When is it time to Down Size?

[njc41980]

Never give up. Never surrender.

 

[340wedge]

I have downsized when moving. I find you don't need all the knick knacks and junk, and if I didn't use it in a year or two it went. Tools on the other hand I cannot see getting rid of as you never know when you may need that particular tool, and if you don't have it, murphy's law, you will need it when you don't have it anymore.

 

[Negen]

I downsized when I ended up homeless kinda had to fit all I could in a backpack . California Street can be brutal for cart pushers.

Sent from my G8141 using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[rburke65]

Just down sized more tonight. Didn’t toss a lot.....but I did tos#.

 

[oldcpecdr]

Doesn’t it all depend on the individual?

I’m turning 73 soon and still use and enjoy all my “stuff”... I continue to work full time because I still enjoy it and am lucky enough to still have reasonably good health.... if I kick tomorrow the son in laws will be more than happy to divvy it all up.... with my blessing. Helps to have a supportive wife.... back in the day with five kids there were no projects....back then they were repairs ....cause that was the only option!!!! lol

Mike B

 

[nadogail]

OK, I am 79, and was raised by Depression Survivors. my reading what you are thinking and doing is inspiring.

I am now avoiding accumulating more supplies for future use and actually feel a little pleased with my self as I use up some of my accumulation of stuff.

Please continue this discussion.

 

[Augus7us]

Its interesting to me that most folks respond in one of two ways.

I have too much stuff and should or did downsize, like the OP wants to.

or

I use all my stuff on my projects and will continue to do so until you drag my dead body out of the shop.

I know I'm generalizing a bit but a lot of people seem to be in one camp or the other. Are half hoarders and half OCD clean freaks? Not pointing fingers or saying one way is the best, in my experience they both have a price. Just curious why everyone seems to be responding one way or the other.


-Clint

 

[matt151617]

Now- before you ever consider moving. Take the advice from someone who is currently moving. When you have to sort and pack every single thing you own, you really wish you had less stuff.

 

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

You're downsizing in your mid 40's? LOL

 

[Garett]

You're downsizing in your mid 40's? LOL

Thought is crossing my mind, but after last night I know I can't. The bro in law showed up with his BMW and a box of bushings, control arms and ball joints, haha. I can only imagine how long it would have taken without the shop, lift, press, sawzall, air hammer... this reminds me why I like wrenching on Chevys and Hondas.

For the time being I have decided to stop buying project/drag/cars, unless it's a deal I truly cannot pass up. I need to finish my current projects(5) which also gets parts off the shelves.

 

[Kev442]

Thought is crossing my mind, but after last night I know I can't. The bro in law showed up with his BMW and a box of bushings, control arms and ball joints, haha. I can only imagine how long it would have taken without the shop, lift, press, sawzall, air hammer... this reminds me why I like wrenching on Chevys and Hondas.

For the time being I have decided to stop buying project/drag/cars, unless it's a deal I truly cannot pass up. I need to finish my current projects(5) which also gets parts off the shelves.

Using up the parts and getting them on the vehicles is huge. I've assembled one of mine over the last year and it's a driver now. Stuff in the trunk and sitting on the hood all where they belong now. I haven't sold one tool over the last 4 years, but a lot of stuff got used as intended on projects and the leftovers gotten rid of.

 

[Nermal43]

I am 50 and am finally putting together the shops I always wanted. Just finished the small welding shop in the back and plan to use it when I retire (hopefully 58). But as others have said, it is hard not to fill the space when it exists. I have 3 boys so have passes some of my old tools to them, but it is hard to find the time to do projects and get rid of old stuff when you have limited time. Since my retirement plan is to work in my shop, I am not quite ready to downsize. The wife can putter in her garden, and I will weld in my shop. Sounds like heaven to me.

