Good ideas Eugene, got any more?

Thanks,

Mike

Hi CDVXF7,

Call me a dinosaur but I have never bought or sold anything on eBay, I would not know where to start?

Mike

You really need to bite the bullet and think reduction. I have about 20 of those big plastic containers full of stuff, and I have manifested every one and still have trouble finding things, mostly cuz people just don't put stuff away proper. I've a bunch of gorilla racks that I use to stow the containers and other items. Usually, everything comes off the shelves and ends up on the floor in the garage; lid open, contents disarrayed and/or scattered around. So I guess my advice is for both of us.

I reckon my only option is gonna be to build a warehouse, rig up a robotics inventory control system, and just use my computer to call up whetever it is I am looking for. I was at a Honeywell lab once and was amazed at how their robotic inventory retrieval system worked, but man did it take up a lot of space!

My family solved the problem by never putting a vehicle in the garage. I never saw a family member with a grease spot on their garage floor. Of course, no one could see the floor because of all the stuff.

Sue

Hi Susan,

My DW has given me no option in this matter, she will be parking her van in the attached garage. She goes to work earlier in the morning than I do so it is actually easier for both of us, especially in the winter (no snow, ice or starting problems). Occasionally I fill the garage with large camping items from our youth group trips for the short-term, but I do hear about it from her. The sides of this garage are filled with a snowmobile, chainsaw box and more regular household items; the rear shed is where I store most of my large outdoor equipment (wall tents, stoves, ATV, treestands, outboard motors, bikes, etc).

It is really the residence basement storage area that I need to redesign for smaller outdoor equipment, preparedness supplies and clothing.

Bottom-line is that I have just too much stuff.

Thanks,

Mike

Hi benjammin,

I can really relate to the many open containers, gear scattered all over the place situation while packing for a trip; I have to go through that this afternoon in preparation for a muzzleloader deer hunt next weekend. I would be lost without the equipment lists I have developed over the years.

I have only met one person that had their equipment really well organized. He was a bush pilot/geologist I was working with whose house I got stranded at overnight because of bad weather. His large basement storage area was just like a warehouse; with free-standing shelves of labelled, inventoried equipment, it was impressive.

The big difference between between him and I is; 3 teenagers and all the space/stuff associated with them!

Trust me, I will live all my life with a messy basement for the opportunity to keep my kids close to me, it is going to be tough when they start to leave in a couple years.

Nice talking to ya,

Mike

I simply recycle excess, and finally unwanted stuff, through a local community auction,...so I have extra money to go buy more stuff.

The main alternative to reducing is organizing. I collected a lot of gear/tools/toys over the years and I would always be stacking things on top of each other and had piles falling over and things getting broken or lost. I started buying a lot of storage items, bags, boxes, etc. Start by putting a hold on buying anything new until you can get the current situation under control.

For example I started getting a lot of camping gear and had it piled on a shelf for the most part. I bought a big duffel bag similar to the tent bag and filled it up with all the camping gear like the air mattress, pump and lanterns and batteries. All my cooking supplies went into a backpack. Now instead of having boxes and gear piled on top of each other I have three bags which stack neatly and can be taken easily.

I made some simple rules, everything has to have a place, be it a box, bag, case or spot on the shelf. Then everything that goes with the first item has to be in its box, bag, etc.
Then everything must be inventoried, a separate spreadsheet for each large item, for example one for the bob, one for the edc, one for the camping gear, one for the drill press, etc. Everything must be listed, it sounds like a lot of work but its really not. Once you make your spreadsheet template you can take one storage container at a time and inventory everything and add to it as you put more in.
Then everything has to justify its self. Many organizational sites/books/whatever will say get rid of something if its not been used in x amount of time but I had to modify that system since some survival gear won't be used often, a fire extinguisher for example. So I kind of make a point scale, say a scale of 1-5, 5 being something most used, 1 being something seldom used, then assign a second point scale based on its survival/prep use which can cancel out the use scale.

Eugene, could you come to my house and do a little organizing? I have plenty of masks for dealing with the dust cattle....

Sue

Thanks for the ideas and Pep Talk Eugene,

I really need to stop accumulating and start reducing and organizing.

It is hard to do when you have collected stuff for so long; even today I acquired some small plastic snap containers (good for kits within a kit) and some very flexible aluminum that "some day" I am going to form into custom made fire billy cans.

I know, I have a problem, I hope admitting it is the first step toward a cure.

Mike