Stuff everywhere

[Lons]

I just keep adding more sheds to store it.

 

[Benchwayze]

You're doing well. It was about 3 years before stuff started getting underfoot here. Now after 50 years I have just decided I need to clear up so Number One Son will have have an easier job sorting things out come the day. Also of course there will be room for me to work in the meantime. Here's hoping the meantime wi'll be about 20 years!

John

 

[Terrytpot]

I'd like to hear your thoughts.

I'm currently in limbo pending the imminent arrival of two large pieces of machinery that will dominate the space I have available to "play in". To be prepared I've ensured that everything else that will be staying is on wheels so it can be moved as required and that the new arrivals will also be wheelable. Anything that didn't fit that critera should have been through an assessment of:
A) Do I need to hold onto this?
B) If I don't need this can I sell it?
C) Have I got room in the attic for it if I should ever need it?
D) Will it fit in the shed?
E) Will it survive outside if I can't bear to part with it yet?
F) This is the hard part..GET RID OF IT!

The current worldwide situation has had a unique impact on many of us, some have had much more time to hit their "shops" whilst mine has been limited due to my electrician getting himself quarantined over a covid issue and delivery delays for the same reason. As for hoarding, after my father shuffled off I had the task of "clearing" his sheds out (he had a small shop selling wooden furniture that he'd picked up and tidied up to saleable condition) and amongst all the bits and bobs lurking found 23 sets of car windscreen wiper blades...for a car he no longer had! Whenever I realise I seem to have a few of anything the image of pops wiper blades always springs to mind and makes me think, "nope,you don't need that many..chuck it"

 

[billw]

I'm a beginner and I've found making storage for the workshop works well for me. I get to create, but I'm tidying and organising at the same time. I have french cleats on a good space of the wall and find I can make little holders for tools in an hour or so, gets me the woodworking fix and helps organise at the same time.

Definitely, it's very therapeutic going through tools, organising them into purpose and then designing a cleat board for them all to go on whilst leaving space for stuff I need/want but haven't got yet.

 

[doctor Bob]

Yeah but you've got customers who buy your material for you.

I get what your angling at but in general i keep things tidy as well, so at home I don't have any hoarding. If a pair of socks are thin, throw them away. Clothes, if I haven't worn it in a couple of years, charity shop. Remarkable how little storage space is required if you keep on top of it.

 

[johnny]

Thanks fellas, that helps.

Just looking at my stuff, most of it aren't even tools.
Yes I have three metal hand planes and there wooden. Two sets of chisels, one Old Marples for my definition of fine work and one Stanley set for rough work. All bought used or giveaways by generous people.

The stuff that gets me are thinks like foam padding, which I sometimes keep thinking I might need to package something in the future. Same with small annoying plastic bits, tiny boxes of old screws which I don't use as I switched to torx drive a while ago but still keep the old pozi drive ones when I find them.

Things like this, and there are too many to list all of them.

Through salvaging, losing and finding, and many other means, I have about 6 retractable craft knives. None of them are great that I pick a favourite and get rid of the rest. Some I use for wallpapering, some for workshop.

Old cases of drills etc have stuff in them like cable ties, IKEA screws and allen keys, wall plugs but I get so overwhelmed when I think I have to sort all if these.

I am on the cusp of a meltdown, I feel sometimes.

same here only I do my own classic car and bike and scooter restorations too as well as all my house repairs. I have tools everywhere no matter how hard I try to organise my 5x3m shed into some sort of order.
Something I have found very helpful is to re-purpose things so I bought 2x cheap 4x drawer wooden filing cabinets and fitted them with castors.

I also use loads of plastic storage crates which I bought to move my workshop years ago. I list the contents and put a sticky label on the end for instant identification of contents I then stack them floor to ceiling or under the workbench.
They have proved a godsend for getting stuff off the floor and workbenches and can also provide a useful base when ripping full sheets of timber. 1 X Large Boxes, Tote Box, Container, StackableRemoval Packing Storage Crate, | eBay

 

[Doug B]

I will admit to never being able to throw wood away & being a turner doesn’t help as I’m always thinking that could come in & folks are always offering wood, if I’m honest I’m running out of spaces to store it & I’ve had two offers of timber this week.

One of two lorry bodies

Some old fork lift racking

I’m even struggling for space in the old barn

My names Doug & I may have a problem

 

[craigs]

I will admit to never being able to throw wood away & being a turner doesn’t help as I’m always thinking that could come in & folks are always offering wood, if I’m honest I’m running out of spaces to store it & I’ve had two offers of timber this week.

One of two lorry bodies

View attachment 97130

Some old fork lift racking

View attachment 97132

I’m even struggling for space in the old barn

View attachment 97131


My names Doug & I may have a problem

you may need to seek professional help, but at least you are self aware enough to admit you have a problem

 

[bp122]

I will admit to never being able to throw wood away & being a turner doesn’t help as I’m always thinking that could come in & folks are always offering wood, if I’m honest I’m running out of spaces to store it & I’ve had two offers of timber this week.

One of two lorry bodies

View attachment 97130

Some old fork lift racking

View attachment 97132

I’m even struggling for space in the old barn

View attachment 97131


My names Doug & I may have a problem

This is a safe space, Doug
You are among friends.

 

[Sandyn]

Well, today, encouraged by some of the tidy, non hoarders on here, I took a small step. I went through all off-cuts under my saw and sorted into 'dump' and 'keep'. I got a large bag of wood to be dumped. It kept the log burner going for the day, so the house is warm and I have a sense of enormous well-being!!

 

[billw]

Offcuts are the work of the devil when it comes to hoarding.

