is a ceremony of dragging things back and forth with little gain.. It is better to determine one or two things that should be discarded, and drag them towards the door, if not pulled outside and loaded for an exodus. Just don't do like one Gal that I know; and drag two things home for every one that is discarded.. She would make both of our places look like wide, open prairie.

This is exactly why I ended up renting a storage container for a month a few years back and put half the contents of my garage in the storage container. With my garage having a lot of empty space I was able to reorganize things and get rid of some stuff. After the 30 days I was able to park my car in the garage for the first time in a long time.

 

[Strouty]

I am not going to keep updating this thread because I don't want it to end up like Strouty's thread. My big priority right now is to finish the residing of the garage and then work on the garage organization if there is time before the snow flies.

 

[taumac]

Sounds like you have a reputation that follows you. I didn't get it either but let's start a thread, ask questions and opinions and then decide not to keep it running?

 

[reader2580]

Sounds like you have a reputation that follows you. I didn't get it either but let's start a thread, ask questions and opinions and then decide not to keep it running?

Strouty started a thread about needing to organize his shop/garage. The thread eventually evolved into Strouty posting updates more about his daily happenings. The thread now has 1,373 posts as of a few minutes ago.

I don't want to post every single day what I did to organize my garage that day. I got good answers from some of the posters about moving the shelves to the side of the garage and I already moved the shelves per their suggestions. A bunch of other people gave their opinions/suggestions on how to get rid of stuff even if some of them are a bit impractical. (I can't really put a tent up in my yard and get rid of anything I don't touch in a year.)

I don't think you want a daily post about about how I got rid of one or two items that day, or I moved certain things around that day. I will certainly try to remember to update the thread once I am done with new picture of a better organized garage.

 

[oilslick]

This garage reminds me of a guy I was introduced to that had a 70 z28 w/302 and 4spd sitting there piled up with **** and cats living in it. He tells me he cannot sell it because his wife would kill him its so special to him. It was rust from bottom to top and **** up in the middle. The garage was littered with all kinds of odds and ends he was saving that it was very evident he was never going to use. Anyway, I felt bad that he believed in his mind that was stuff he didn't want to part with. He was offered a fair price by a buddy of mine for the car and he said no way. Eventually it will be scrapped by someone who cleans up the mess and I hope they at least get the driveline back on the street. Good luck with your stuff, its hard to part with **** sometimes but I haven't regretted throwing away much!

 

[Strouty]

Reader, you say that like it is a bad thing?

 

[reader2580]

Reader, you say that like it is a bad thing?

Not saying that at all. It is your thread so you can do what you wish with it. A thread of my daily/weekly happenings would be pretty damn boring.

I don't really do anything my garage so I don't think readers want to hear about what I do in my garage. I work in IT so I don't do a job that requires tools for my living. My tool collection is pretty meager compared to what most here have.

 

[willymakeit]

Im cleaning my stuff out as we speak. 20 yrs worth of bringing leftover hardware ect. home. Feels good to finally get rid of it. Unless there was an immediate use for it ,it was gone.

 

[reader2580]

This garage reminds me of a guy I was introduced to that had a 70 z28 w/302 and 4spd sitting there piled up with **** and cats living in it. He tells me he cannot sell it because his wife would kill him its so special to him. It was rust from bottom to top and **** up in the middle. The garage

I don't have anything that is really old or really rusty in my garage. I own two vehicles and they are both running and in good shape. All of my power equipment runs and isn't junk.

I don't really have any sentimental attachment to anything I own. I just have stuff like a bad extension cord that needs to go to the scrapper. I have identified a whole bunch of stuff to get rid of. I have things like a heavy duty crimper that I might not use again for years, but it would cost several hundred to replace if I needed it again. I have accessories for my motorhome that need to get installed or get rid of.

 

[bczygan]

I don't have anything that is really old or really rusty in my garage. I own two vehicles and they are both running and in good shape. All of my power equipment runs and isn't junk.

I don't really have any sentimental attachment to anything I own. I just have stuff like a bad extension cord that needs to go to the scrapper. I have identified a whole bunch of stuff to get rid of. I have things like a heavy duty crimper that I might not use again for years, but it would cost several hundred to replace if I needed it again. I have accessories for my motorhome that need to get installed or get rid of.

Actually, your thread is a needed and refreshing one.

Instead of a garage overflowing with tools, you have a normal American suburban garage.

It IS interesting to see how it changes when someone moves and has to deal with too much accumulated stuff. The process is interesting for others who will go through it.

We've given you ideas, now we need feedback.

So keep posting, and for heavens sake, we need more photos!

Bill

 

[egnorant]

As a guy who is dealing with 45 years of family accumulation I know it can be painful and slow to get things cleaned up and organized. I have days where I cannot seem to toss an empty toilet paper roll and others days that end with a fire and a big smile.

Once the stuff is gone, I don't worry about it and can move on. Feels great!

Bruce

 

[bczygan]

As a guy who is dealing with 45 years of family accumulation I know it can be painful and slow to get things cleaned up and organized. I have days where I cannot seem to toss an empty toilet paper roll and others days that end with a fire and a big smile.

Once the stuff is gone, I don't worry about it and can move on. Feels great!

Bruce

There seems to be a switch in my head too.

Some days the switch is on, and I can toss things with abandon.

Other days I can't toss that toilet paper roll either.

One thing to do, is to start consciously developing habits.

Things that you regularly do, become ingrained. You then don't have to make decisions because your actions are automatic.

I've placed trash cans everywhere, and developed a habit, that if I see one full, I immediately empty it.

Another habit is to keep all mail outside, and sort it there. All the junk mail goes into the garbage, rather than going in the house.

I feel loss when I toss things, even things I haven't used for a long time, or ever.

It is easier to avoid the stress of making decisions about what to keep and what to toss. Much more comfortable to just keep it all, but too much stuff restricts your ability to live. And you can't use the stuff you have.

The solution is to face and deal with all your stuff and pare it down, and organize what you keep, so it is all usable and then actually used.

I don't place a 1 year limit on things, but I do ask if I reasonably think I will ever get around to using an item.

And everything must have a place where it can be kept and used, not just stored away in anonymous bins.

The solution is a combination of better storage, making the difficult decisions about what to keep and how to part with the remainder.

But the real solution lies with dealing with your stuff on a regular and continuing basis. Active involvement, means you need it and can keep it.

Bill

 

[metalmagpie]

One thing I do that helps is to take a picture of something and put it on a list of "machines I used to own" and then let it go. I can still "revisit it" in pictures and I can still remember it when I look down my list of stuff I used to own. But it helps me let stuff go.

The problem is all in your mind. The other problem is that it's hard to think your way out of a problem in your mind when your mind is the thing with the problem. If you get my drift.

There are really good books on clutter control. I was given one by a compassionate boss (boy did it piss me off at the time!) simply called "Clutter Control". Reading books like that can get you motivated.

Another thing that helped me was adding drawer storage. I recently finished a workbench which has 56 drawers underneath it, each 21x20x3". A lot of stuff was lying around because it didn't have a place. You can put a **** ton of stuff into 56 drawers. Made my shop a lot less cluttered feeling.

metalmagpie

 

[ilovevocs]

Start small. Throw away a few things every day. Don't overwhelm yourself by trying to tackle it all at once. Then once you get through it stay on top of it. It has taken me years to learn to be disciplined about throwing away things. I see value in everything, hell I would keep saw dust if I had the room. I went from a 50x60 shop on 5 acres with a nice tire pile behind the shop and two acres of weeds to store dead autos and boats to living in suburban hell with a 2 car garage and a nicely manicured postage stamp. I fart and my neighbors can smell it. Went from hoarding everything having a huge functioning workshop to the new garage that functioned like as a small warehouse with isle ways so I could look at the tools I wish I had room to use. It was a shocker moving in and I had a melt down trying to decide what I could keep and what I NEEDED to keep.

I believe in doing this I have freed myself of a huge emotional burden. After a while you learn that you don't really miss the stuff as much as you thought you would and your happier because organization for the sake of productivity begins to become a part of life that you can master without fear.