 

[gbrett]

I'm in the process of moving out of 3 buildings on my parents property now as my mom is selling and moving into town. I have sold, scrapped or just thrown away a lot of stuff but no any functional tools. Between what I already had and what my dad had I now have 5 of most everything but still buying more. I do a little farming and ranching besides a day job so I will probably work at that until the day I die. I have told my wife not to have an auction I would rather she just gave everything to someone who needs and would appreciate the tools. I always get depressed at auctions seeing someones prized possessions selling for pennies on the dollar. She can sell the tractors hay equipment and cows but not the tools.

 

[ScottsGT]

This thread had me starting a conversation with my 83 yo mother yesterday. She's now in a small assisted living apartment. She was use to 2200 sq feet of home, but she just could not let go of a lot of the items she had. We're now paying just over $200 a month to store useless **** to keep her happy. Physically, she cannot stand or walk further than 30 ft. It zaps all of her energy to simply walk (with a walker of course) to her kitchenette to warm something up in the microwave for longer than 1 minute.

Problem is, she thinks like she did 10-15 years ago and keeps buying cooking gadgets off QVC/HSN. She even buys stuff that is heavier than she can pick up. And here's the interesting part. She has a new great-grand baby. She wants me to bring over her sewing machine and get it all set up because she thinks she can sit at sewing table all day and make dresses for the baby. She won't even pick up the coloring books she wanted to use.

Had a long discussion with her about downsizing and understanding her abilities and limitations.

 

[Waffle House]

I'm in my 30s and downsizing right now. I didn't set off to have a garage and den with too many things in it, a couple of people passed who I inherited everything from and we moved into a larger house with far less storage so all of a sudden everything had nowhere to hide.

Downsizing has been going pretty well, I started with the garage by kicking out everything that was no longer useful and donating to Habitat / Goodwill whatever was. Now we're at the trickier part where there's a long list of things I'd like to sell and the wife is going to help out with handling the Craigslist portion.

Hopefully sooner rather than later a project car ('87 Mercedes 560SL) will go along with its spares. I enjoy driving something with a manual instead. My real project ('70 F-100) will be my only project.

 

[Jazz1]

I stArted clearing stuff out couple years ago. My boy said “ dont buy anymore, I don’t want to have to deal with all this stuff”
ya Mostly stuff I know I will never use. Sold off obscure car parts and bodies. Tools that are obsolete such as metal chopsaw, electric drills. Just stuff of no use. Emptied one storage building! This storage also about half empty now. I got $50 for Dewalt electric drill that would likely only fetch $10 if it sold in my estate sale and I got to spend the $50!!!

 

[Oldsmobile]

Are half hoarders and half OCD clean freaks?
-Clint

Child of hoarders here. I grew up in such, and my eventual rebellion was to stop living that way. My living quarters are neat, as is my storage. Work areas are always usable too, and I know where all my tools are. I do have a lot of spare parts for my old cars, and that is probably the worst of it.

I consider a hoard to be a mess that prevents use of space and / or is impossible to know where anything is. A hoard could be all useful stuff, but if one can't find X, then it's a problem.

Myself, I am not an OCD clean freak, but I do very much appreciate the efficiency of finding X when I need it, and always being able to use my space instead of having to clear it off every time.

 

[taumac]

This is always a good topic and as someone said previously there is usually 2 camps. I just turned 44 I’m kinda in the middle of the road. I spent my time on the GJ finding all this stuff I didn’t know I needed. I had my fun over the years but I started few years back downsizing. I sat down and got realistic on what I was going for projects in my garage. I also know that biggest garage I’m going to really have is a 2 or maybe a 3 car garage. I also know I’ll be getting some stuff from my FIL garage and know that one day some of my fathers stuff I be bringing home. So between my stuff, my FIL stuff and my Fathers stuff my all have to fit in a 2 or 3 car garage so I will have to plan according. Right now I have a 2 car and I can fit my stuff and 2 cars if all cleaned up.

Personally, I enjoy my time in the garage but thought it time for a change. I’ve seen so many people live life saying we do that tomorrow or put things off then life throws you a curve ball. Your life is turned upside down then people change their lifestyle or even worse happens. I wanted enjoy life with wife and travel some while before that happens.

