I own a lot of shit. Like a lot of shit. As a career mechanic and a lifelong tinker you naturally accumulate “good stuff that can’t go in the trash” I also have probably close to 100k dollars in tools but that will be separate to this. I keep seeing things along the lines of “the things you own end up owning you” and I’m starting to understand that more and more. I have so much stuff that I cannot take care of it all. And it if can’t take care of it and keep it functional I shouldn’t own it. I have multiple motorcycles that I have moved to two new properties that haven’t run in years, three generators even though I only ever use one. Countless pieces of equipment that have been neglected just because I own too much shit. And don’t even get me started on the things I can’t find just because it doesn’t have a home or is under a pile of other things. I probably have 6-7 25 foot tape measures because if I can’t find it I just get another one.
My thought for this part of life is- if I can’t care for it and it doesn’t have a home it needs to go away. Now somethings don’t need monthly or yearly maintenance. Those things can be kept with a max limit of 2 items per resident but they must have a place. Reason for the resident part is like gold pans, I use a small and large as will my son and wife. Some things are necessary for the whole family. Not that my wife will ever gold panning but it helps paint the picture. As with generators we do lose power regularly so having a source of power plus a backup makes sense but no more than that. I also need to be cautious of yearly maintenance cost. All of these machine cost money even if they are not being used. I say the tools are separate to this because having 3 or 4 9/16 wrenches is helpful but they must meets the requirement of having a actual home. That will be the important part. Everything must have a home, no exceptions.
So for starters I will work on going through the garage. I is a complete mess of chaos. being in the middle of a full remodel doesn’t help. It also doesn’t help not being able to find anything because it is a pile of chaos. I have a very busy life and I want to be careful with how I go about this. I want to make sure I don’t burn out with this. I am going to try to start small. I will work on no less than 6 ft by 6ft area per week. I can do more but that is all that is needed. I will try to post an update for it maybe on Wednesdays. That is a minimum of 144 square feet a month. Those small steps will hopefully lead to big accomplishments.