 

[classicharleyj]

As I get older.. (58) , I realize how little I need and how well I like walking into my garage and get in my vehicles without having to scrape ice off the windshield. I also don't want a load of boxes that cost less than my insurance deductible taking up room.
That's just me..
Jim

 

[ScottsGT]

I've got a 2 car garage that is 3 cars wide and it too is a semi-disaster. Most of my disorganization is some of my corners of the garage, and down the middle of one bay. Far left bay is spotless with a restored car I have there. The center seems to be one of my clutter catchers. With us scrapping a car back in March, a kitchen remodel going on and typical projects around the house, I need to give my garage an enema too. I have so much **** stored under my screen porch, my wife is having fits that I clean it up too. Oh, and lets add two boys that are collecting car parts and storing them too!
Wife got pissed the other day, and I again had to remind her that there was a gutted kitchen project upstairs that I had to spend my time on. Come this fall when things start to cool down, I'd venture into this disaster and make headway.
But one of my needs is to get rid of a huge chest freezer that is 3 times too big, replace it with a smaller one, or none at all and buy a tall cabinet I can store my power tools in. I have so many Milwaukee boxes, drum sander, Bosch boxes and they are stored in a hard to access place. So of course, I have the tendency to just set them down along the walkway. Car stands, I have 4 of those in the way. Need to store them too.
I could go on forever...Maybe this fall I'll start a thread with some photos and y'all can shame me into what I need to do as I do it.

 

[ripperd]

Actually, your thread is a needed and refreshing one.

Instead of a garage overflowing with tools, you have a normal American suburban garage.

It IS interesting to see how it changes when someone moves and has to deal with too much accumulated stuff. The process is interesting for others who will go through it.

We've given you ideas, now we need feedback.

So keep posting, and for heavens sake, we need more photos!

Bill

I live in a relatively new neighborhood ('95) and the vast majority of the houses have 3 car garages. The 3rd stall is smaller on most, so that stall really only fits a relatively small car. Its more geared towards shed usage. But it is astonishing when you walk around the neighborhood how many of the garages that are so full of stuff only 1 or no cars can park in! In the winter I squeeze all 3 of our cars in the garage. In the summer I leave the pickup in the driveway and leave 2 cars in the garage. I probably have a below average amount of "junk" in my garage. I did build some shelving to make sure I could store my junk well out of the way of normal operations. One of the best things I did to create space was to build a hinged workbench. At the end of a project, I clear the workbench and fold it up to the wall. Saves a TON of space.

 

[taumac]

I feel is sometimes something is to good to toss. I've started a GJ group plus I had ppl outside the GJ group that I will make a pile for This stuff I really don't need no more but it too good to end up in the landfill. So I text a few ppl or post it in the group to se if someone needs it. I feel better knowing it's going to a good home verse scraping it.

 

[reader2580]

I found that I was able to store a lot more in my old 2 car attached garage because it was nearly 10 feet tall inside. I had 100 square feet of shelving at about the 6 foot level in the front of my garage.

I need to get rid of stuff instead of more storage anyhow.

 

[taumac]

Strouty started a thread about needing to organize his shop/garage. The thread eventually evolved into Strouty posting updates more about his daily happenings. The thread now has 1,373 posts as of a few minutes ago.



I don't want to post every single day what I did to organize my garage that day. I got good answers from some of the posters about moving the shelves to the side of the garage and I already moved the shelves per their suggestions. A bunch of other people gave their opinions/suggestions on how to get rid of stuff even if some of them are a bit impractical. (I can't really put a tent up in my yard and get rid of anything I don't touch in a year.)



I don't think you want a daily post about about how I got rid of one or two items that day, or I moved certain things around that day. I will certainly try to remember to update the thread once I am done with new picture of a better organized garage.

Well I agree that it started off that way. Many ppl start threads about topics and end up having many many threads started. I know myself I did this. I started a thread for this or that and decided to stop starting new threads and just post everything in my garage thread. I found it easier cause in the end everything I did was to build my garage.

