How big a pack rat are you? [Archive] - Sawmill Creek Woodworking Community

Greg Cuetara

11-28-2008, 10:28 PM

are you kidding me....I am trying to clean up the house right now and I have a room full of my wife's stuff from high school. Old papers, notes from algebra. If I were to throw it away I would probably be looking at a divorce. How do I get rid of it?

I do have to say that I have my own boxes and piles but I am getting better that if I don't remember it or havn't used it for 6 mo. it goes in the trash.

I do not want to move boxes of 'stuff' again and my wife wants to move in the spring time. This will be a fun winter!

Tim Byars

11-28-2008, 11:08 PM

My grandmother used to save the little plastic cream containers from the IHOP, because she was just sure they would end up useful for something.
I must have inherited something there, because I can't bear to part with wood scraps. It just seems a shame to discard them, so I wind up with boxes of even the smallest cutoffs...who knows when something of just that size might come in handy?
My wife keeps insisting there's medication for people like me...

David G Baker

11-28-2008, 11:27 PM

If it is trash it gets tossed. If I may have a use for it it stays. I have a lot of space for keeping things. I am approaching 65 and the thought is floating around in my head about getting rid of things that I know that I couldn't possibly use in my life time. I may live long enough to actually do that, if not then it becomes someone else's problem. :D

glenn bradley

11-28-2008, 11:40 PM

Due to the exposure to my dad and his dad (highly organized pack-rats), I have acquired a reverse lifestyle. I keep, dutifully label and store, up and away, most useful items that will not be touched in the next 6 months (or years). Items that will be used are organized so as to be found without too much "whaddideyedoowithat?" activity. Much to the distress of the LOML (a horribly reasonless pack-rat) I throw stuff out or send it to recycle whenever possible! I love the open space in my shop and guard it selfishly ;-)

Dave Anderson NH

11-29-2008, 8:16 AM

Yesterday while SWMBO was with her sister doing the Black Friday thing I lit the first fire in my shop wood stove. I was able to keep the fire going for over 12 hours with just the useless cutoffs and scrap from the new bench project and stuff that had accumulated since last heating season. The first woodstove burn of the season always helps me to recover shop space and storage. As for other stuff accumulated in the shop and the house.....we won't go there.:D

Matt Ocel

11-29-2008, 9:12 AM

I'm a thrower outer.

When I was a Field Manager in new home construction I used to collect all the leftovers from a home ie, millwork, fasteners, door knobs, joist hangers, etc. Until you get souch a big pile of everything, you have to rent a storage bin, you have to keep moving it around, then it gets damaged, then you throw it out anyway.
After a while you realize it saves money by throwing it out right away.

Thomas Williams

11-29-2008, 11:34 AM

Not to lead the subject astray, but if you have usable building material that you want to get rid of, look for a local habitat resale store. The local store will accept pretty much anything (above trash) new or used except for partial cans of paint.
Also, they are a very inexpensive source for the DIYer.

As to the OP question: Save it if you think you will need it. Not be able to find it when you do need it, so you have to buy it. Then you will find the one you thought you had in the first place. So, then get rid of it. Only to need one again. And on it goes . . .

Michael Schapansky

11-29-2008, 11:40 AM

I moved from a house with a big garage that was full of stuff. Now I have a house with garage (shop) a 17x21 shed (full) and a 2000sf barn. I find that stuff is beginning to migrate out to the barn now. I may have to begin planning more outbuildings.

Jim O'Dell

11-29-2008, 1:12 PM

If you step into my shop, or my computer corner in the guest bedroom, you will know that I am a hopeless packrat. :rolleyes:

At my parents house for Thanksgiving, someone had given my Dad a Sears whole house vacuum that you mount in the garage, and run outlets to each room. He didn't have a use for it, but saved it for me. :D As I was loading it in the van, my wife says, "What's that??" with that voice that told me she knew. She looked at my Dad and said, "It's not fair that this packrat stuff is in the genes!!" :p Dad and I just looked at each other, smirked and went on about our business. Didn't look to see, but I think Mom was consoling her in the background. :D Jim.

Derek Stevens

11-29-2008, 1:41 PM

well...I keep about everything. scraps of metal to someday turn into marking knifes, little blocks of wood fro my students to use for practice dovetails, turnings, or for the chess set I'll build someday. Pics of my shop are here, and they show the level of crap keeping that I work so hard to maintain.

David Freed

11-29-2008, 3:14 PM

I have stuff piled up everywhere, inside and out. A good example of how much stuff I collect is when I finally cleaned up my scrap steel pile. It was outside and I had been throwing things in this pile for about 15 years, so some of it was getting pretty rusty. When scrap prices got really high last winter, I decided it was time to get rid of most of it. I sold 7 tons of steel, and about 600 pounds of aluminum. The bad thing is, that was only a small part of all the different kinds of stuff I have.

