Packratitus Causes Blindness

[Julie Moriarty]

Packratitus is an insidious disease because it infects its host very slowly.

"Hmmm... I might need this piece of scrap. I think I'll just set it over here."

And the piles begin to grow until it becomes chronic.

"Hmmm... I might need this later. But where can I put it?"

Chronic Packratitus is usually accompanied by partial or complete blindness.

A family member says, "This place is a junkyard!"

You look around and say, "What are you talking about? This is what all well-stocked workshops look like! Do you know what I can make with all this stuff?"

Common replies are, "A big bonfire?" or "A nice home for carpenter ants?"

When your family and friends recognize the disease has become chronic, they may have an intervention with you. Friends may come over and see your shop and say, "Wow! What do you need all this junk for?!?" Sometimes the intervention is more direct, "You're a Pack Rat!"

"Hey, this stuff wasn't cheap! I might need it later." Denial is common among those afflicted with Packratitus.

But there is a cure - moving. When you are cleaning and packing all those things you plan to take to the next place, the blindness begins to fade. Denial melts away. And what you once saw as valuable will become junk and you'll be asking yourself, "What on earth did I save all this junk for?" Don't ask how I know. :rolleyes:

[fred marcuson]

been there , saved that ....
at one point in time , i didn't spend more than 18 months in a "home"
bought my own place .....30 plus years here now .
so i had 30+ years of 'saving' :)
decided i wanted a pool table again and the 'savings' had to disappear.
many trips to the dump , many cans of trash out each week..
i think the moving every 18 months or so was easier lol
but i have my pool table again :)

[Jim Andrew]

Feel for you having to move. We have been here about 33 years. Helps to have a wood furnace to feed all those pieces to. But it is warm now, and it is building up. But I don't want to have to move now, just beginning to get the shop the way I want it. But i could use a few more buildings to fill with boards. Did I mention I have a bandmill?

[Julie Moriarty]

28 years here. I've been purging for two days solid. But now I'm beginning to think I want to stay. :rolleyes: After 4 garbage cans of scrap and stacks of longer pieces, the shop is looking pretty good. I even found my lathe!

[glenn bradley]

But there is a cure - moving.

Amen to that. I have saved myself from saving something I don't need many a time by simply asking myself, "If I were packing the house to move right now, would I want to pack this???". Its been working for me so far . . . . . . for the most part ;-)

[Mike Cutler]

This seems to be a pretty common theme!!! I've been doing the same thing lately.

Maybe it's age related. I'm 56 now, and the ability of actually having enough room to park the cars in the garage, is pretty cool. ;) ( I admit it, I can now park both of our cars in the garage.:o )

[David Linnabary]

For a long time I thought it was just about the wood but then I started to realize how much old hardware I have accumulated that I dreamily expect to incorporate into some future project.

Sometimes a member of the intervention team gets a glimpse into my stash of cool old hinges and latches and I can see the glazy look in their eye, they've been infected too. :)

David

[Julie Moriarty]

Sometimes a member of the intervention team gets a glimpse into my stash of cool old hinges and latches and I can see the glazy look in their eye, they've been infected too. :)

David

So, rather than getting healed, you pass on the disease? :rolleyes:

[Julie Moriarty]

10 hours Friday, 13 hours Saturday. Yesterday was my day of rest. Today is a good day to work in the basement. It's raining outside.

I went back down to the basement today to look at the work I still have ahead of me. There's still stuff I have to put back into the shop and only half of it is cleaned out. You look east and see this:
http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Woodworking/Tools/workshop_01_zpsbqxufgi2.jpg

Turn around and it's this:
http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Woodworking/Tools/workshop_02_zpsix7zogs1.jpg
It's the Tale of Two Workshops. At least my blindness is being cured.

I think I'm going to rent a Bobcat to finish the cleaning. :rolleyes:

[David Ragan]

What a nice cozy shop! I love having everything, well, most everything right there.

Since I have the massive junk clearing in mine, it has made a huge difference in my sanctuary. When tempted to save scraps, they are dropped into trash can right then.

I have to walk into another room to get all the stuff that used to hang from the ceiling, and walls--but that's OK, cause now I don't risk an avalanche, or falling to get to it.

I love that panelling.

[Will Boulware]

I think I'm going to rent a Bobcat to finish the cleaning. :rolleyes:

Bobcat? You could do donuts with a bobcat inside that place it's so clean! My next shop cleanup will have to start with a leaf blower before I can get to the construction dumpster phase. I'd post pictures, but that might land me on that TV show for people who can't throw stuff away.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Julie - the lower photo looks normal. The top one, not so much.