 

[justanengineer]

Once the stuff is gone, I don't worry about it and can move on. Feels great!

Being the somewhat absent-minded sort, once the **** is gone I usually either forget why I got rid of it or forget that I had it in the first place. In the first instance I trust myself enough to know there was a good reason so its not upsetting in the least, even if I have to buy something again bc I usually make a note to only buy what I need without extras.

 

[reader2580]

People go both ways on buying supplies for projects. Some will buy the amount needed for the project and others advocate buying a large quantity of screws and such so you have some for the next time. We're talking buying 5 pounds or even a 20/25 pound box of screws when you only need the 1 pound box.

If it is something you use a lot of it may make sense to buy large quantities to save money, but then you have to store the stuff and know where to find it when needed. You have to decide if your garage is a hardware warehouse or a garage. how many people buy the large quantities of stuff and then they or their heirs give it all away or throw it all away at the end?

 

[Jinks]

I'm busy & didn't have time to read through the entire thread, but I have my own opinion on "how much to keep". A garage is a garage, it's designed to store cars. Those cars cost significant sums of money, & as you've learned repairing them can be expensive. With that in mind I store my vehicles in the garage. Any room left after the vehicles becomes "storage space". I collect, hoard, & stockpile accordingly.

 

[rob1200]

You have to decide if your garage is a hardware warehouse or a garage. how many people buy the large quantities of stuff and then they or their heirs give it all away or throw it all away at the end?

True. Different people will reach a decision based on their own circumstances. For instance, if the hardware store is an hour away, they are more likely to buy extra fasteners to stockpile. Also larger quantities are usually a much better value than small quantities. Assuming there is space to store them.

 

[reader2580]

Huge packages of hardware are indeed a better value if you will use it all. If you buy 20 pounds of screws when you really needed one pound and never use the extra 19 pounds of screws then your cost per screw used was pretty high.

 

[Dutch01]

What??? 77 Posts and no pics!

Let me be the 1st to get hammerred



Sorry for the quality of the photo.

I started my clean up and sorting/dumping stuff after the photo was taken.

 

[Dennis Leigh Henry]

My basement shop is my ideal place.. My best tools needing climate control, etc. are there. 30 years plus accumulation and two major moves (South Bend to Columbus, Columbus to Greenwood). Last was ~18 years ago. If I get crowed in the basement, I grow (originally started in 1/4 of it, now I'd say I'm at the 5/8 level). Overflow is into the garage where my "second" set of tools are for convenience more than purpose, but it also serves as the place were random tools and materials collect as they near either hand me downs/sale or the trip to the dump..
Dennis

 

[Cato]

A garage should be for your vehicles - especially in your part of the country.

I would start by putting your vehicles in your garage and anything else that doesn't fit needs to go in a storage building/shed/or workshop or covered with a tarp.

It sounds like your stuff is starting to OWN you!

 

[NewShockerGuy]

So my wife came here from Iran with a suit case and $400-500 or so 15 years ago... very minimum stuff. Even to this day she is very minimalistic. I on the other hand like to keep things. Not junk mind you, I have a lot of technology, computers...etc. As we are cleaning the house I noticed that I had things that had to be 7+ years that I NEVER touched, new laptops, cameras, and other such items. Given with how things are now, they are worth nothing in terms of me making money. So rather than throwing out a perfectly good item I just list it on craigslist. I'm at the mentality now that if I haven't used it in X amount of time or it's sitting there, it doesn't need to be there in my possession. It does one no good to hold on to an item and never be used if someone, somewhere could use the item. I'm not saying get rid of all your ****, but if you have been holding things untouched for 10 years, let it go and let someone that could actually put it to use or use parts that would help them out. I actually like pairing down stuff now, it's a sense of relief and it frees up space.

I'm about ready to do that to my track motorcycle. I bought it 4-5 years ago and took it on the track ONCE... ever since it's been sitting in my garage. Perfectly usable Daytona 675 but me being an idiot it's just sitting there. Where as it could bring someone joy by selling it since I am clearly not using it.

-Nigel