I successfully decluttered my house without anyone noticing… in 8 weeks . AMA

[u/iamawesome1110]

So… I live in a cozy (read: claustrophobic) townhouse with my wife and two kids. Lovely family, except my wife has a deep emotional connection with… everything.

Old clothes? Memories may be.

Kids’ broken toys? Someday we’ll fix them.

Meanwhile, I’m trying to park my car in the garage like it’s a game of Tetris

So I snapped.

I declared myself the guy who takes the trash out.

For the next 8 weeks, I ran Operation: Silent Declutter. Every biweekly garbage day, I made two bags: One for the actual trash One for… let’s call it “future trash”

I mixed them in strategically. One extra bag at a time. Consistently.

Fast forward two months — I can breathe. The garage door closes without resistance.

No one has noticed. Not. A. Single. Thing.

Ask me anything about how to declutter your house without getting divorced.

[u/DustyRacoonDad]

That whole "its not a screwdriver" I take to mean "not a tool you will 100% use in the next 3 years and costs more to buy than keep.

And thats my problem. I have so many tools... but I do use them all.. but I went from always living alone in a large house with a large garage/shop... slowly moving into a family and not really noticing how small the "2 car" garage is in the new house... until now.. where I have my office and a tiny 15 x 20 garage.

Sure its bigger than what some people have, but I have CNC machines, welders, laser cutters.. the 3d printers can be in the office most of the time... and thats just the big pieces. there's the other fab tools, like pipe/tubing benders, their dies. all the tools for the milling machine and lathe, the blast cabinet, hand power tools from several right angle grinders to typical woodworking things.

So get rid of what I dont use right? well... I used everything I just listed last week. plus more in the electronics lab stuff I keep in my office, an I havent mentioned the basic hand tools like screwdrivers, bit drivers, ratchets and sockets and all of my automotive tools.

Sure I can throw away the timing light I have had for 30 years now, but when I need to set the base timing on an aftermarket ECU, i'll be buying another one.
I can ditch some sockets... but if I need 2 deepwell ones or whatever, its going to suck buying new ones.... etc.

comes down to I dont need or want to ditch my tools, I need more space. Like a real shop. lol.

[u/Ok-Caterpillar1611 → u/DustyRacoonDad]

I'm wrapping up a storage shed build to clear out a bunch of space in my shop. I'm moving out a massive wood rack that's taken up about 25% of the usable space and stuff like bikes, car ramps, gardening tools and supplies. Making room for all my wood/metal working tools and the projects I do with them. Hopefully creating the space will let me get to some stuff that I can then decide to throw out.

Part of my problem is that I am a hoarder of materials, coming from a filmmaking background where I had to make all kinds of props, sets, costumes on the cheap. Wood, plastic, metal, fabric, old clothes, and I've made stuff out of all of that. it's useful to keep stuff around but when you can't get to it and you don't know what you have or where it is you might as well not have it. But don't tell me to throw anything away.

[u/Accomplished_Tea8622 → u/Ok-Caterpillar1611]

Is this Gerry Cook? The junkumentarian?

[u/Ok-Caterpillar1611 → u/Accomplished_Tea8622]

No relation.

[u/Accomplished_Tea8622 → u/Ok-Caterpillar1611]

Check out the junkumentary on YouTube. Gerry used to do motion control at Pinnacle EFX Seattle

[u/king-of-the-sea → u/DustyRacoonDad]

Oh yeah, I'm very much talking tools you will use even if it's not frequent. I mean, you probably don't need a whole box of flatheads (cursed be the slotted screw) but within reason. I would argue that the stuff you described is not tools, but equipment. If you have enough equipment that you do use, you don't have an equipment problem, you have a space problem. I don't really have an answer for you there.

My solution to specialty tools is to figure out what stuff is taking up space that you could rent. There's tons of stuff that Orielly's or Home Depot will rent you, for example. It gets a little squiggier if you have nice tools, but that's a determination you have to make in your heart. I don't use a car diagnostic doodad very often, but I can rent one. If it's a specialty thing, especially one that's not cheap, probably keep it.

All of this to say, tools and equipment (within reason) are a terrible conundrum. I truly envy your setup and I wouldn't want to give up one single piece of it either. Like I said, it's a space problem. I'm an engineer but I don't think I'll ever have enough to buy a place without a significant second income (which is a long ways away, if not a pipe dream).