David G Baker

11-29-2008, 6:09 PM

A high school friend of mine had to make the decision to clean up his dad's place. His dad was approaching 100 years old and was still fit as a fiddle. He had been a metal worker most of his life and the most serious collector of "STUFF" I have ever met. At last count there was 29 full semi tractor trailer scrap hauler loads filled with scrap metal of different shapes and sizes. The price of scrap metal was high so they did well financially. The last time I visited them there was plenty of items left to haul away. I was actually jealous and wished I could have had access to a lot of the metal. A true pack rat at heart.

randall rosenthal

11-29-2008, 8:39 PM

i have my own junk yard out behind the shop...two spare austin healey bodies just for starters...lots of construction, car and boat stuff....and more. but thats just outside...two storage buildings...etc....

is there a 12 step program?

Bill Cunningham

11-29-2008, 11:19 PM

David G Baker

11-29-2008, 11:47 PM

Bill,
You are a fellow traveler. I have had items that I have spent hours looking for and I know that I put it were it would be obvious and easy to find. Two years later I find it in the only place I didn't look. I have many special places. :o

Randal Stevenson

11-30-2008, 12:16 AM

Jeeeeze!!!! I never seem to throw anything out .. My wife swears she could probably find Hoffa's body in my back room :D It would seem I make great use of a warped version of a old saying "A Place for everything, and EVERYTHINGS in that place!" :rolleyes: It does no good to correct it.. Every single time I have something thats been lost for a while, I will say to my self : Self I say "I will put this someplace special, so I'll know where it is when I need it"..I do that, but it's always a Big mistake!! I might as well just throw the damn thing in the garbage, because I will never see it again..

I believe there is still a reward if you could find Hoffa's body, that would be a nice tool budget boost.:D
Both my father and grandfather (on my mothers side) are/were packrats. I inherited the gene and in part picked up several of the environmental causes. I understand and trust stuff, a lot more then people. That said, between starting down the "I can't find it so go buy another" path that I have seen before, and seeing people who have lost EVERYTHING in fires, crimes, natural disasters, I think I would be MUCH happier to clear out the clutter (and get rid of cheap or excess tools, etc). I am currently trying to turn things around, including my attitude, and the first step I took was to actually tell my family, no Christmas gifts for me this year. I picked out one item that I wanted (EZ related) and that IS my gift.

Still trying to figure out the definition of hoarding and packrat and how they differ? Is the difference being able to walk through the place without stepping over stuff? LOL

Denny Rice

11-30-2008, 2:02 AM

I go through stages and my wife is worse than I am. She spends most of the summers with her mother in Illinois. Then I get rid of some of the clutter and she doesn't even notice.:D

I love it! I thought I was the only guy that did that.......My wife's parents live in KY and when she takes our son and goes to visit, daddy gets to cleaning. My wife can be the biggest packrat, I love her, but the woman will not toss anything! Hell we have tax returns from 1984! She tells me "you never know"....

Judy Kingery

11-30-2008, 2:48 AM

I would suppose we fall somewhere in the middle. I'm an organizer or I like to tidy up; my husband is a stacker. So every so often I'll go through the wood bin (with which he has little interest) and tidy up. And the shop. I was going through our equipment file to find some manual on something he wanted, oh, this spring - on this old rototiller. Found it - and a receipt he kept for something in 1988. Made me laugh, I said surely we can throw this way, we haven't had that (some typewriter or something) in YEARS. We had a good laugh. But yes, we both pack-rat to some extent. And we both save things 'that might come in handy some day.'

This is a great thread!

Jude

David G Baker

11-30-2008, 12:30 PM

I still have my WW2 ration stamps from when I was a baby. Guess that qualifies me as a pack rat. :D

Bryan Rocker

11-30-2008, 12:39 PM

Dave that would be a great thing to leave to one of your grand kids ;)

Angus Hines

11-30-2008, 12:42 PM

I save it and save it until I can't stand it anymore then there's a big bon-fire:eek: and it all magically disappears !!!:D

Belinda Barfield

12-01-2008, 9:02 AM

Yep, packus ratticus. That would be me. But my SO has me beat hands down.

Fred Sanford is Alive & Well in Savannah (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=95963&highlight=sanford)

Ken Fitzgerald

12-01-2008, 9:23 AM

Yep, packus ratticus. That would be me. But my SO has me beat hands down.

Fred Sanford is Alive & Well in Savannah (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=95963&highlight=sanford)

FOUL!

No fair.....Belinda and SO entering this....Pros shouldn't be allowed to compete with rank amateurs!:eek::rolleyes:

Belinda Barfield

12-01-2008, 9:32 AM

FOUL!

No fair.....Belinda and SO entering this....Pros shouldn't be allowed to compete with rank amateurs!:eek::rolleyes:

Sorry, Ken. Just remember, no matter how bad you think it is, it can always be worse. ;) Feel free to bump us out if you need to. It wasn't my intention to hijack.

Ken Fitzgerald

12-01-2008, 9:41 AM

Sorry, Ken. Just remember, no matter how bad you think it is, it can always be worse. ;) Feel free to bump us out if you need to. It wasn't my intention to hijack.

