Since starting Chunk This Junk I have been able to help many people remove unwanted items that were cluttering their homes and lives. In this process I have also witnessed some who for one reason or another have accumulated way too many useless items. Very often they struggle with selling, giving or throwing away these possessions. Of course I am not one of those that struggles with getting rid of useless items…or so I thought.
Let me demonstrate what I mean. I have lived on a small farm for over forty years. As with any farm you keep many things on hand because you never know when you may need it to make a repair or build something new. I have even converted the former dairy barn on my land into my woodworking shop. I enjoy this hobby and as anyone who does woodworking knows, you can use small pieces for all sorts of things: pen blanks (which I want to but never have), drawer pulls (bought all of them so far), accent pieces (have not found that one piece to use it on) and so on.
Now anyone who’s lived on a farm also knows you can’t have too many tools. Case in point: I am the proud owner of five or six partial sets of the least expensive tools originating from Taiwan, China, Vietnam and other places I am unable to speak their language. For some strange reason I also have a good set of Craftsman tools which I’m unable to remember how I got them. And then of course I have a lot of wood working tools. Some of these I inherited from my grandfathers and have a special meaning to me. Others I found, were given to me or I purchased at garage or estate sales. It’s important to note that tools don’t break unless you’re using them in which case it’s handy to have that back up hammer at the ready that you’ve been saving for the last forty years. Now if you could just find it…
Which brings me to my point. My shop consists of essentially an entire barn and yet everyone knows you cannot have a big enough building in which to keep all those valuable items. I have had so many valuable items at times I could hardly walk through, let alone work or find the items I needed. I do need to point out that I’m not always at a loss to find tools. When you own 60 to 75 screw drivers you’d be hard pressed not to find one when needed. Now the problem comes when I need to get something quickly. If I know where something is, how long will it take me to get to the area where it’s at and how much stuff will I need to move before I get to the needed item?
But how does this relate to you? Because this is a success story, a tale of the human condition and consequential triumph. My hopes in sharing this account is that it will inspire others to also remove the excess clutter from your own lives.
But how does this relate to you? Because this is a success story, a tale of the human condition and consequential triumph. My hopes in sharing this account is that it will inspire others to also remove the excess clutter from your own lives.
About a year ago I decided that I needed to do something about cleaning my own workspace. I think it was just after when I fell trying to make my way through the shop (really not funny). I wasn’t worried about the fall as much as what would happen if everything fell on top of me and how most likely no one would know it looked any different. They might have never found me should that have happened! Something had to be done.
It was after this incident, dare I say it, I started throwing things away. For me this was a gigantic step in the right direction. Well actually a small step for me, a gigantic step for the safety for those who might dare enter my shop. However after a year I was not that far along in my goal to eliminate excess and I might have even been losing some of the space I had freed up. So with a shot of Diet Coke to stiffen my nerves I decided that anything that I didn’t have an immediate need of, did not see a foreseeable future of needing or have a space to safely store it, had to go. Did you feel the force tremble? I might have but I think it was just my aging knees.
In the process I found six electric circular saws, three that worked and three that I meant to fix and I’m sure I would have fixed them if I had remembered that I put them there. Then there was the ten coping saws that I found in different places, some of them so cheaply made that I doubt would have worked well if I ever got around to using one. I threw away a paint can of nails I had been saving for twenty years because I would need those nails (never once used one nail out of that bucket). I have been giving away, selling somethings and throwing away the rest but I can now walk in my shop without fear of injury.
Readers let me share that it’s so much nicer to be in my shop, move around and go immediately to something I need. Truth be told I’m not finished yet but it takes time to decide on which one of ten framing squares to keep. If I can’t find a good home for the others it’s the trash for them. There will be no turning back for me.
Hopefully this tale will inspire you to also clear out what you’re not using and free up some extra space. Perhaps it will be for your own mental health, perhaps like me it will be for your personal safety. But whatever the reason, give Lone Star Hauling a call to assist in your clean up!