Just kidding, but yep, I keep way too much stuff. I have a two car garage, a one car garage, rent a 20x10 storage shed and had no cars inside for 15 years! I finally started doing something about it a few weeks ago.... I sold the car! hahahaa NO, I cleaned out the two car and one car garages, made the one car into a storage warehouse, and now my wife's car and my tractor both fit nicely in the two car garage for the winter. Now that I have officially touched EVERY piece of everything in both garages, I know what I want to keep handy for quick access, what I want to keep for future projects, what is sentimental to me, and what is probably NOT sentimental to anyone else, EVER! So, it must go. Scrap steel and lumber under a useful size (as of yet to be determined) will get scrapped for money or burned for heat. I have an old 1985 4x4 truck in the back yard that hasn't run in over 10 years. I'm filling up the bed with scrap metal and will haul the whole thing off in the spring. The engine and tranny are good, so they will get saved for a truck project I have in the rented storage shed.
In my basement I have everything organized in 20 gallon Rubbermaid bins..... all 135 of them!
They are numbered and I have everything in a database, so they are easily found and the tubs are easy to dust. There's probably 12 Christmas tubs, 5 holloween tubs, several other Holiday and seasonal tubs, kids toys, my toys as a youth (matchbox cars, tonka trucks, trains, etc...), I saved it all.
I get it from my parents. They were children of the Great Depression and we were taught to save it all. When my dad passed away, he was living alone in the BIG house he built, plus he had a smaller house he built for his parents next door. When we cleaned it all out, here's what we found:
1 cube van to Goodwill Industries. FULL.
1 cube van to St. Vincent DePaul Society. FULL.
1 Full sized pickup truck w/cap FULL of fabric and sewing supplies. My mom was, among other things, quite the seamstress.
1 6x12 enclosed trailer FULL with disassembled metal and wood shelving, and various display cases for Dad's collections.
2-3 Full sized pickup truck loads of Dad's belongings that I kept. Tools, furniture, paintings and rocks.... lots of rocks. Dad was a fossil, rock and gem collector. He**, I even have Clem Studebaker's (Yes, Studebaker car company onwer) fossil, rock and gem collection.
1 full size pickup truck w/cap full of paintings and artwork. Mom and dad were both artists.
Several car loads of stuff for my siblings.
And, finally, three (3), yes three, 20 yard dumpsters full of stuff no one would take and we couldn't burn. Surprisingly, from being in the houses, you'd never know there was that much stuff. However, the basements and attics were packed, nice and neatly though, of everything they ever acquired. Everything.
And now that I am getting like that, I don't want to burden my loved ones with that mess that mostly is only sentimental to me. So, I'll keep some things for each kid, some things for me, but the rest is just fun clutter. If you have room to keep it, fine. But just remember someone else has to deal with it when you're gone. My wife already has a plan for my stuff if I die..... DUMPSTERS!!!! :laughing:
