[Whiskers]

lol, i come from a long line o ocp types who never throw anything out. My dad always had boxes with parts of junk that broke and he salvaged in case he could fix something some day in the future and my mom had a box fetish. At one point 1/2 of our 2 car garage was filled with empty boxes cause my mom was afraid she couldn't find the right size box when she wanted it. She stored boxes in boxes but still filled half the garage. I couldn't get my MG in and out of there and needed the space. She was not a happy camper one day when she came home to find that all her boxes had mysteriously vanished. My dinner was burned that night.

 

[higtron]

I always get about halfway through cleaning the shop and, before I know it I start working on something. Soon the shops a total disaster again (I have the attention span of a gold fish when it comes to cleaning the shop).

 

[thedude50]

today my shop was a mess I have been testing several tools and I work very hard at that because if I endorse a tool I don't want it top be said that its a bad tool so I only endorse things I think are good. so test re test then clean up all the mess and sit and write a few reviews send them off to my editor so they read well and start a new the next day I think I will take a writing class this next school year I think I need it and personal growth is always good. I am so ADHD thatit is hard to learn language or syntax but I think auditing a writing class will do me good. so i am currently reviewing a bunch of jig saws and a bunch of r0outers the big narly routers in the 3 hp plunge class and then some hand held drills. And once I am done a major cleanup is needed again as this testing has me out of control.

 

[SequoiaUA]

Throw away the trash. That's how I start any project. After that, I pick up the most obvious items. I'll calm down once I have a wide clean work surface where I can start tomorrow's mess.

 

[TedW]

I start by putting everything that's not where it belongs into one big pile. You see, the dilemma Sandra, is that most of the places where the stuff "should" be is occupied by stuff that should be somewhere else. By putting all the strewn stuff into a single place, which in itself is a good start, I also end up clearing the spaces where the stuff belongs.

Then I grab the first item from the top of the pile and put it where it belongs. Then the next item, and so on until everything that was in a big pile is in it's proper place. Then I mess it all up again.

 

[Momcanfixit]

That's quite a system Ted, I like it.

 

[firefighterontheside]

That is a good system Ted. I have found that after this last big project of building cabinets, that I am able to keep the shop more organized. I have been working on dust collection last fall and winter. I hooked up dust collection to my ts and built a separator with a trash an, put in a few gates, bought a second shop vac and move it around to other tools now. When the saw dust does not build up on the floor I'm more motivated to keep it clean as I go. I'm nearly done with the project and the shop is not much worse than when I started. Next thing is the miter saw. That's still a mess.

 

[stefang]

I think I have discovered a way to keep my shop perfectly clean and orderly with no clean-up effort. Just report to your wife/husband for garden duty and never go into your shop. While laboring in the garden you can think about all the things you would rather be doing in your shop and planning that work to extremely detailed levels. Kind of like the true life story of the American POW in Vietnam who built his house in his mind board for board just to keep his sanity. Have a nice Spring/Summer and I hope you don't have hay fever!

PS
Alternatively, you can move to Arizona where the gardens are mostly sand and cactus and it's probably to hot to be outside anyway!

 

[TedW]

My favorite part of my method is messing it all up again.

Mike, what I like about your idea is that every cut is perfect, not a single sliver of wasted wood, absolute perfection. Well, except for the gardening part.

I had heard that story before, about the POW building his house in his mind. I also heard the when he got home he did build the house.

Spring/Summer… so far, so good. Hope your's is too!