 

[TFrench]

One day I'll find a bank of lista or polstor drawers for a price that doesn't leave me weeping. Until then I'll make do with all my bodgineered storage solutions! Having the loft of my shop boarded helps with keeping a lot of small stuff out of the way.

 

[bp122]

Well, today, encouraged by some of the tidy, non hoarders on here, I took a small step. I went through all off-cuts under my saw and sorted into 'dump' and 'keep'. I got a large bag of wood to be dumped. It kept the log burner going for the day, so the house is warm and I have a sense of enormous well-being!!

Good for you mate. I'm itching to make a start. When I visit the house this weekend, I'll do one thing towards this.

 

[Doug B]

you may need to seek professional help, but at least you are self aware enough to admit you have a problem

I’m fully aware of the problem the good lady wife reminds me Daily

 

[bp122]

Interesting thing, perspective.
Last night I went home to check on things and popped into the garage to get a tape measure and suddenly it seemed a lot less messy than I remembered it from the weekend, and I haven't done anything yet.

When I had my mini meltdown the day I wrote the original post, I was convinced that it was a mountainous proportion of chaos which now after reading the responses here seems a manageable task.

I guess Doug's pictures of his timber storage and his barn helped me revaluate things

 

[SammyQ]

But as my wife points out that the reason I feel anxious is that I'm just exhausted and don't realise that the stuff I need to do around the baby takes so much energy that I feel like everything is too much.

This sort of got lost in the general chat bp122. Your original post resonated very much with me, as I had 3 under 3 at one point. They went on to be three at uni simultaneously, so - as they grew up and competed in 'districts' and then 'nationals', yada, yada, yada - I found the choice between 'shed time' and "Daaddd?? Could you..." to be a no-brainer. I raised three successful individuals and gave them a good base to start from.
During those years, with mine the only pay packet coming in, my woodworking was sidelined into rebuilding and equipping two delapidated houses into investments for the future. My creative side came out in 'finishing touches' and recycling what good timber I could cadge or happen upon. No regrets.
Retirement happened four years early; Da Boss now has profound med problems and secondly, we needed to relocate to the mainland to be near our three. The two years since, I have again been renovating ( unexpectedly - it initially looked 'wunnerful') our retirement bungalow...SO WHERE IS THE WORKSHOP IN ALL THIS?
Where it always has been. As a tool, like all the others, to enable Life and Family to happen. Sometimes I absolutely ache to get out into my imperfect, frustratingly untidy man-cave, as I see to domestic imperatives, but, if you ask me to pit family and memories against an arbitrary 'standard' of self-satisfaction, you'll find me saying: "You want what? When? Where?"
I DO have a good table saw, a heavy 6' bandsaw, 4 routers, two lathes, a P/T, and I DO get to use them, but I would not swop any of them, individually or amalgamated, for a single family interaction.
So, bp122, don't beat yourself too enthusiastically. Things will come to you and you WILL get satisfaction ("I built that") but always in proportion to family eh?

Sam

 

[bp122]

This sort of got lost in the general chat bp122. Your original post resonated very much with me, as I had 3 under 3 at one point. They went on to be three at uni simultaneously, so - as they grew up and competed in 'districts' and then 'nationals', yada, yada, yada - I found the choice between 'shed time' and "Daaddd?? Could you..." to be a no-brainer. I raised three successful individuals and gave them a good base to start from.
During those years, with mine the only pay packet coming in, my woodworking was sidelined into rebuilding and equipping two delapidated houses into investments for the future. My creative side came out in 'finishing touches' and recycling what good timber I could cadge or happen upon. No regrets.
Retirement happened four years early; Da Boss now has profound med problems and secondly, we needed to relocate to the mainland to be near our three. The two years since, I have again been renovating ( unexpectedly - it initially looked 'wunnerful') our retirement bungalow...SO WHERE IS THE WORKSHOP IN ALL THIS?
Where it always has been. As a tool, like all the others, to enable Life and Family to happen. Sometimes I absolutely ache to get out into my imperfect, frustratingly untidy man-cave, as I see to domestic imperatives, but, if you ask me to pit family and memories against an arbitrary 'standard' of self-satisfaction, you'll find me saying: "You want what? When? Where?"
I DO have a good table saw, a heavy 6' bandsaw, 4 routers, two lathes, a P/T, and I DO get to use them, but I would not swop any of them, individually or amalgamated, for a single family interaction.
So, bp122, don't beat yourself too enthusiastically. Things will come to you and you WILL get satisfaction ("I built that") but always in proportion to family eh?

Sam

That is a very well written story, Sam but it is an even more impressive message to someone in my shoes.

Unlike many films and TV shows portray the moment of one's young one's birth as THE moment it hits the person and connects with the baby, it didn't happen to me straight away.
It took a few hours to sink in and few days to feel the true connection.

That's when I realised that life is real, the drama is in the length of time and not in an instant. Einstein's quote comes to mind, "the only reason for time is so everything doesn't happen at once".

Since then there are moments of inescapable panic, like the one I originally wrote about, but is usually followed by the memory and satisfaction of spending the time with my little boy. I can only imagine how it was for you with three little ones.

Talking to people has helped tremendously.

 

[bp122]

I just keep adding more sheds to store it.

That's one way to deal with it

 

[SammyQ]

Talking to people has helped tremendously.

That never changes. On here, I am assured of support and help from people I've never met and some big hearts that I actually have (Woodbloke's hideaway is amazing!). It helps me get through the day, quite apart from the sooperrrbbbb tips and wisdom from 'the professionals'.
Have a really good day today, y'all.

Sam

 

[Lons]

Great post Sam, it's all about priorities.