To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

Number One Garage Rule

dcg9381

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 20, 2018
Messages
11,744
Location
Austin, TX
As I am well into my seventh decade of existence on this planet, one of my greatest pleasures is to work on projects in my garage. However, I have seen many situations where car lovers have passed away and left quite a mess for their families. They accumulated a lot of stuff in the hopes of using it some day.

Agree with you completely, especially after having to help at least one widow out whose spouse collected Jags and Jag parts...

I will say that you can go a little too far too. We've got a 1970 240z, we left the original motor in a barn during a move... That car is fully restored now, but without the original motor.
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

bczygan

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 4, 2009
Messages
22,002
Location
DETROIT! Arsenal of Scrappers
I've been diligently working on getting EVERYTHING! (Still not finished)

Now that I'm out of money AND space.

I have NOWHERE left to work in and can't find ANYTHING to be able to use it!

What happened here???

Bill
 

andyvh1959

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 15, 2020
Messages
2,595
Location
Green Bay WI
Funny, my dad's #1 rule was "put it back where you found it." Which, in the case of the disarray that was his workshop and garage I can totally relate to that quote. If the items borrowed did not return to exactly where HE had placed it he'd not find it again. I am definitely my father's son in regard to garage disarray. My parents lived in the same house for 40+ years. Dad was a brilliant fabricator, welder, machinist, electrician, etc. He was also a mechanical hoarder who survived five years of German occupation of Holland during WW2 when you couldn't get anything you needed, and had to use resolve and skills to get anything, or get anything to work.

We came to the states in 59, and his attitude followed, collecting WAY too much stuff. When my brother and I cleaned out his 10 x 12 basement workshop we cleaned out a TON, literally a ton, of metal. Even included a 3" thick, 24 x 24 die plate he somehow got home from the dumpster at Miller Electric where he worked to retirement. I actually got the shakes at one point, just taking in all the **** he had gathered over the decades. Some of which I considered taking home to my shop, but persisted and resisted taking **** home I'd be dealing with for 25+ years.
 
Last edited:

rburke65

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 10, 2007
Messages
12,349
Location
Canfield, Ohio
Don’t lend tools. I have looked for two weeks for a 1/2” corded craftsman reverseable drill that I bought back in the 70s when I was doing electrical side work. I’m pretty organized but....nothing, and I needed that drill. The guy I worked with called me...’what ya doing?’ ...I’m going to price/buy a 1/2” drill. He says...oh is that the one you loaned me? Ya...11 years ago! The cord was pulled out of the handle and he says the switch is broke....plus I had to drive 1 hour each way to get it! Couldn’t find a replacement switch.....trashed it!
 

Jwco5.3

Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2020
Messages
5
Location
Indianapolis
I heavily believe in having few, quality things instead of many things. I don’t like clutter, and not collecting a lot of stuff gives me the excuse to buy something nice every now and then for the garage!
 

got2boostit2

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 7, 2012
Messages
691
Location
West of I275 & I94
Going on the 3rd year of trying to clear out my deceased parents possessions I fully agree as I look around at my "junk" I don't want to leave my kids in the same situation. I still have projects in progress put on hold clearing out my parents possessions. SMH, and then there is younger brother who got control of the trust delaying getting their home ready for market. I could go on and on. SMDH
 

MushCreek

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 14, 2015
Messages
9,763
Location
Upstate South Carolina
I'm almost there. I still look at stuff on CL and FB, but have stopped buying anything I don't need. I lust after derelict cars, trucks, tractors, machine tools, boats, golf carts, whatever, but like other women, I don't touch any more.

I've come to realize I don't need any more tools, either. In fact, I have a list of tools I need to sell.

I still have dozens of projects, with a number of them going at any one time. I have an excuse; my shop isn't heated, so there's warm weather projects and cold weather projects. Then there's outdoor projects, which the rain determines when I can work on them. I'll never be done; I don't want to be. It's what keeps me going. I do plan to reduce the number and size of the projects going forward. My '72 F-250 is likely the last major project vehicle.

I have a lot of stuff to sell, but Covid still has me shy about a lot of face-to-face contact, and much of my stuff is too heavy/large to ship.
 

John T

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 15, 2011
Messages
903
I don’t know if this has been mentioned before

But if you do have a lot of sh*t in your garage, make a list of what it’s worth

So your next of Kin doesn’t sell all your stuff for pennies on the dollar.

When my father-in-law passed he had tons and tons of old car stuff

It took me months to go through everything
Old cord and Hollywood gram stuff I had no idea of the value
Luckily a lot of stuff had labels and tags to indicate what it was worth

Since he used to go to a lot of swap meets.
 