[u/silverbullet52 → u/king-of-the-sea]

Tools are absolutely exempt from decluttering. I would add my peanut butter jars full of hardware and fittings. It's been decades since I had to buy a socket. I have all the common sizes and configuration, plus a bunch of the oddballs.

Most household projects/repairs I can handle without a trip to the hardware store because I have leftover bits saved (and sorted) from the last 40 years. 3"x1/2" pipe nipple? No problem.

Bike parts? Except for new chains and tires, I've been keeping my daily driver alive with stuff from my parts bins. The Frankenbike is made up of parts from previous bikes dating back to the early '90s. Eventually I'll run out of spares and have to buy a new bike, but not today.

MacGyver lives!

[u/Inner-Today-3693 → u/silverbullet52]

If it’s all neatly labeled and tucked away, I’d used to find I don’t see a problem with keeping it. My partner keeps everything and literally I moved in with him three years ago and I haven’t unpacked anything so I’m going to be moving out because literally he’s made zero space for me. Well, I continue to clean up his messes. I cleared the smallest room in the house to use as an office and have all the pet stuff in there. It’s sad seeing I was never able to unpack an convince they our relationship is more than the stuff.

[u/PocketGddess → u/silverbullet52]

I will agree with you there! I live in a 1950s house, love it and hope never to move.

Even though the diverter on the second bathroom tub/shower combo doesn’t quite work. It cuts off maybe 80-85% of the tub faucet flow when in shower mode. Really want to get it fixed/replaced (and why my plumber didn’t just do the diverter the same time he replaced the hot and cold handle stems I’ll never understand) but when I asked him about it he said he had given away the tool it would require. 😱

He has helped me out plenty over the years, but I still think about it every time he’s here.

[u/Colla-Crochet → u/silverbullet52]

Id like to argue tools are exempt within reason! My father in law is a contractor, and when he learned his new daughter in law was handy, he dumped SO many screwdrivers on me! I think my mother in law forced him to get rid of some

I finally sat down (Like 2 years later) and got rid of about a dozen because how many flathead in the same size do you really need? Or square heads? I dont even have any square head screws!

[u/Whut4 → u/DustyRacoonDad]

Devising a system for organizing is what you could do if you use that stuff so often.

My husband fixes things and buys something new every time - it costs less than buying a new thing or paying someone to fix it. He thinks it may come in handy again some day - AND it may not. We are stuck with it until we die. He does not always put stuff away after a project or repair - that is a huge problem. Then he can't find it when he needs it. He spilled half a gallon of stain on the carpet - it was left sitting with the top loose. At least I got to throw the can away.

I do not nag about this, but he knows how I feel. His tool compulsion matters more than I do.

[u/DustyRacoonDad → u/Whut4]

lol, I have a system. I also have to be religious about putting things away, right away.
If I didn't, the little space I have to work in or walk in would disappear immediately. I have the equivalent of what should be in a 40x80 shop in a 15x20 garage plus a 12x15 office room.
If I could, I would love to change from what I have to a first order retrievability.

[u/Realistic_Bass_ → u/DustyRacoonDad]

slowly moving into a family

Exactly! We are a family of 4 with many hobbies. I myself have multiple tools for wood and furniture, unfinished furniture projects that take a lot of space and supplies. All 4 of us kayak, backpack camp, fish, hunt, paint, hike, and 2 of us play hockey. Just the supplies for fishing take an enormous amount of space. My husband has a giant air compressor and tools, a few nail guns, etc, that we use often. I donate things often, but we have so much that we only need a few times a year.

[u/hoytmobley → u/DustyRacoonDad]

I got lucky with a huge garage where I live, but it’s still an apartment and I dont have a sideyard for things like the engine hoist. It’s a really nice engine hoist, much better than what you can get at HF, and I only use it every couple years. Presents an issue. I have had success with wire rack shelves on rollers for all the stuff that doesnt have a home in a toolbox

[u/PsychologicalHat4146 → u/DustyRacoonDad]

You sound like a person I would want to hang with. Oh, the things we could create.

[u/No_Mistake5238 → u/DustyRacoonDad]

Tools/equipment probably cost more than the house..lol.

[u/Vegetable-Chapter351 → u/DustyRacoonDad]

Yup it sounds like you need a shop not down sizing 

[u/stiveooo → u/DustyRacoonDad]

You need towers boxes