Have you ever been in the mood.........

[piette]

Have you guys ever just gotten in the mood to just toss everything out? I dont mean give up the chevelle or anything like that. I have been working out in my shop for like 2 weeks now, and the longer I am out there the less stuff I have. Everynight I go out there and look and think "ahh to hell with it, I'll buy a new one if I need it". I have gotten rid of things I would never have thought i would get rid of, things I should sell, but I know if I dont get rid of them now they will sit here another 10 years.

I have never been much of an "organizied" person, but I always know where everything is. But this latest bout, seems the organization bug has kicked in hard. My shop looks better than it ever has. I had a 18 foot work bench in there, which is now down to 9 feet because i have discovered the more workbench room I have the less reason I have to put things away correctly, so I am taking away my places to leave crap laying out.

I am so excited about this, I have never been on such a "get organizied" streak. They hit me every now and then for a day or two and some stuff gets kicked around, but this one has hit me hard and I am taking full advantage of it.

Later all, back to the cleaning

Jeff

[grandsport]

Yes,but nothing car related.

[Highway Star]

No way man!! It's mine!! All of it!! There is a use for everything in there!!

Seriously though, I am doing a little downsizing myself, and it is car-related. How about this...

'98 Grand Prix GT - Black, 3.8NA, bunch of "mods", - dead in driveway for 1-1/2" years sold 2 days ago being towed away friday by new owner. My wife daily drove this car for 3 years, then I drove it for 3 years, 180 miles a day for work.

'02 Ford Explorer XLT - Harvest Gold, 4.0SOHC, 4WD - parked in back yard 6 months, needing tranny work (big $) - dropped off at tranny shop tonight for rebuild.

'90 Crown Vic not even worth describing...being used as work car, beat to snot...sold today, new owner picking up friday.

Not bad, huh?

[piette]

Well mines not cars, but its all shop related stuff. Just all sorts of stuff. Parts for 3rd gen camaros, and just tons of other things, old chevelle parts that I replaced with new, and nuts and screws and bolts, and just all sorts of things. I'm not talking just a little, I have the bed of my pickup truck completely loaded almost to the roof line with crap to go to the dump tomorrow, and I will have another to load yet tomorrow.

Lots of it is construction materials. I have been in construction so long, and you always have left over stuff, but now I am just saying screw it and tossing it. There is only so long I can hold onto this stuff.

A good example, sonatubes (you know the cardboard tubes that you fill with concrete for mounting light poles to or deck footings), I have loads of them around here, always in the way. I checked Home Depot the other day, they are only a couple bucks to buy new ones. I tossed all mine. The few dollars I would save is not nearly equal to the frustration I will save myself by getting them out of the way.

Jeff

[Cameano]

I've thrown out a ton of stuff in the past year, literally. Sold off some, gave some away, threw some away. I had one of those aluminum roll-up tonneau covers for a Chevy Colorado my buddy had given me before he left the island. I put it up for $150, then $100, nobody bit. Posted it up for FREE, had a kid show up. I started loading it in his truck, and he wants to fit it up. I told him I didn't have time to install it, then he says "no thanks." I ended up scrapping it. Looked it up online, it costs $1k new. Nobody wanted it. Amazing.

Fastest thing I got rid of was an old poly barrelled concrete mixer for $75. Motor would overhead after a couple of loads, was weak. I got my money's worth out of it when I bought it though. Threw more stuff away than I've sold, though. I listed some new gearsets for $100 with shim kits, no bites. Nobody's spendin' money around here right now.

[R66SS427]

So Jeff...........when your shop is completely organized and you still feel the urge, I have this shop in upstate NY that is dieing to have you stop by.

[tunes]

I do that every so often. I just get tired of having to work around stuff that sets there year after year and finally start throwing stuff away. If it's good parts I'll give them to a friend.

[grumpy]

I got in that mood several years ago and pitched or sold everything or anything i did not use. It was a great feeling when done to reclaim my house.

Problem is it all started over again.

[piette]

Originally Posted by grumpy

I got in that mood several years ago and pitched or sold everything or anything i did not use. It was a great feeling when done to reclaim my house.

Problem is it all started over again.

Thats pretty much what I am doing now. If it has sat here more than a year or two with me saying "someday I might need that", its gone. Now if it is something with real value obviously I am keeping it, I have a couple big blocks sitting here that wont be making the scrap heap (sorry guys) but even I am shocked at what is finally getting tossed out.

The nice thing though Dave is if it does start over, I will have at least a few years of minimal frustration working around crap I dont really need.

I told my wife last night, after the garage is done I am moving on to the basement. When we bought our house, half the basement was completely finished off. Then a few years ago I discovered a massive leak in one of the foundation walls. So the basement became unfinished. I fixed the leak, and just had all new concrete poured around my house so now we have a completely dry basement, so time to refinish it. Before i do I am going through it, tossing all the furniture that was in the finished basement and we will just get new as a reward for getting it done again. That way I dont have to work around it and keep it protected and such.

This is actually fun, tossing stuff out. Everynight I stand back and admire how much more clear and clean room I have in my shop than I did the day before.

Jeff

[jnorton]

Originally Posted by piette

I had a 18 foot work bench in there, which is now down to 9 feet because i have discovered the more workbench room I have the less reason I have to put things away correctly, so I am taking away my places to leave crap laying out.

Amen, brother. My workbench is about 8 feet long, and I still have crap piled on it right now. I think you guys have motivated me to go down there today and put it all away. I just pulled the engine from the Chevelle, so I have a starter, distributor, air cleaner, carb, and many bags of small parts neatly piled up on the work bench. The straw that broke the camel's back was the ceramic Christmas tree that I just repaired for my grandmother. Now THAT's on the bench. My rule is: if you get more than one project stacked on the bench, it's time to clean the bench.