Projects And so it begins…cleaning the garage

What I like about cleaning the garage is finding things that I had forgotten about. It almost seems like you just got them for free.

 

Well I did kinda inherit the problem so in a way I am finding all sorts of neat things

 

Huh? I thought everyone in the US had a 4 car garage with two lifts at least This looks like the sort of thing us in the UK or Europe would have...

 

I wish I did have a lift in there but since dad and I put a ceiling in there when we built it I have an attic full of chrome and parts

 

I'm at this point too. A 2.5 car garage that is stuffed!

My brother keeps his tools and other stuff here, he bought a house and all of that will be gone. Then I can rearrange everything.

I have a Clausing lathe that he has to take with him or sell. I'm thinking of getting a better Bridgeport mill.

I hope to be able to toss a lot as well.

 

I suppose now would be a good time to really take inventory of anything I need for my car?

 

at my age I am trying to get rid of all of my cars and parts

 

Sold some farm equipment that hasn’t been used for a few years. I cleaned out some shelves that had spare parts for them and rearranged some stuff . Have a long ways to go .

 

TBH I would be happy with your garage. My set up is... Weird. A converted pigsty with a sloping floor. There is a lift but it's outside, not easy to get to and mostly open to the elements, meaning you can't use it from November till May here in Austria.
Farmer logic.

 

Sometimes I wish I had a really small shop so I couldn't collect as much junk... But, I also like to have a building to keep at least some junk in. Not sure what the right answer is since I have seemed to be able to fill up the space no matter how big...

 

It is not what you have or how much you have but, the quality of life doing things without having to move everything, to get at the important hot rod project. If you haven’t used it in two years, then it needs to go… free, for fast cleaning out.

No, don’t save it as if you are going to use it someday or on some project. If you need something while working on the hot rod sedan under that pile, then buy it new. Dump everything else. If you stored parts in any container, that mean it has not been used recently. A single car garage is difficult to work on cars, so, the hot rod will have to be rolled out for the work. Meaning… no stuff on or near the car… it is a one car garage, after all.

Our old bouse built in 1963, became stuffed from 1976 until we moved to a small condo, when our son went away to college. The old adage, "it will be used one day for a specific project..." was the mode of the day. But, getting rid of stuff was difficult at first, but think about the space to work on a nice clean workbench with usable parts in their specific drawers…



Hello,

We all have our spaces to fill, hoping that what you save will be ready for the next usage on any project coming up in the future. The future? Projects? I had a bad time using small screws, nuts and bolts for my own projects. As a new box of screws came into place, afterwards, several were left over and into a gl*** jar for “screws” was used. There was one for nuts, one for Phillips Head screws and one for bolts.

Then, soon another jar for bolts with phillips head was required. Soon this process was doubled on other new projects and yes, afterwards, the items got dumped into their respective gl*** jars. Now, I had plenty of left over nuts, bolts, screws of all lengths and sizes all ready for the next project or repair.

This went on for the years we lived there, 20 years worth of stuff. Now, the workbench was getting crowded with left over “stuff.” And so were the cabinet drawers. So, the answer was to get more drawers under the work bench and now the table saw had to be moved. Ha ! one comes to the party and the old item gets moved to accommodate the new idea that one day, I will use those parts… YRMV

Jnaki

So, by the time we moved to a small condo, empty nest syndrome, we had a nice garage, but one set of drawers. And it was the daily used drawer for screwdrivers and such tools necessary for repairs or projects… there we go again, projects…

By the time we moved one more time into a larger home, thinking our son and my wife’s dad were moving in with us. Each had a separate bedroom/bathroom, we would be able to have them coming and going in such a large house.

But this time, the garage was filled with new counters, cabinets and storage for all tools and machines. And a three car garage, to boot. As it turned out, our son moved in with some friends, our granddad stayed in his own house. So, now, we were in this huge house with the latest stuff in construction, sprinklers, fully wired for computers in each room, and a nice huge kitchen.

Note:

We came to the realization that we can’t store one of each as if we were the large big box hardware sections. But, those little jars keep getting parts put in them… ha!

Now, it was time to move again to a smaller house for our final move. Everything not being currently used was to be given away to relatives, friends down the street and others that still needed to fill up their garages like we did years ago. A 1700 Sq ft. house to a 1000 Sq. Ft. condo to a 3000+ sq. ft. house down to a 2000 Sq. Ft. house was the perfect choice. 1976 to 2026 left plenty of joys and interesting choices…

Old big box store cabinets, nice looking, easily accessible, but made with low quality parts that required much maintenance. Sagging shelves, doors that don't fit or close easily were a daily problem.
After a few sets of old big box store cabinets, we realized our mistake. Being low cost is the same as low quality in the build. just because it is in the store and it looks nice on the wall, don't be in a rush to buy them. Scrutinize the build...

The new garage was like an extra room of our house. Smaller and set up for easy living.

A custom cabinet company made the heavy duty cabinets with care. thicker shelves, walls of the structures are sturdy and don't flex, so put together, makes a solid wall construction. Installed above the floor for easy cleaning and the custom floor goes right to the raised portion of the garage build. No, we did not stuff each drawer or deep cabinets with old stuff. We got rid of the stuff we did not use weekly or at least monthly.

But, the cabinets were stronger and better built as a custom builder/installer took over the design. Heavier duty cabinet drawers that did not come apart when pulling them out, daily to deep drawers that actually hold bigger saws and tools.

We even got the floor finished in time to get the door insulated.

Cool to the touch in the hot summers and warm in the winter with the insulated doors. It also seals better and keeps the interior the way it should during the seasons. The sounds from inside are quieter for folks on the outside.

And during our house remodeling, a new thinking room was created… ha! YRMV

Plus, no cords on the counter surface.

Automatic lights when movement near the cabinets for good vision and they go off as one is finished doing work on the counter. Good technology helps make a good environment in one of the most important parts of anyone's house...

 

Thanks for the motivation and making me not feel so bad.

 

Yes and if anyone else is looking for shoebox parts feel free to ask!!

 

Let us start this meeting with introductions . Hi my name is Kurte and my shop and barn is packed with stuff . I come from a long line of farmers who used it up , wore it out , rebuilt it and repeated the process. But don’t get rid of the wore out parts . We might need them .

 

LOL! And...my name is Jeff and I am a 3rd generation (at least that I know of) hoarder of stuff I may or may not ever need as well. Both my grandfather and dad seemed to have taught me that I may need that worn out stuff someday so I keep too much of it building big buildings to store the stuff in that I can't even remember that I have...

 

I’m right there with you brother. I’m posting parts all over the internet. So far, so good. But I still have a long way to go before the shed is cleaned out and extra parts are liquidated from the garage.

 

If you're like many of us with multiple cars, that seems to trigger the hoarding gene. And no matter how much room you have, it seems 'stuff' will ac***ulate to fill every available space over time.

 

The fall cleanup will begin when I need to get the snowblower into the garage. Before that, I’ll live with it
Not too bad from this angle, but…

 

I don't have too much of problem with excess stuff, but I have been focusing on organization. I've bought quite a few 50 caliber ammo boxes, and each one gets a set of custom-made tools, or parts etc, and a description painted on to it with a paint pen. They stack one top of each other nicely, much better than make-do's like coffee cans and baby food jars. One exception tho is saving finished, machined small parts in gl*** jars in kerosene, so they don't rust but are instantly identifiable.

 

I don't have a car problem. I have a storage problem.....
My problem is I have 1200 sqft of stuff in 400 sqft of storage. To get the T in the garage I had to sacrifice my fab area and stuff the mill and lathes into a corner then move benches and parts out to a shed I built. My city won't allow storage containers. I'm thinking an old semi trailer. They are cheap easily movable and as long as I keep it licensed I won't need a permit - which they want for any storage shed over 100 sqft

 

Now this is what I’m talking about!!

 

I hear that the Smithsonian is going to have some openings

 

You know a lot of people don’t know this but the Smithsonian has sales every year or so and that’s how they rotate the items in their possession. I have a friend who works there and she has been able to get me some good stuff.

 

Can you get a deal on shrunken heads?

 

My organizing talent is sorting things into boxes of like items to be delt with later.

 

According to my wife after I lost all my weight I look like a big head spindly alien

 

It doesn't matter. Even if you have a 200x100 foot garage, you will eventually fill it. I call it the "goldfish principal ". If you leave him in a small bowl, he stays small. If you throw him into a pond, he grows much larger.

 

That is so true….

 

Most museums do this. When their focus changes or they get a better example. Museums have gotten leery of donations that require the item remain in their possession. They want an unen***bered donation with no string attached so in the future it they want to get rid of it they don't have to try and track down who inherited the estate of the donor to return the item.