Stuff accumulates

[Ross]

I am cleaning up my shop for the first time in several years and keep uncovering packages of hardware . you know the drill you need four screws but can only buy a three pack so you have two left over. Or you need some dry wall tape for a job ten miles from home and you know that you have some at home but it isn't worth the round trip when the hardware store is a mile away. now you have another roll of tape. So far I have filled a five gallon pail with nuts, bolts, screws, wire nuts, a mixture of nails and picture hooks etc. There is another pail with about a gallon and a half of copper plumbing fittings. The bench top is covered with tools that I need to find a place for and most of this stuff hasn't seen the light of day in a couple of years. There is a gallon pail of drill bits and about a dozen files and wood rasps. All of it too valuable to simply throw away but taking up space that is also valuable. There is a basket in my bedroom that catches the pocket stuff at the end of each work day and it is half full. I can still lift it with one hand and frequently dig through it of a needed something.

AM I THE ONLY ONE WITH THIS PROBLEM?

 

[RECESS]

I am giving my old swim ladder to a club member today that wants it. I told my wife, see I can keep from holding onto something just because one day I might need it...maybe. About ten minutes later I held up the remaining 5 foot stick of polished aluminum from building the new ladder and said I should put this away.

My wife gave me the raised eyebrow and said, uh huh... you will never change.

 

[Snotter]

You get better at living a de-cluttered life by living aboard but never get fully cured.

 

[Warren Milberg]

We all have this problem. Here's the fix (if you are ready for it....):

http://www.amazon.com/Clutters-Last-Stand-Time-Junk/dp/0898791375

FYI, this problem led me to suggest the "Dumpster Dive" thread to Phil... Very successful in moving stuff from my basement to yours.

 

[JerryA]

Not at all Ross. I find as I get older that I can't remember where I put the two extra screws. So then I have to buy another three pack. I used to only have one drawer in the house with odds & ends, now I have four. One drawer is becoming more electronics in nature. When a device dies I always have the charger or power supply or USB cable or something left over, I can't throw them away.

JerryA

 

[Stu Jackson]

We just moved, and I learned about all the stuff that "it's all your fault" for keeping all these years. Now that we're starting to settle in, don't ya just know that lots of stuff that got trashed 'cuz there's no need to move it, I find I need, really NEED!!!

 

[zeehag]

LOL -- ross--yer not the only one---LOL---i aint gonna tellye about mine tho' ...LOL..!!!!!!!


uhoh--we agree again,stu!!! yipes---this yr is a weird one--first i am agreeing with stu and then i am finding i am as cluttered as ross..LOL..........

 

[Ross]

When a couple of friends bought their first house I gave them a bucket of pocket stuff. After five years they still dive into the pail to look for that odd fastener or latch. Freight costs are so high that sending this stuff anywhere is not practical.

 

[kenn]

AM I THE ONLY ONE WITH THIS PROBLEM?

You're not alone, and it's not a problem....

Correction - it's only a problem if you forget what you have "in stock". :naughty: Example - if you buy a 4-pack of screwsand only use one, then 2 months later do the exact same thing... you gotta problem... on the other hand, if you spend half a day looking for ONE screw that you just KNOW you have (somewhere), when you coulda just bought it in 20 minutes, you gotta problem

About the only thing that comes close to working around here is that my wife has imposed an arbitrary limit on the amount of "stuff" that's around. Once I hit the limit, I can't get more "stuff" til I get rid of some "stuff". It does give me an excuse to root through the vast stores once in a while... perhaps to discover a forgotten treasure

 

[TimCup]

Oh, Ross, surely you jest!!

Anybody that KEEPS a box of "string too short to keep" definitely has issues!!

About once a year I go through my junk and seperate it by trade: electrical, plumbing, structure and boat only stuff. I am amazed at the number of packages I find of screws that are 1/4 inch shorter or longer than the ones I just bought, cuz I had to have the right size exactly?!