[Paul McGaha]

Is that a Bourbon Street sign there near the panel? If so that's way cool Julie.

What is that silver and black looking thing to the right of the panel?

PHM

[Julie Moriarty]

Julie - the lower photo looks normal. The top one, not so much.
Yes. The top photo does conjure up thoughts of neurosis.


Is that a Bourbon Street sign there near the panel? If so that's way cool Julie.

What is that silver and black looking thing to the right of the panel?

PHM

The Bourbon Street sign is from visiting the French Quarter in 1979. My brother had just graduated from SMU and I drove down to help pack him up and bring him home. On the way back we detoured to New Orleans. The sign and some Pat O'Brien hurricane glasses were my souvenirs. Oh, and a hangover. :o

The silver and black thing thing is a boom box. Gotta have music in the shop! :D

[Rod Sheridan]

LOL, how true Julie.

About 8 years after we moved, Diann came home to find a stack of boxes out for garbage pickup with labels that said things like " Rod, Garage" on them.

She suffers from pacratitus and said "What's in the boxes"?

I replied, " No idea, however I haven't needed it for 8 years so it's going in the garbage".

An argument ensued, with me leaving the stuff out for collection.

Haven't needed it in the 13 years since, now I just throw stuff away if I don't have a near term use for it..............Rod.

[Julie Moriarty]

Haven't needed it in the 13 years since, now I just throw stuff away if I don't have a near term use for it..............Rod.

Sounds like you've been completely cured, Rod. :) Right now I can only say the "medication" has made me feel pretty good. I can't even tell you want was in the 5 full cans and stack of scrap that went into the garbage truck yesterday.

So after a long 5 days of cleaning, here's where I am:
http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Woodworking/workshop_03_zpshcmamc1g.jpg

http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Woodworking/workshop_04_zps1ul0rk8i.jpg

http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Woodworking/workshop_05_zpsi45vpqv7.jpg

http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Woodworking/workshop_06_zpsctaxmdet.jpg

http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Woodworking/workshop_08_zpsfyqlpm02.jpg

http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Woodworking/workshop_07_zpsopovictr.jpg

Now I want to work in it again.

[Jim Laumann]

Julie

Not meaning to hi-jack your thread, but would you be so kind as to provide the details about your bench on
the left side of the 2nd pic? Size, etc, who made it, etc? Likes, dislikes - all that happy good stuff....

Jim

[Mark Patoka]

Ok, that shop just looks too well organized. I like the wire baskets, I've been wanting to put in some sliding bins under my bench.

22 years in the Air Force and moving every few years pretty much kept accumulating anything in check. Now that I've been in the same house for 13 years, my tool collection has been allowed to grow and so has my scrapwood collection to the point of sorting it in bins. Of course how often do I pick wood out of those bins? Never, there always seems to be enough still stacked up all over the place.

[Julie Moriarty]

Julie

Not meaning to hi-jack your thread, but would you be so kind as to provide the details about your bench on
the left side of the 2nd pic? Size, etc, who made it, etc? Likes, dislikes - all that happy good stuff....

Jim
Jim, it's made by Hoffman & Hammer. I like it's stability but I've done a lot to it. It started out like this:
http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Woodworking/Workbench/workbench_01_zpsxljk4zmk.jpg

I made some drawers (not the one in the above pic) and built them in using Unistrut and ball bearing drawer slides.
http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Woodworking/Workbench/workbench_02_zpsojqr2t8m.jpg

After I put the drawers in, I made some partitions for the tools.
http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Woodworking/Workbench/workbench_03_zpsl0ywcbbc.jpg

Right now I like pretty much everything about the bench except the racking on the left side vice. And there are times I wish I had a side vice running the full width of the bench. But overall, I don't know how I ever did any quality work before. I couldn't live without it now.


I like the wire baskets, I've been wanting to put in some sliding bins under my bench.

The wire baskets are great for seeing what's in them but they are major dust collectors. During the cleaning, I dumped practically everything out of them and found myself contending with dust probably 20 years old. Some of the baskets had heavy loads in them and the metal-on-metal slides dragged a lot. The plastic bins on top often fell out of the track when it was pulled out. They will be left behind when I move.

