I think it has to do with living through the depression, there was the mindset that everything with a chance of being reusable should be kept. In my opinion it's better than the other end where people feel like everything is disposable. A happy medium for me is to keep what I may use, donate items I won't and chuck stuff that has no value (after keeping it a while to be sure I don't need it ;)... I found out what the retail shelving I have in the basement is called: gondola shelving. Basically metal shelves that hook into "standards" in 4 foot sections. I've got it loaded down with lots of parts, even heavy ones like exhaust manifolds. This type of shelving is very common and I've already found a few local ads. In the short run I need to come up with a way to store my newly acquired nuts and bolts, so I can use my workbench again. On Mon, Jul 27, 2009 at 12:00 PM, Mary McCarthy<printces@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > sounds like my parents basement. And garage. And crawl space. It took 4 > years to get that house cleared out. One day the garbage man came to the > door and asked where we were getting all that stuff we were putting out. He > thought we must be importing it. > > And when I tell you the garage floor sunk 4" on one side under the weight of > a naval radio (4' by 4' by 4') I am not joking. We had to take it apart to > get it out of there. I have no idea how Dad got it in there. > > Why do people hoard this stuff? > > Dan build a small hardware area under the stair landing in the shop. It > works well because we are 20 miles from a reasonable size town. We have a > small hardware store 4 miles away but it's geared more towards the logging > community and emergency plumbing and electrical repairs. We can get rock > for $1 a pail or local cut green lumber, but finding the odd small hardware > item is usually futile. Anyway, the little hardware area works well and > doesn't take up a lot of space. > > The color coding and labeling works good because sometimes you go into a bin > and there's stuff in there you no longer need (faucet parts for a faucet > that went to the dump 2 years ago), so you can kind of weed as you go and > because space in them is finite, sometimes you gotta throw something away to > make room. > > Dan has finally decided to get rid of the antique power tools. Not like you > can lift them anyway. yeah!!! > > mary > > I am going to try to clean out the stuff I don't need. This basement > shop I'm helping clean - it was stuffed to the rafters (and hanging in > the rafters) with random items large and small. Mechanical parts and > pieces that no one could identify. I'm getting a load of some of the > stuff Tuesday - I'm inheriting a band saw and I'll sell some of the > valuable small stuff (taps, dies, etc.,). > > Even with unlimited storage I think it's healthy to purge the junk > once and a while... it's hard to resist the urge to hoard, I've > definitely had the item that I threw out and then needed, but it's > rare. > > One item I need is sorted hardware: nuts, bolts, washers - I hate > spending a couple bucks every time I need that certain size bolt - not > to mention the wasted time going to the hardware store. > > Rules: Please play nicely with others. > > Rules: Please play nicely with others.