Get Rid of It and You Will Need IT.

[Bruce Wrenn]

I'm a hoarder, and was before there was such a term. About a month ago, cleaned up some mess. Got rid of a dryer motor, bicycle wheel, and rototiller transmission. Transmission had a 10" V belt pulley on it. Well fast forward to today, and I want to build a soil / compost trommel (sifter.) The first three needed items for the build are as follows: electric motor, bicycle wheels (three) and 10" V belt pulley, all three of which I just threw away about a month ago. Go figure!

[Steve Eure]

Had a similar deal when I was working. Big boss said if you have not used it in two years, get rid of it. I told him that I had some obsolete used parts that were no longer available on the market. He said he didn't care, get rid of it. I did. A few months later, one of the systems went down and needed one of the parts I had thrown out. A simple fix with used parts and we would be back in business. But no, we had to buy a newer system to replace it at the tune of $3000. Could have fixed it with the used part I had had in stock. Needless to say, they learned their lesson. I neveerr again listen to the boss when he came up with a lame idea again.

[Bill Dufour]

We are now in a house with a gas fireplace. For the first time in 61 years I throw away wood scraps that can be burned. I have to force myself not to look downed tree limbs on the side of the street.
Bill D

[Tom M King]

I've got the not throwing it out part down pretty good. The part that needs work is to find it when I need it.

[John K Jordan]

That's why I don't throw anything out unless it's truly worthless. So many times I've had just what I needed that I saved from 10 years or so ago. It's surprising how often that happens around the farm.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I don't throw anything out.
I put it on some horizontal surface in the house.
It sits there until exactly one week before I need it & my wife moves it somewhere else.

A week goes by & I need it.
It's not where I left it.
I ask my wife what she did with it.

(take time out for 30 minute argument/discussion about the house not being a collection point for all my "little Richie stuff" - like I'm a 4 year old that leaves his toys out....)

I give up the argument for two very good reasons. 1.) my head hurts. 2.) she's more right than I am....

Frustrated I either just say the heck with it and go plop on the couch and watch reruns of Two and a Half Men or I run out and buy another of whatever it was I was looking for.
Which I promptly return home with, find a horizontal surface to lay it down on ...and...months later I'm asking my wife where it is.

[Doug Garson]

Good timing for this thread, I have cleaning out the shop/garage on my to do list. It's a catch 22 situation, save everything and you can never find what you need, throw out anything and as the OP said, that's the thing you will need next.
I generally keep stuff most would throw out and often find a use for it. As an example, a friend had a missing connector for a toy she bought for her grandkids. Basically just a five in piece of plastic pipe. Looked thru my scraps of plastic pipes and fittings and found a six in piece of 1/2" PVC pipe, quick cut, little hot air gun and problem solved. Had I not saved that 5 cent piece of 1/2" pipe I would have had to go out and buy a 20' $10 piece and then find room to store the leftover 19' 6" off cut (or throw it out?). On the other hand just spent 1/2 hour searching for a tool I hadn't used for years (never found it).

[Patrick McCarthy]

I am also a saver, and invariably some odd piece will be just right to fix a certain problem. Does not happen often enough to deplete my “collection”, but i will admit to a certain satisfaction when a neighbor ask “Hey, any chance you have a ???” Of course, then the challenge is locating it in the shop.

Yes, my experience has been very much like Rich’s, particularly when i come back to an unfinished project (Monday comes, gotta go to work, life gets in the way, weeks pass, etc). I usually keep all the parts and instructions near the project, but out of anyone else’s way. I will go looking and it is not where my visual memory recalls it. I ask my wife if she has seen it. Inevitable responses to follow: I put it away. Oh, where did you put it? I put it away, but i don’t remember where. Repeat, repeat, repeat several times per year.

Today finishing up a Johnson pocket door and looking for the plastic bag the parts and instructions were in because i know that is where the Johnson thin little wrench to adjust the top roller hinge to plumb the side - so i can finish the casing. “ Honey, do you know where . . . . . . “ deja vu all over again.

The unanswered question: Why is it ONLY my “stuff” that gets put “away”??? Sorry for the rant . . . Kinda

[Jim Koepke]

There is a little method to my madness of hanging on to things.

If it folds like a hinge they are mostly kept in one part of the shop. One exception is tools. Tools that have a hinge like pliers or scissors are mostly kept in one drawer.

Open end and box wrenches are in one drawer with sockets and socket drivers in another.

Most screw type drivers are split among three or four drawers. Cabinet drivers in one drawer. Various other screwdrivers are in another drawer. Hex screwdriver bits are in a small cabinet near where my drill motors are stowed or in a drawer with my Chapman set.

There may be some shop cleaning in the near future to make some room. It will be difficult to decide what stays and what goes.