At the end of the day you really have to do what’s best in your particular situation. What work for me might not work for you or the next person reading this. You definitely need to sit down and think what you plan to do and go from there.

 

[ScottsGT]

taumac, I think we all have experienced similar situations at one point or another.

I spent my time on the GJ finding all this stuff I didn’t know I needed. I had my fun over the years but I started few years back downsizing.

I call it the internet trap. Someone mentions something, and all of a sudden everyone has to have it. I see this a lot of it on my modeling and gun forums.

I'm now 55 and have either reorganized a lot of my garage clutter, or I have made plans on how to complete the organization. One requires the acquisition of a new HF 44" bottom. Come on settlement card! I'm needing it now more than ever!
The other is me completely ripping out my not so well planned out storage area under the stairwell in the garage leading upstairs and building pull out shelve systems and opening up the shorter space for my bench top wood working tools on carts. That's going to be a big project that is going to kill any other workspace being used for temporary storage until the project is completed.

In the process I'm trying to decide what I really need, and what I can pass on to others.
A perfect example was an old 2 drawer bench top tool box I had for the past 35 years. I kept if full of nuts, bolts and small trim fasteners from my days as an autobody tech. I finally had enough, threw out all the old hardware and tossed the box. Of course that's when I noticed the "Made in USA" sticker and had to pull it back out of the trash and restore it. It sat in my garage floor for a year after that. Guy at work was saying he only had a small tool bag and it was difficult to find anything in it in his shop at home. Problem solved for both of us.

Personally, I enjoy my time in the garage but thought it time for a change.

Amen brother! I spent many years restoring my old Mustang. I'm about "done" but I'm having a hard time getting across the finish line. I see other things I'd rather be doing. As you mentioned, travel with the wife and other hobbies as well.
De-cluttering helps provide quality time over quantity time.
My oldest son bought his first home last year. I was hoping he got one with a garage big enough to start handing down some things, and so he could take all of his car parts being stored in my basement as well!! Unfortunately, he bought a small starter home without a garage near the downtown campus so he can finish up school. He's hoping to turn it into a rental after he graduates.

 

[Jazz1]

I spot a treasure or two at stop light but I’m sure all the contents are priceless

 

[22george]

I retired 1-1/2 years ago. I've looked forward to "working" in my pole barn for years. I planned for and worked towards having my pole barn ready for retirement for 20 years. I still have a few things to do, but I'm enjoying every second out there. We are all different in what we want. I don't plan on downsizing until I literally can not work out there anymore or the day I die.

 

[Barnabas]

I'm 59 and can retire in 2.5 years. For ten years I have been collecting old cars and tools. Two years ago I bought an old 5,000 sq ft warehouse that I work on most weekends.

When I retire I hope to buy more tools and tinker all day and night until I drop.

Wife and I have no kids, so after I'm gone, someone wil have to figure out this "down size" thing.

 

[EVOLVO]

I am in the same boat, hard to pass up a good deal on tools (especially USA made tools). I have a 50x100 barn packed with all sorts of stuff that I will never use. I told myself no more. I think I bought them on a urge, maybe I am horder, but selling them is going to be a pain in the ****. Ebay, no thanks I tried selling a few things here and there and half the time they never pay so you have to file a claim and relist, wait a month. Auction, they charge like 50%, flea market, they won't pay what the tools are worth.
So what does one do with 16 Wilton vises or 30 sets of Craftsman pro wrench sets, or 12 anvils.

I don't think I am quite ready to sell, but I am out of the market on buying anymore. I just don't need them and don't know what I will do with the ones I have. It makes thinking about moving one day very difficult and in hindsight if I'd put the money I spent on tools in the bank I wouldn't have 'the problem' of not being portable and wondering what is going to happen to the stuff when I pass

There is a classified section on the GJ. I'll bet those Wilton vises would sell in a heart beat!

 

[Jackfre]

I look at this much as I look at retirement. Once you begin thinking about it you are all ready there..