16again

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 25, 2010
Messages
1,933
Location
Boynton Beach, FL.
My garage is SPOTLESS, no exceptions. I don’t lend tools, no exceptions. I don’t put anything in there that I don’t use.
When I start something, I finish it. No more, no less. Works for me.
Tools when I’m gone go to my son. Nice and easy.
 

Aberdale

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 13, 2009
Messages
1,380
Location
Ohio
I believe the number one rule is, "Do what makes you happy." I'm in my mid-60s. I have always surrounded myself with multiple projects. And I still do. I know I have more projects than I can finish in my lifetime, but I still enjoy it. Some days I make good progress on a project. Other times I'll just hang out all day with a beer or two and do a little clean up. Some days I'll add a new project to the list because it was just too good to pass up. The way I see it, if I die, all of my treasures and junk can be sold to the highest bidder. All my wife has to do is call an auctioneer, they'll handle the rest. And she's okay with that.

If it gives you peace of mind to declutter and get rid of stuff, then do it. But I don't believe there's a right or wrong answer here. The most important thing is to enjoy life. It's getting shorter everyday.
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

fiataccompli

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 15, 2017
Messages
89
Good stuff here. I'm early in my 5th decade and looking back I've always had a lot of 'stuff' from early on when I was a kid buying garage sale bikes & taking them apart & building 'custom' bikes or doing the same thing with all sorts of electronics.

I've always had a lot of cars, bicycles, and spares and (to the dismay of my wife), I am usually unhindered by the appearance of clutter (even though the place may look like there was an earthquake, I know where everything is). I usually try to monetize the unloading of stuff (currently selling bits of a crazy & large collection of "cool" racing & vintage bicycle parts via ebay mostly) & rarely end up sending stuff to a landfill. Craigslist has died around here, but I did enjoy the ability to put a stupid low price on almost anything that fits into the subject here (a cool future project item, slightly broken appliance, a tool, etc.) and someone would buy it & save me from having to take it to the dump. It's amazing how the same concept works on ebay with random small stuff I find that I've collected over the years...and, in truth, it probably helps someone out on the other end (or feeds a hoarding addiction).

I definitely have a hoarding tendency and so I am mindful. I don't mind having more projects than I may get "complete" in the near future, but:
1. The projects are usually only interesting while they are projects...it's a creative & intellectual process: the finished product is just an object.
2. I tend to work best when I can shift between multiple tasks so if i get "stuck" I can shift gears & stay productive.
3. I don't engage any garage type projects with the goal of being complete as quickly as possible so I can put everything back in order.
4. The garage is sort of like a large box of legos.

Still, I am now a bit mindful when I am presented with any great deal/project car/etc. and objectively thinking I have a wonderful collection of project cars that could keep me quite entertained for decades.

So, all of this works decently for the garage. What's tough sometimes is when there's a home improvement project and I'm working on it in the context (spouse) of the expectation that it needs to be done/complete/wrapped up asap..ha! still working on that one.

I'm going to pick up a parts car later today.

Oh yeah, for me the #1 rule is: it's a garage, a workshop, not a hangout/bar etc.
 
Last edited:

Mainiac Mat

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 2, 2020
Messages
402
Location
Maine
mid 50s here...

20 years ago, I was setting up my first basement woodshop and my MIL sold her house. We ended up storing a bunch of her **** and I lost my shop. Today, I have a well equipped basement woodshop under the large house addition.

Rule #1 No one stores their **** in my shop. And this includes ME.

I'm ~85% done with my 26'x30' garage build, and my BIL just sold their house. When my MIL suggested that we could help them out by storing their Harley's she was a bit surprised when my wife tole her "absolutely not"

Often, when I don't have time to finish a project, I leave it and the required tools on the bench until I can get back to it. Next thing you know, all three work benches are piled high and I can't get anything done without an all day clean up session. But I work with a 70 year old machinist who has the exact opposite approach. Every time he stops working, ALL tools are put away and the project organized. Even if he leaves his set up in the vise on the mill and he's going to be back at it the next morning, all his indicators and calipers get put away, and the required tooling organized and left on a shop towel on the mill table. I used to think this was a waste of time, but he can ALWAYS find his tools when he needs them, because they are always put back where they belong.

Rule #2 Always put your tools away. Even if you're going to need them again in the morning.

Like many of you all, I'm a certified tool nut.... but more than once, I've bought an expensive tool that I knew I'd need some day, only to have a decade go by with me barely touching it.

Rule #3 Don't buy "specialty" tools until you actually need them.

