My main New Year's Resolution is to clean and organize my "stuff", primarily the contents of my buildings.
Having gone through my elderly relatives shops whom have since passed or have gotten a medical condition whereby they couldn't maintain their "stuff", I understand what it takes to go through garages and buildings to sort decades of shop possessions. My buildings were in reasonable shape 10-20 years ago but I've also taken possession of said relatives "stuff".
So, my shop and buildings are stuffed to the point where I barely have walking trails through the areas. My workbench's and just about every flat spot have been covered 6-12" deep of items that have just been set there over time. If something should happen to me, I don't want my family and friends to have to deal with it.
Starting in January, I took on the project. I'm starting with the main "shop" part of the first building. I'm a month in and have finally gotten that area almost done. I've gone through every shelf, drawer and otherwise and have cleaned and organized all. I'm pleased that there wasn't "junk" (as opposed to "stuff"). In 1 month, I've filled about 1 garbage can and half of that is probably all the baby wipes and rags I've used to clean.
It does take quite a bit of time. In general, to clean the workbench and the shelves above it, it took about 1 hour per linear foot of surface. I've been doing toolbox drawers the last couple days and it takes about 1 hour per drawer.
Every item gets individual attention. This includes cleaning, any rust removed, must be fully operational... Flashlights got new batteries as needed, every piece of paper evaluated and discarded or properly filed. (There were piles of papers, manuals and such).
I felt sorrow when I was cleaning out my cordless tools. I have 10+ DeWalt XRP cordless tools. Was cleaning them and putting back, pondering what to do with them as I only have 1 aftermarket battery (which is shit) to operate them. Do I sell or keep? Dug deeper in the area and found a brand new battery and charger. YEA! Now I can actually use them again.
Having gone through my elderly relatives shops whom have since passed or have gotten a medical condition whereby they couldn't maintain their "stuff", I understand what it takes to go through garages and buildings to sort decades of shop possessions. My buildings were in reasonable shape 10-20 years ago but I've also taken possession of said relatives "stuff".
So, my shop and buildings are stuffed to the point where I barely have walking trails through the areas. My workbench's and just about every flat spot have been covered 6-12" deep of items that have just been set there over time. If something should happen to me, I don't want my family and friends to have to deal with it.
Starting in January, I took on the project. I'm starting with the main "shop" part of the first building. I'm a month in and have finally gotten that area almost done. I've gone through every shelf, drawer and otherwise and have cleaned and organized all. I'm pleased that there wasn't "junk" (as opposed to "stuff"). In 1 month, I've filled about 1 garbage can and half of that is probably all the baby wipes and rags I've used to clean.
It does take quite a bit of time. In general, to clean the workbench and the shelves above it, it took about 1 hour per linear foot of surface. I've been doing toolbox drawers the last couple days and it takes about 1 hour per drawer.
Every item gets individual attention. This includes cleaning, any rust removed, must be fully operational... Flashlights got new batteries as needed, every piece of paper evaluated and discarded or properly filed. (There were piles of papers, manuals and such).
I felt sorrow when I was cleaning out my cordless tools. I have 10+ DeWalt XRP cordless tools. Was cleaning them and putting back, pondering what to do with them as I only have 1 aftermarket battery (which is shit) to operate them. Do I sell or keep? Dug deeper in the area and found a brand new battery and charger. YEA! Now I can actually use them again.