There have been many times having a lot of 'spare parts' or other junk at hand has saved a drive into town. The closest store with a limited selection of hardware is over ten miles away. Lowes is about 14 miles away.

jtk

[Bill Dufour]

My grandmother's saying was three moves is as good as one flood for getting rid of stuff you never see again.
Bill D

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

When our house was built, to keep costs down, my deal with the builder was that I took care of getting rid of the trash. I am not sure what was the deal with the workers, but they put whole sheets of plywood in the trash pile, at least a dozen 2x6 x 12ft pieces, similar quantities of unused 2x4's, and about 5 unopened cartons of the vinyl siding. Two completely new base cabinets, and several coils of wire and a half pickup load of pvc pipe, 5 unopened bundles of shingles, They just put it all in the trash pile. I even called the builder's office about the stuff. I was told that they have a standard order of materials for each model house. It is intended that there will be some extra materials depending on what extras might be ordered or items ruined during construction. Said to just keep them that I already paid for them in the cost of the house. Here it is 5 years later and the 5 cartons of siding in the basement are getting to be in the way. I was just thinking about trying to donate the stuff and Mrs. said yesterday, we might need a shed and it would be nice if it matched the house. Just to push the consideration toward that result, I reminded her that we had all that siding.

[John K Jordan]

Those materials would be perfect for a shed for farm building. When adding a new deck and siding the workers we hired also discarded quantities of useful materials. I saved every useful piece. I used the leftover siding for a wind break around the back half of a llama shelter and always have uses for cut lengths of 6x6 and 4x4 PT.

456969

They didn't waste as much 4x8 sheets since I watched what they were doing and brought nearly full sheets to them and told them to cut that piece out of this "leftover" instead of just grabbing a new full sheet.

If you ever decide to get rid of that stuff out holler first - how far are you from East TN?

JKJ

[Kev Williams]

Pretty sure I could get rid of at least half of everything not nailed down and still not be missing anything- :D

[Bruce King]

I finally convinced my Wife that all that stuff is important and saves dozens of trips to the store. She even understands that having several hundred different types of screws and bolts is still not enough.

[Doug Garson]

Pretty sure I could get rid of at least half of everything not nailed down and still not be missing anything- :D
I double dare you to try it and report back in a month. :rolleyes:

[Andrew Seemann]

The problem with saving everything is that sometimes what you need the most is open space:)

[Clifford McGuire]

I'm about to move after being in this place for 15 years.

I promised myself that if I haven't used it since I've been here, it's not going to the next house.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Well - we started the clean out & got as far as the computer stuff & old televisions.

Nobody wants that sort of thing & they charge you ($29 ea) to dispose of them. Great. :(

I've been following some posts on Facebook and CL to see if they are having any luck getting rid of stuff like burnable DVDs and CDs, jewel cases for them and other old computer stuff.
Best Buy will accept some of it - but - they limit you to three items per day per household.

The city has a bulk item pick up day, but, it was Monday so we missed it until next month.
Oh well. It'll just have to wait.

[Kev Williams]

Pretty sure I could get rid of at least half of everything not nailed down and still not be missing anything- :D

I double dare you to try it and report back in a month. :rolleyes:

--It helps when you have at LEAST two of everything :)

[Bruce Wrenn]

--It helps when you have at LEAST two of everything :)


I'm the guy who had two of everything, including wives.

[Andrew Joiner]

I'm about to move after being in this place for 15 years.

I promised myself that if I haven't used it since I've been here, it's not going to the next house.

Clifford, I did that when built my new house and shop 18 years ago. One thing that got me was no scrap chunks of wood or plywood. It drove me nuts to have to cut up a full 4x8 sheet to make a jig or shop fixture. All my frugal life I had a good scrap pile to dig through. Now I look at my fairly organized scrap piles with a grin.

[Bob Riefer]

Another hoarder here. I grew up in New England and they have a term for it there... "Yankee Frugal", which basically means being resourceful and thrifty. My wife uses terms like "hoarder" and "junk collector", but she's mostly teasing because it is uncanny how often saved items have been put to use.

That said.. I just did a round of major cleanup / reorganization, and was able to put a bunch of stuff out for free. That was therapeutic, freeing up true junk that I had no business keeping. The rest of my stuff, I have gone a new route with... my storage space upstairs in the barn is my "hardware store" for bulk bins and stuff I don't use a lot, thereby leaving my main shop to hold only ~6 months supply of commonly used items. I restock from my storage area (or actual hardware store) when needed.

[Dan Hulbert]

I must admit that I have hoarder tendencies, but we are getting ready for a cross country move later this year. Movers charge by the pound, so I've been slowly working my way though my stuff with that in mind. We are in the "trash barrel must be full every week" mode as my wife is working her way through her stuff too. Some of my neighbors are in for quite a load of hardwood fire wood to get them through next winter.

If anybody is passing though Pueblo, CO, I have about 100 old issues of FWW that I don't want to move.

[Mike Nolan]

Yeah, but which half?

[Tom Bender]

My misc hardware bins got a clean out. Since I never use lock washers that bin had been filling up with them. And screws with straight slots are mostly gone too. Much better now. Gotta start somewhere.

[Dave Zellers]

My misc hardware bins got a clean out. Since I never use lock washers that bin had been filling up with them. And screws with straight slots are mostly gone too. Much better now. Gotta start somewhere.

This would be so hard for me to do. I have saved everything for 48 years now. I know I'll never use 99% of it but I do have times where I can go right to some unique item and when I do, I get the warm fuzzies.

Re slotted screws, that is where I'm ready to toss all the galvanized ones I bought (I'll never use them) but I have a bunch of really really old slotted rusty steel screws I've saved over the years that would be useful for restoring old furniture. Don't throw those out!

[Tom Bender]

Dave, I could have / would have sent you a small pail full. Many were from my dad's collection, he started about 100 years ago. I almost never used any and none for a restoration. Sometimes you just have to let go.