I may not get the best deal on them when I buy them, but I no longer am spending $$ on things I don't actually use.
 

F451

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 18, 2010
Messages
991
Location
WA State, USA
I believe the number one rule is, "Do what makes you happy." ...

I like this, good rule.

For me, after clearing out a number of apts and houses from deceased family, I'm on a mission to minimize the **** that I leave behind. It took a lot of work to clean out those places, and was a real bummer doing it while grieving the loses.

Just turned 60, a couple of years ago with our two kids in college, we moved to a smaller place and I began "The Great Boyd Family Purge of 2017", got rid of tons of ****. Felt great. Still at it 3 years later, although its going slower and more selectively now.

My wife is doing her best to fill the new house with ****, drives me crazy.

I'm down to one project car (hoping to sell it in this winter or spring), and two dirt bikes (my main hobby). I may or may not replace the project car with something else, we will see.

As far as what I leave behind, I've already instructed the wife and kids to just get rid of all of it, don't worry about the value of any of it. A car or motorcycle, that's easy enough to value. The tools, electronics, etc, if no one in the family wants it, just get rid of it.

Life is too short to be babysitting someone's left over stuff.

And I would feel guilty leaving behind a huge pile of **** for my kids to deal with after I'm gone.
 
Last edited:

glentre

Well-known member
Joined
May 21, 2016
Messages
909
Location
Gloucester, Virginia
My take-away from reading these posts is that it's best to have a plan to get rid of your stuff........ and I haven't had one. Not fair to leave it all for my wife or kids to clean out. I'm in my eighties with three sons, a daughter and eight grand kids. During the next large family gathering at our place which will likely be in the spring due to Covid, I think I'll have any of them interested go over my stuff (very little junk involved) and have each put name tags on anything they want when I'm gone. The rest can go on a garage sale or to the junk yard.

Glen
 

cgall

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 6, 2012
Messages
569
Location
Cincinnati, OH
My number one rule has always been at the end of the day, I shut my garage doors and there are 3 cars in there. I had the house built in 1998 with this intention, it is large enough for mowers and yard tools, kids toys and bikes, but is never used for storage of lumber or old furniture and such.
 

gnpenning

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 25, 2015
Messages
2,754
Location
I have more questions than answers.
The last couple of years I've either given away or sold a bunch of things with many more things to go. I've become more selective in what I bring home and why. With that said we have a local weekly auction that I check the website. If I see something I've been looking for I go, if not I stay home. Most of the regulars are older retired people that blow me away at how much and what they buy. One of the older guys I've become friends with and visit with him about machining items that come up and work out a plan so we aren't bidding against each other since we are generally the only ones bidding on such items. This week they had some wire gauges and a granite plate for sale period he asked me which one I was interested in I told him I'll just wait and get them at his estate sale for a lot less money, he just dropped his head and started laughing and said the way he feels today that might be sooner than I think. In the end he ended up with both since someone else ran them up higher than I felt I needed to pay. The auction owner told us he has a bunch of items coming in we would be interested in. Will see.

I like to have more than one project going so I can stay busy when waiting for parts. The satisfaction of building something to make something is very rewarding for me.

When the time comes I hope I've given everything with special meaning to those that are interested. The rest just have a auction for those that may need what I have and throw the rest away after offering it up for free. It amazes me how many people will haul away your junk for you given the chance. Much easier than hauling it yourself. Yes, people can be a pain but so is hauling it off, pick your devil.
 

Crazyjake8493

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 26, 2014
Messages
3,955
Location
Upstate NY
It's a great rule. Future projects just create unnecessary clutter.

My #1 garage rule is no working if you're mad, tired, or drinking. If you meet any of those three criteria, just clean and organize.
 

andyvh1959

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 15, 2020
Messages
2,595
Location
Green Bay WI
Good point about listing what your stuff is worth in case any of it has real market value over what the owner feels about it. Good example is my buddy, single, suddenly passed at 59 in his sleep. Alone, but peaceful I hope. He had a bunch of nice motorcycles, some mid 60's Triumphs, a 69 Husqvarna 250, early 70's 250 Maico, and a 71 long box C10 Chevy pickup that his uncle had ordered when he worked the assembly line in Janesville.

The C10 had a factory 454, dual exhaust, 4spd on the floor, power steering and brakes, front discs, factory bucket seats with a center console, factory AC, and some other features that I was told could not be ordered through a dealer. It had all the papers, factory build sheet, matching numbers, my buddy was only the 2nd owner, and it had about 45,000 miles on it. All original, clean, no rust, probably worth $30K to the right buyer.
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!
Top Bottom