I do keep screws seperate from bolts, and keep bolts, washers and nuts together. And I have a 24/24 rule. Anything bigger than 24 inches that I haven't needed in 2 years gets tossed or sold. It lets me keep hardware supplies forever!

cup

 

[zeehag]

i save my mayo jars and i am planning to do as did my grandpoppa--use a board/ overhead beam to which to affix them and stash my loose screws nuts and bolts and thingies f that nature in there--i can either epoxy the jar tops to a board or twist them into it---then just screw back into top of jar for returning things to abby normal...lol....as long as i keep the jars to the overhead near hull and bulkhead areas....

 

[catsailor]

I am cleaning up my shop for the first time in several years and keep uncovering packages of hardware . you know the drill you need four screws but can only buy a three pack so you have two left over. Or you need some dry wall tape for a job ten miles from home and you know that you have some at home but it isn't worth the round trip when the hardware store is a mile away. now you have another roll of tape. So far I have filled a five gallon pail with nuts, bolts, screws, wire nuts, a mixture of nails and picture hooks etc. There is another pail with about a gallon and a half of copper plumbing fittings. The bench top is covered with tools that I need to find a place for and most of this stuff hasn't seen the light of day in a couple of years. There is a gallon pail of drill bits and about a dozen files and wood rasps. All of it too valuable to simply throw away but taking up space that is also valuable. There is a basket in my bedroom that catches the pocket stuff at the end of each work day and it is half full. I can still lift it with one hand and frequently dig through it of a needed something.

AM I THE ONLY ONE WITH THIS PROBLEM?

Yes and no. Yes, I have the stash, no, it's not a problem. It does require maintenance, just like a hardware store. I have drawn some geographical limits in the house, and if it gets beyond my work shop or I can't find something, it's time for a few minutes of sorting and trashing.

Do you know what you have? Can you find it?

I know it's a rare project where I can't find 30-90% of what I need in the leftovers shelves. Many projects are free. I like that.

 

[Ctskip]

The only problem is that it takes up space. I started by putting the odd stuff on a old cookie sheet to the side of the workbench then onto two cookie sheets. Then it goes into a 5 gallon sheetrock mud pail now I have two 5 gallon buckets one inside the other taking up even less valuable space.two more and I can do a table top I've got stuff from the late 60's like a set of seat belts that are now old. It's not a problem unless you make it a problem.

Keep it up,
Ctskip

 

[zeehag]

of course,my project is still in the planning phase--so i have the jars started--i can collect 4- 8 in one summer if i eat enough tuna sammiches lol...then find the epoxy---was in the closet in the forepeak...then find the mixer thingies and .......lol......who says they will be used--they will be there--prolly empty--lol--we will see how far this project gets before i find another life threatening emergency to squash..

 

[Ross]

I buy more hardware than most because I am in business. All of the stuff is paid for on my invoice. I dump it out on a large square of canvas and sort through it that way. Then I can gather up the corners and dump it back into the pail. So many kits come with alternative mounting options and the hardware to match. That stuff accumulates quite quickly. In 30 years I have dumped four five gallon pails into a dumpster. I can't give it away and I have tried.

 

[sailaway78]

I feel better

This post has sure made me feel better. Now I know that I am not alone. I keep a lot of stuff on the boat. Have found that the plastic coffee cans work pretty good. Have them labeled with magic marker. Tape, wood screws, machine screws, electrical, etc.

 

[jibes138]

after 27 years in the same house I moved. I threw out two full dumpsters of stuff. So Ross if you only have some five gallon buckets and a few baskets half full you are doing well. These dumpsters were the kind that get winched onto a flat bed truck. Whenever I cut a board I could never throw away the cut off piece. Anything metal would surely come in handy sometime.......

 

[Ross]

I have been here since 1971 and had dumpsters here three times because the stack had gotten so big I couldn't find anything! If you can name it I have sent it to the dump.

 

[kenn]

When we bought our little boat 4 years ago, one of the happiest moments was when I realized that I was now allowed to stockpile a new category of stuff - boat stuff! I still can't pass up a nautical flea market.

 

[RAD]

Ross you described me to a tee, my shed, the shop and the basket in the bedroom and when I fill up the basket I empty it into a coffee can and place it on the work bench in the shed till that day comes when I dump it

"AM I THE ONLY ONE WITH THIS PROBLEM? " no