Tired of the mess in my shop

[zing]

Worked on this tonight in the shop. What I realized real quick is the bulk of the clutter belongs to my wife. 6 totes of Christmas decorations for a lady who puts up a tree and a string of lights on the front porch. I am going to build a specific purpose rack that holds rubber made totes. Tree on top and then 4 totes wide as many tall as 10 foot ceiling allows. Once I get her stuff up I may build a second one for some of my stuff.

I hear your pain. When my wife's mother passed away we inherited a lot of stuff with nowhere to put it. Antique dining sets, a bedroom set, a whole bunch of bureaus and buffets, and uncounted smaller things. Even with a house in the city and a "retirement dream farm" we haven't any place to use all of this stuff, so the attic is jammed and a useful basement room has become useless longterm storage. We will absolutely never use her grandmother's sterling silverware in the fancy wooden box, etc, but no way it will ever be sold. Even when I do convince her to part with something, she has such an inflated sense of its worth that it would never sell. No one is going to pay for the value of her emotional connection to a chair.

Oh well. Given enough time it will no longer be my problem, and will become my future son in laws' problem.

For the OP... nice find on that set of shelves, they look very solid. As well, ... 6 generators? Yikes!

 

[NativeSon]

Very nice. It's an ongoing problem with me that drives me crazy. If I create an open area in my shelving, my wife finds something to put there!!!!

Eddie

Eddie-- Your newly married, you'll get use to it. After you've created that very valuable "open area" you will need to quickly fill it with your stuff. Keeping one step ahead of the women we love is a full time job, but after a while it gets to be a natural reaction(called Survival mode). Disclaimer*** I have the best wife in the world(seriously), though she does think faster than me. It keeps me on my toes..........never did like ballet.

Charlie

 

[grsthegreat]

Well, im 1/2 way done insulating walls and painting them. I have all 3 sections of shelving installed and bolted to floor with 16 - 5/8 x 5" threaded concrete impact bolts. supposed to be better than red heads. seems real easy to install and very strong. i actually climbed on to top of shelves and shook them for all i was worth..not a bit of movement.

Just starting o organize with the wifes help....and $300 worth of organizers from home depot.

 

[Coyote machine]

Have same plastic shelving, 17 units, IIRC, and stack them in categories, electrical, fasteners, auto, paint, etc. I keep trying to pair it down from stuff I've had forever and not used. I know the, 'I just tossed one of those' regretful remorse cries of frustration; BUT I will say getting rid of stuff/junk is liberating. And would we really have needed the item two days later if we hadn't just recently 'discovered' that we had it 'in stock' after ten years of being buried deep in the pile of forgotten items? Doubt it! So start by tossing the wife's junk then step up to your own!?:confused2: She'll thank you for it, in the long run, theoretically.:confused3: I tell my wife if she hasn't worn it for 5 years it's gone. Then she fills the void with new stuff.....
I recently put a harvest gold tub out on the roadside and it took a while, but its gone now. It is amazing what goes on my dirt road, I keep trying to find items that don't go free, so far none....
I store paint cans in a crawl apace with a list of the types/colors and room area where used to allow for easy repairs recoats. This has proved to be worthwhile.

 

[sixdogs]

I feel your pain, I filled the pickup yesterday with crap I just had to hold on too. I told my son that it feels so freeing to get rid of stuff. I can't get anything done because my mind is cluttered with crap because the shop is cluttered. Just throw it away!

Roughly 40 years ago I came across a hand made hoe--head only--at a yard sale. It was beautiful and maybe 100 years old. Anyway, it only needed a special style handle. I stashed it in the barn and every now and then figured I should get a handle and put it to use. Finally, and this is 40 years later, I debated at length if I should keep it or sell it. I waffled back and forth.

Fast forward a week later when at a farm auction I found not only one but two of these handles. Bidding was stiff but I bought them. Only a day later when I looked for the head again did I realize I had tossed in and only thought that I had kept it. Good grief. Now I have two handles in search of a hoe.

So there's the lesson. If you do keep something for a long time and then toss it, know that there is an unwritten law that you will pay a price for such disrespect. Just my two cents here of a lesson learned. Better to die with it than tempt fate.

 

[grsthegreat]

in 1-1/2 weeks i havnt had 20 minutes available to work in shop. im working 7 days a week right now... have been for 21 straight days.

this blows. found out i have to work this weekend also.

ive just taken on too much work. i pulled all my advertising for 30 days and im not going to take on any new work till all other is finished.

I HAVE to get time to finish the shop before winter hits.

 

[wmonroe]

in 1-1/2 weeks i havnt had 20 minutes available to work in shop. im working 7 days a week right now... have been for 21 straight days. this blows. found out i have to work this weekend also. ive just taken on too much work. i pulled all my advertising for 30 days and im not going to take on any new work till all other is finished. I HAVE to get time to finish the shop before winter hits.

It gets old working like that, just a day at home to not be working is a great thing. When I travel for work I usually work about fifteen days at fourteen hours a day then a day off then another fifteen or so. After the job is done and I get home it takes a few days to get back to "normal".

 

[mark02tj]

She took the daughters to the mall today and told me to wash dishes... maybe I should build shelves while I can.

Those redheaded wives are pretty feisty, ain't they? :laughing::laughing::laughing::laughing:

 

[flusher]

Well, im 1/2 way done insulating walls and painting them. I have all 3 sections of shelving installed and bolted to floor with 16 - 5/8 x 5" threaded concrete impact bolts. supposed to be better than red heads. seems real easy to install and very strong. i actually climbed on to top of shelves and shook them for all i was worth..not a bit of movement.

Just starting o organize with the wifes help....and $300 worth of organizers from home depot.

View attachment 391610 View attachment 391609

Looking good. I had the same problem in my 24x42 ft shop (12 ft walls)--too much junk stacked on the floor mostly in cardboard boxes. Had a real problem with nesting field mice. So I just had a load of 8-ft long 2x4s delivered and started building 14" wide shelves and installing them wherever there was room along the walls.



Also built shelves for the workbenches. Bought a bunch of plastic boxes from Walmart to store the small stuff and labeled those boxes carefully so I have a fighting chance of finding that stuff when I need it. Let the magic begin

 

[Rio_Grande]

Started today getting serious about removing the 140+ ac units in my shop! I get behind and they pile up. Did about 30 today, hope to do about 45 tomorrow.