Been spending some time here and there sorting through unsorted hardware and tossing stuff that is too rusty into a box. I am planning on hitting the scrapyard this weekend, to haul away as much steel/iron as I can safely put in my minivan, which sadly means, the damaged 6.0 block will stay on the stand for now. But, I should still have a 200-300 lbs of stuff to get rid of, and gain a small amount more space in the garage.
I did manage to completely empty one portable toolbox, and unless I find a really good use for it soon, I'll send it on its way. I also appear to have a lifetime supply of M6 and M8 bolts.
A lot of what I have sorted through is leftovers from various projects, that I let build up rather than deal with once the project was complete, probably because I rarely ever consider any specific project "complete".
Baby steps.
When I moved into my current house six (6) years ago, I was happy to see that the garage had an attic I could store my extra parts in. The problem is now, six year later, I now have an attic busting at the seams with mostly worthless parts I'll never use. Time to purge in a major way.
Right now, the wife and I are beyond sick of the amount of stuff we have in our house. We're planning on deciding what is needed at a minimum and then start selling/giving away stuff from there. Going to be a year-long process.
wae said:
In reply to eastsideTim :
As your friend, I feel like I have a duty to point out that is not a method to reduce hoarding but to do better hoarding.
Yes and no. Hardware hoarding can be mitigated by good organization. Being able to quickly find the nut or bolt needed can prevent one from buying a bag of said hardware for one piece with the extras getting tossed into the black hole of disorganization, never to be seen again.
A good winter TV project was taking the multiple coffee cans of hardware my ex- and I had accumulated and then sorting them into nut and bolt bins. Then when I do have to buy hardware, any extras have an easily accessible home to go into. I did a similar task at my house a few years ago.
How to stop hoarding? Get divorced. Have to sell your house. You downsize quickly...
I don't know if I've already posted this because the thread was started in 2019.
But I take the opinion with nearly everything, if I haven't used it for a few years or it's just sitting in a box in a closet or storage unit not being used.......it's likely not that important and can sold/donated/tossed in the garbage.
Although having a house again now for 5+ years, I've started to accumulate WAY more stuff than I need again.........but not tools or project cars.
DocRob
Reader
4/25/23 7:51 p.m.
Good for you eastsideTim and all who are trying to break the hoarding habit.
My dad had a bit of hoarding habit for tools, parts, projects, etc. When he passed it took us months to sort through it all. In the end his tendency to move from one thing to the next meant he didn't often finish projects. So there was a lot of stuff to sort through. I decided I didn't want my heirs to have to deal with that kind of thing.
Add in 3x cross country moves with project car(s) parts and things and pretty soon you don't want more stuff. I don't even want a big garage/shop anymore.
Which I suppose are my real secrets: 1) Move a lot. You won't buy/carry as much stuff. 2) Keep your space(s) as small as can be to force you to be efficient by not having space for x,y,z.
I hate seeing threads like this pop back up because it makes me look within myself and ask "what my problem is?". I applaud all of you that can do it, but it just seems to get worse and worse for me. Cars and crap seem to be like abandoned puppies to me. I feel the need to rescue all of them. Yesterday I got a call from a good friend who asked if I knew anyone who needed a small 6x10 utility trailer with a title. I certainly don't need another one, but the price was CHEAP, so now I have another utility trailer! Cool part is that it has a carnival game on it. After a bit of research, it's called Water Wars, a water balloon game where you shoot them at each other. Here is where the hoarding issue arises. Do I keep it and rent it out? Scrap the game and sell the trailer? Remove the game from the trailer, assemble it, see what it needs and attempt to sell it as a functional game? That all takes time, effort and additional expenses. Anyone know the market for a towable self-contained carnival/birthday rental game? Anybody interested in becoming an entrepreneur and owning a carnival/birthday rental game? They do rent for $250-$400/day! And before anyon asks, YES, I know I have a problem.....
In reply to lotusseven7 (Forum Supporter) :
I had a similar discussion with my neighbor (and fellow car guy) last weekend. We both lamented on having too much crap stuffed into too little space as he was futzing with a '72 Cougar XR7 for a friend that hadn't been on the road in 30 years. I was doing an oil change and tire rotation (and unplanned screw hole plug) on the minivan and had cars spread about to get scissor lift #2 out of the garage and have room.
I mentioned how whenever I get parts for something, I have started to write on the box in sharpie marker what it in the box and what car it's for. Since I have 6 projects and one daily driver, I have parts on shelves for all of them and if I get hit my a bus tomorrow, it'll be hell to sort through even with labeled boxes.
While it doesn't entirely help with the parts collecting, at least I can more easily find stuff. Especially since I'm currently not at home, yet somehow still manage to collect parts...
Box collecting is another problem I'm trying to break, but I'm getting better... I received three boxes during my last trip and managed to cut up all of them and get them into the recycling bin. However, I still have way too many boxes in my attic. Especially since the eBay method of selling stuff is now dead.
Noddaz said:
People can STOP?
Look! Eclipse 2g parts on CL for FREE!
https://annapolis.craigslist.org/zip/d/edgewater-eclipse-2g/7602378125.html
Maybe we should ask them how to stop hoarding.
The scrap run was successful, and it all fit in my Miata, which I think amused some of the yard workers. Steel is definitely up from last fall.
On my lunch break today, I dug out a trunk box, and found the following: a corded sawzall that needs work where the blade mounts, a corded variable speed drill with a keyed chuck (and no key), a corded single speed drill with a keyless chuck, and a heavy duty corded drill with a keyed chuck. Keeping the heavy duty drill because it has come in handy in the past, but the others seem a little redundant. I have another drill I use regularly, and I have a cordless sawzall. If I was hacking up cars regularly, the corded sawzall might be worth fixing, but I don't.
So, the sawzall probably gets trashed, because I don't want to take it apart to scrap the motor. I may just sit it on or next to my trash can for someone else to grab. So, what to do with the drills? Toss them in a goodwill bin, scrap/throw them away? Trying not to add too much work here, and they don't seem like it is worth dealing with the public to try to sell them for a few bucks.
Same goes for a portable metal toolbox I should get rid of. It's kind of neat, but it is taking up space that could be better utilized.
The plan for now is to find stuff I want to keep, but won't need for a while, and stash it in the trunk box, thus freeing up more space. Also, a set of wheels I have that I will not be ditching for now will fit on top of it very well, and be out of the way.
It's not "hoarding" it's "collecting." Sheesh. I wonder if Leno has to put up with this E36 M3.
What doesn't help:
When you forget to order a carb tuning kit you need until you are 350 miles from home and don't remember exactly which model you have. So you just order kits for both options.
Sigh...