NP....maybe this is a pro-am event!:D

Kevin Jaynes

12-01-2008, 9:42 AM

"How big a pack rat are you?"

I need professional help, and I don't mean movers. :rolleyes:

David G Baker

12-01-2008, 10:00 AM

Did someone mention the 12 step program?

Randal Stevenson

12-01-2008, 10:54 AM

Did someone mention the 12 step program?

Can you walk 12 steps through it?:D

Kyle Kraft

12-01-2008, 11:53 AM

Journeyman Dumpster Diver here.

Joe Mioux

12-01-2008, 12:27 PM

Used to keep around items that might spark a partial interest, but no more. About once every couple weeks I get on a "trash" kick. The kids have a stroke when this happens as I no longer limit it to the shop, the whole house is included. If it's in the floor and I have to step over it--it goes.

Oh Man how I would love to do that!!!!!!

joe

Ed Breen

12-01-2008, 1:41 PM

Guilty as charged. I've always said that I was a collecytor, I'm actually a hoarder and pack rat. LOML decries my stashes bnut she has her own barn with all her pickings.
I did succumb once and had a meighbor start taking stuff (not junk) to the iron buyers and wouldn't you know it, he started in what we call the crib with the piping for an extra tramploine. Well, wouldn't you know it- the tramp in the back yard broke a weld and an ell connection but the other tramploine is gone. That's whaT HAPPENS WHEN YOU THROW THINGS AWAY.
My FIL was also a collector and we how have all of his goodies also. I sail on a sea of goodies.
Ed:p:p

Brian Elfert

12-01-2008, 1:46 PM

My dad complains about all the junk I have laying around whenever he stops by. I can barely step into the garage right now there is so much junk in there. The inside of the house itself is pretty clean and mostly clutter free.

A lot of the stuff is for my bus conversion project, but I did actually go through and sell or throw away a bunch of stuff in late October. I have a bunch of stuff that I might never use, but if I toss it I'll probably need it 6 months later and either not be able to get it or have to pay a bunch of money for.

I do have several boxes of stuff from when I moved (in 2001!) that I keep finding and realizing I miss the stuff, but the boxes never get unpacked due to lack of places to put the stuff, but even after 7 years I would never throw it away.

My father complains about my stuff, but he probably has twice as much as I do stashed in the garage, his workshop, and in a spare room in the basement. The garage is small yet every wall has shelves and cabinets full of stuff.

David G Baker

12-01-2008, 1:56 PM

Randal,
I can step through it but it is a death trap to anyone that isn't as agile as I am. It is sort of like a mine field, enter at your own risk. :D

Belinda Barfield

12-01-2008, 2:04 PM

A lot of the stuff is for my bus conversion project, but I did actually go through and sell or throw away a bunch of stuff in late October.

LOL . . .

Brian, If you need anything, anything at all for your bus just let me know. Mr. Sanford and I probably won't ever get around to refurbing a bus!

Chris Damm

12-02-2008, 8:01 AM

I am a former packrat (yea right!) but I have instituted a 10 year rule. If I haven't touched it in 10 years I get rid of it. Now most people tell me it should be 5 years but baby steps, baby steps!

Bill Cunningham

12-02-2008, 11:30 PM

Well, ya never need it until right after you've thrown it out anyway.. I just wish I had saved some of the stuff I had as a kid, I'd be a rich man today.. My old peddle car is now worth about 500 bucks, but I took it apart as a child, and put all the pieces where I just knew I would find them when I needed them.. And, I think Hoffa was in the trunk :rolleyes:

Steven DeMars

12-02-2008, 11:35 PM

Everytime I throw something away, I need it two days later . . .

Steve:)

David G Baker

12-02-2008, 11:39 PM

Steve,
Amen!!!!!!!!!!!:o

Al Willits

12-03-2008, 9:07 AM

"""""""""
So the question is just how small a piece of wood/wire/etc do you keep for "just in case". Posting pictures of the small stuff is encouraged.
""""""

I tried, but the camarea won't pick it up....ya I'm a packrat too.

Getting better though, I used to have a theory, kinda went like this.
Anything new got saved, anything.

When it got a year old, I gave thought to disposing of it if I hadn't used it.
Just a thought though.

2-5 years old, if it hadn't rotted away by then, it got put in a storage box and put away so I wouldn't lose it.

5-10 years, box got put out in storage shed till wife complains, usually the next spring when she tried to get her garden stuff out.

10 -20 years, it has now made it to the garage attic, and is usually easy to spot, the dust has covered the magic marker printing on the box so I have to clean it off before I know what it is, boxes that are leaking anything at this stage get tossed.

20-30 years old, at this stage they get prime consiteration for the thrash, or I give it to my neighbor, who's a pack rat too, he in turns gives me his stuff.

I have gotten better though, I no longer take all the neighbors stuff, well at least the stuff I can't figure out what it is...

The wife has volunteered to help clean, but I'm afraid she won't let me take the neighbors neat stuff...and worse.:D

Al