Off, then back on the wagon

[twistsol]

Hi, my name is Chr's, and I have a messy shop. I thought I could go it alone and quit cold turkey.

I managed to stay clean for almost a year then put some building materials in a corner, put some sheetrock scraps by the door to take to the dump. didn't pick up some cutoffs from the floor and over the past month I regained my old habits and got to the point I couln't even walk through it.

I got myself clean again and accomplished nothing else last weekend. I won't be working on any more projects until tile etc. are installed and out of the shop.

[wardprobst]

Hi Chr's,

Spent all day yesterday on just one shop clean up.

DP

[Richard in Smithville]

Doing some work rearranging the basement. Everything got shifted into the shop. Now I can't even walk through it.

Clean up starts tonight but I'm sure that will take a lot longer than it did to mess it up.

[turkeywire]

I love this forum. I see that there are a lot of other people with the same problems/habits that I have. My shop is a mess, been trying to put the house on the market. I may be able to start cleaning today. And yes it takes longer to clean than to get dirty.

[dbhost]

Hi Chris!

You have the support, and understanding of fellow messy shop owners...



My spare time for the last 4 weekends when home repair projects haven't kept me busy has been in shop cleanup and organizing mode. Believe it or not, this pic is a LOT of progress... I need to install some shelving ASAP... Oh and get rid of those totes of LOMLs stuff, and install the new fence and...

[pelligrini]

You're not alone.

I'm getting much better at putting tools, clamps & stuff up as they all have their proper place now. New stuff gets piled up until I figure out where to put it. I really need to dump the junk, but it never seems to happen. I've got some boxes that should go in the recycle bin, but I've been moving them place to place for the last 6 months. Cutoff & scrap bins are overflowing. Open shelves have too much crap getting stacked up.

Might get a case of Guiness and straighten the place out this weekend. That guarantees no tool usage and makes straightening stuff out a more pleasant experience. Enough beer and my inhibitions on tossing stuff gets lax too.

[bthorne]

Doing some work rearranging the basement. Everything got shifted into the shop. Now I can't even walk through it.

Clean up starts tonight but I'm sure that will take a lot longer than it did to mess it up.

Sounds similar to my problem - when our aquarium leaked last week and we had to replace carpet padding and such, everything from the living / dining room got shifted out to my shop. The furniture is now back in place, but somehow there's still enough random stuff piled everywhere that I can't even find my workbench. The house sure looks less cluttered, though.

Cleanup for me is scheduled for Saturday morning before it gets too hot.

[rnelson0]

Enough beer and my inhibitions on tossing stuff gets lax too.

Haha, nice. That is really all you need, though. Decide what to keep, what to sell, and what to render down to components or trash. I have a hard time throwing stuff away, but really, those 30 coffee mugs we have saved for 4 years will fetch maybe a dollar, time to chuck them.

[gsmittle]

Haha, nice. That is really all you need, though. Decide what to keep, what to sell, and what to render down to components or trash. I have a hard time throwing stuff away, but really, those 30 coffee mugs we have saved for 4 years will fetch maybe a dollar, time to chuck them.

Oh man, you just nailed my worst issue! I was trained as a historian, and I have the "I can't throw this away, in 400 years somebody will need it for research!" problem.

Might have to try cleaning with beer though.

g.