Dealing with Clutter in the Foam shop ...

[GPW]

I know this is silly , but after years and years , we’ve ended up with a large assortment of everything ... Pieces we’ve saved from this and that , jars of bolts, screws, different hardware , and just “things” ... all cluttering up the “main building room “ in the Studio/Shop ... We made shelves , but those are full and not enough for all the “stuff” ... Problem , all this clutter is either useful or nostalgic or valuable (collectable) ... so just throwing it away is not our favorite option....

So the question is ..... how do You deal with Clutter ???

This is Funny , my next door neighbor and friend is the lady Doctor who appears on the Hoarding show helping others clean up their messes ... Although my “collecting” doesn’t qualify as hoarding ( as yet ?) I dare not ask her over to have a look ...

I’ve defined several troublesome categories of Stuff so far :
1. Paper.... books , drawings, plans, instructions, etc.
2. tools ... all kinds of tools
3. Hardware... all those screws , bolts , nuts , washers, clamps, hinges , etc. etc.
4. Nostalgia... stuff you just can’t throw away ...
5. Desktop/office stuff... Pens, pencils, erasers, staples,tape(s), paper , and all that other stuff ...
6. Just plain Junk ... bits of string , balls of wax, old tins of various sizes (all with nothing in them )
7. Garden stuff ( all that )
8. Hobby Stuff... more of that ... several Hobbies ... including trailer building ...
9. Sports .... Fishing stuff, bicycles..

Examples of clutter (see pics ) ... On shelves and in front of shelves , blocking access ...

[Pmullen503]

I use the rule of "two".

Whenever I clean my shop, everything I've used in the last two weeks goes somewhere accessible. Everything I've used in the last two months goes into storage. Everything I haven't used in two years goes in the garbage, Goodwill, or Craigslist.

[Fred Trout]

I like the Pmullen way of dealing with junk clutter but am too much of a pack rat to actually bring it to completion. Getting rid of 30 years of accumulated trash so I could work on the Teardrop inside convinced me but I still saved some junk I really should get rid of

[tac422]

I don't see any problem with your pictures, Doc.
I wish mine looked that good !

[dales133]

Looks fairly organized if you ask me.
It's when your considering inventing a hover board because you can't find the floor you need to worry

[Mary C]

I am in the belief that it looks somewhat organized too and your articulate way of organizing sounds sound or like every other artist .....Looks good to me.

Mary C.

[GPW]

Everyone is Much too Nice !!! Either that or we didn’t show the rest of the mess...

Spent all day yesterday cleaning One shelf and 2 file drawers , and I actually managed to recycle a half a recycling can (large can ) full of old papers , magazines ,sheet music , etc. That, and sort a lifetime of photographs into one Large storage bin . (someone has some scrap booking to do ) At the end of the day , it didn’t really feel like we’d accomplished a lot. ( and not nearly as much Fun as trailer building )
Now we’re thinking of doing away with our large wooden drafting table because it’s just a horizontal place to collect more clutter... ( anybody need a full size wooden drafting table ? ... Alvin) Then replacing that with a couple kitchen base cabinets and countertop saved from the Church ... I lived a church building once ... de-comissioned of course, but when I sold it , it became a church again ...
Then after watching a lot of Norm videos , decided to make even more shelving to replace the cabinets... That will hold , at least in a more spacious way , all the “stuff" that’s on the floor now blocking access to the shelves we already have .
We came up with a way of building adjustable shelving out of dimensional lumber with a minimum of cutting and fettling , and have made several units here and in the house. Guess we should post a drawing , because it’s worked so well for us over the years and is cheap and easy , and can be readily stained to look Nice.

This is turning to more a shuffle things around rather than actually throwing something away ...

[GPW]

OK, I couldn’t help but make a shelf drawing ... And a picture of the shelf in operation , which may (or may not ) better illustrate my particular dilemma . ...
So now we get back to cleaning ... the eventual goal is to be able to get to my Tools ,so I can do more trailer building ...eventually .