[Julie Moriarty]

I'm happy to report I've been cured of the disease in my garage, too. ;) One side was so filled with junk I couldn't get to the stuff inside without moving things out of the way. Two weeks of filling garbage cans and a lot of donations helped. Then we painted it - for the first time. I re-organized everything and when I saw all the garden tools I knew why I was so tired all the time. :rolleyes: Doing this took two of us 13 hours - clean out, two coats of paint and putting it all back in.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=315083&d=1433514810

The last two days I spent interviewing realtors. Three are coming back this weekend and we'll pick one as listing agent. Today is R&R. Maybe this afternoon I'll sit outside sipping on an umbrella drink and pretend I'm on a tropical island. :D

[Andy Booth]

17 years in the house and time to downsize.

You realize you have crossed the hump when you stop asking if "I should throw this out" and starting asking "Why should I not throw this out".
so far one pickup load of scrap wood.
Next I hire some teenage kids to move every box out of the basement into the garage for sorting. My 60 year old back would take days to do what four kids can do in 3 hours.

[Mark Blatter]

I'm happy to report I've been cured of the disease in my garage, too. ;) One side was so filled with junk I couldn't get to the stuff inside without moving things out of the way. Two weeks of filling garbage cans and a lot of donations helped. Then we painted it - for the first time. I re-organized everything and when I saw all the garden tools I knew why I was so tired all the time. :rolleyes: Doing this took two of us 13 hours - clean out, two coats of paint and putting it all back in.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=315083&d=1433514810

The last two days I spent interviewing realtors. Three are coming back this weekend and we'll pick one as listing agent. Today is R&R. Maybe this afternoon I'll sit outside sipping on an umbrella drink and pretend I'm on a tropical island. :D

We have done similar things. Spent years with projects 80% completed, only to live it them. Then we decide to move, so spend 30 days working like demon to get everything done. When it is all completed, the walls painted, the flooring done, the bathroom finished, etc. we look at it ask 'Why do always wait to finish things up so someone else can enjoy it?"

This time around, we were thinking about moving, but have decided, I think, to stay put. Instead we are focusing on getting things completed for us. A really novel idea.

[Julie Moriarty]

We signed with a realtor yesterday. She said the house looked great but still needed some staging. It's more like stripping! We worked until 3AM clearing more stuff out. Now it's like an echo chamber in here. I hope she knows what she's doing...

[Rod Sheridan]

It's funny Julie, when I look at a messy shop I don't even want to go into it.

My best friends father owned an automotive garage, it was full of "stuff". I couldn't find a single tool in the mess yet his dad could just reach over their on top of that old brake drum and pick up the ratchet, the other tool was over there under something else, kind of a photographic memory for where he had last left the tool.

Nice shop you have there............Regards, Rod.

[Julie Moriarty]

Nice shop you have there............Regards, Rod.

Had, Rod. Had. It's a mess now. Since they weren't going to photograph the shop (I didn't want to advertise the tool inventory), the workshop became a dumping ground. Now I've got to weed through the new mess all over again.

Besides the regular photographer, the realtor called in a drone guy. That little thing is cool!

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=315360&d=1433870491

Here's the up close:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=315361&d=1433870491

[Kent A Bathurst]

Julie - link to drone targeting mission photo?

[William Payer]

Had, Rod. Had. It's a mess now. Since they weren't going to photograph the shop (I didn't want to advertise the tool inventory), the workshop became a dumping ground. Now I've got to weed through the new mess all over again.http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=315361&d=1433870491


Beautiful shop Julie.

The wife and I are building our "last home", getting away from the congestion of the city, to be out in the country. While downsizing and moving is great, especially when we are building a larger stand-alone shop ( who-hoo!) , the thought of moving the current shop strikes fear into me almost nightly. Our realtor says get everything out of the shop, take down the duct work,patch all screw holes and re-paint. I agree with her about having an empty space and I will feel better not having ANY tools around when people come to view the house. I think moving the shop will be more work than moving the rest of the house! 35 years here has allowed me to accumulate far too much and have too many projects left at 95% completed. As we finally finish some of these projects, we are realizing how nice they look finished, and why didn't we finish them entirely the first time?


A house is most complete on two days. The day you buy it, and the day you sell it!

[John Lifer]

So funny. We put in offer on older home out in woods the other day and it seems like we will be closing early July. My current garage is stuffed. Along with outbuilding. Hopefully I won't fill the 24x30 too quickly..... Get a full basement too!