Clutter happens, or..... shop organization

[Gordon Maney]

Having been a pack rat most of my life, I keep materials, parts, components, and other things because I might need or use them. This leads to quite an accumulation of stuff which can become suffocating and detrimental to productivity.

How do you decide what to keep, and how do you keep it? Is your shop neat and orderly and bright and clean? ...or something else?

Which parts do you keep and what do you discard?

Discuss.

[Bob Thompson]

My method is simple. I very carefully determine which materials and parts I will need for a given project and the gather all those parts in one place . This makes it quite easy to throw them away about two weeks before I start the project.

[Kevin Mienke]

My method is simple. I very carefully determine which materials and parts I will need for a given project and the gather all those parts in one place . This makes it quite easy to throw them away about two weeks before I start the project.

I think that says it all. I belly laughed at first and then became very sober. Nice job, Bob.

There is a balance. Too clean of a shop is not comfortable, but when your work bench is cluttered and your floor space is a path.....

The best solution in my mind is to keep everything, but hide it. When I say hide it, I mean exactly that. I have a nice pile of things started behind the shed. Don't tell Momma.

[Bob Thompson]

It's uncomfortably close to the truth isn't it.
I'm actually the type that goes all out and then cleans afterward.
I always feel great after I organize my garage, up until my wife says "Oh good, You cleaned the garage. Now we can get some of that stuff out of the guest room closet" . I can actually feel my heart sink when that happens.

[Gordon Maney]

My method is simple. I very carefully determine which materials and parts I will need for a given project and the gather all those parts in one place . This makes it quite easy to throw them away about two weeks before I start the project.

My reality is that I gather everything needed for a project, may never do it, and keep the parts. Forever.

[Gordon Maney]

I think that says it all. I belly laughed at first and then became very sober. Nice job, Bob.

There is a balance. Too clean of a shop is not comfortable, but when your work bench is cluttered and your floor space is a path.....

The best solution in my mind is to keep everything, but hide it. When I say hide it, I mean exactly that. I have a nice pile of things started behind the shed. Don't tell Momma.

Do you have some kind of a spy cam in my shop?

[Ron in Indiana]

I have a 60 x 80 metal building that is used for our contracting business. Over the course of years we accumulate a lot of leftovers from jobs. A couple years ago I went through the shop pitching and saving. Some of the materials had been there for 15 years so some of it went but some stayed. How I determined which was which was not an exact science.

Now that I've been engaged in restoring trucks I've gathered more "stuff". I do have large selves in the back corner to store my parts but it too has started to look unruly. I know that some of these parts are becoming scarce and I may need them at some point or someone else may need some too. Those will stay.

If it's getting so deep in the shop that it becomes hard to be productive it's time to clean house. Save the scarce items but if it's something that you haven't used in say 10 years do you REALLY need it? It's hard to give up that "well I might need that" item but it comes to a point that something has to give. So advertise it, sell it, swap it or trash it.

My wife is a confirmed packrat also and it is serious discussion time when I suggest something needs to find a new home. I'm still waiting to win that one.

[Gordon Maney]

It is a sliding scale, isn't it? Even consider just script bolts. As time passes, parts become more rare.

I remember when I helped Dave Butler move from Denver, Colorado, to Iowa, all the stuff that got scrapped because it was not worth moving. I remember wanting to take it all with me....

[rickt4498]

ode to the pack rat...

my dad was King of the pack rats among all of our friends and relatives...

Ted was born in 1917, my grandfather, Martin died 12 years later.

So my dad faced the Depression fatherless. I guess that made him appreciate keeping things for a rainy day.

As a teen, I would occasionally clean the garage of all the clutter and crap...

Then one day I needed a piece of wood, 4 x 2 x 1...

Dad gently responded, " there WAS one in the garage in the barrel, but you threw it out..."

I immediately saw in my mind's eye, that large cardboard barrel, the type with metal rings top and bottom, the EXACT piece of wood I was now seeking...

I never threw out another item from Dad's garage without his permission,
but I DID do a lot of straightening and organizing...

to this day, my three sons are AMAZED what I can pull from MY COLLECTION...

son of the KING OF THE PACKRATS...

thanks dad.

[712edf]

This is a toughy for me. First I hate clutter. As a single bachelor I am known a what's been termed a minimalist. I have no tv,microwave,bed,furniture,crap hanging on the wall, etc.

My household furnishings consist of this laptop (and its accessories), an upright vacuum cleaner, space heater for winter, small fan, sleeping bag, shaving kit for the toiletries, a small fireproof portable safebox, and a giant travel bag that acts as a dresser. That's it..I live in a 500sq.ft. efficiency that's too big & can literally have all my possessions outta here in about 3 min.......

But, you asked about in the shop. I keep regularly used stuff in my work truck, my '78 W200 & big tools (jackstands, compressor, impact, etc.) & my Dodge stuff neatly put away in my dad's shop. I keep my stuff and his stuff separate. I try to keep automotive stuff apart from my work (painting tools, ladders) stuff, apart from my fishing/camping stuff....If I don't use something for a long period of time I will sell it or give it away, like that $48 ball joint socket. Same for clothes....If you really use something then hang onto it, otherwise chunk it.

[Jake]

In my shop I tend to start a project and either hang the necesary parts on the wall nearby or on a shelf nearby. Then I can keep a running inventory in my head as I progress on the project. This keeps most of the paper work in the office where it belongs.
When it comes to keeping track of tools... Put it this way now that I have sons of my own I have a whole new understanding of why my Dad used to get frustrated with me...

[Desoto61]

I'm a bit obsessive compulsive when it comes to keeping things organized, though I find that I do it in fits and bursts. I go for a while keeping things fairly organized but eventually the cast off builds up and I get frustrated and go on a cleaning binge.

I have learned that I'm fine with the perception of organized. When I started setting up my garage I made sure I did cabinets or those big plastic totes with shelving. With doors and lids I can have piles of stuff but close the doors lids and I don't feel like I'm living in a junkyard. It looks organized, and I'm good with that.

[oldmopar]

My shop is always a mess parts and tools all over the place. If you remember the old odd couple tv show my wife says my garage looks like Oscars bedroom , the strange thing is I can usually find everything. I was planning to sell my house last year did not however;I clean and straightened up the garage and shop and I am still looking for the parts I put away.

[OLD DODGE]

Wife: "Honey I was thinking about having a garage sale, so if you can think of anything you'd like to get rid of we can sell it then."

Me: "If there was something I didn't want to keep, I wouldn't have it. No thanks."

Wife: "But you never get rid of anything!"

Me: "Thats why you're still around."

[Bruce]

Like This One

Wife: "Honey I was thinking about having a garage sale, so if you can think of anything you'd like to get rid of we can sell it then."

Me: "If there was something I didn't want to keep, I wouldn't have it. No thanks."

Wife: "But you never get rid of anything!"

Me: "Thats why you're still around."

I am sort of in between, I to know where everything is, unless I'm needing it!