why it's good to lose something

I moved two years ago, bigger house, smaller shop, all good cause I unloaded the "holy crap I haven't seen that forever stuff", but now I got more than I had. Two days ago, I ripped my shop apart and found some cool shit for my chrysler, but generally its kept pretty neat.

 

If I want to find something I've lost, I go to the store and buy it. Then, when I get done using it, I put it away. Right where the original object is. Happens all the time.

 

Maybe this weekend I'll start organizing. If Mike Rowe wants to host HAMB Horders it would be a TV show we'd all watch. Bob

 

I forgot, is shelving a good thing, or does it cause you to collect more stuff?

 

when i put anything in the right place i never see it again...

 

A couple of years ago I went looking for my bleeder screws. I could not find them anywhere, so off to Napa, purchased a couple.

A year later I was going through something or the other and there they were.

Right now I am looking for the electrical clip for my brake switch. Of course I cannot find it. Wired brakes to a switch for the test drive.

Now I am headed to find another clip, of course a year from now I will find the one that came with the pressure switch.

Just silly. My shop is more than organized but my home garage...that is another story.

 

Like they say, it's always the last place you look.

Because who keeps looking after they find something?

 

I doubt my sandblaster was stolen...they would have had to walk past two mig welders on wheels, a Miller buzz box, tool cabinets, tool boxes, lots of parts, nice wheels, etc. to get a beat up sandblast hopper. Most likely it was loaned out and never returned, but I have asked everyone that could possibly have borrowed it and they don't have it either.

 

Many years ago I sold a boat. I couldn't find the pink slip anywhere. I kept all of my pinks in a cigar box as I always had. I searched high and low for it and decided that it was gone. Had to go to the DMV and get another which was a pain at the time. Well, Some twenty years later I knocked that same cigar box off a table and sure enough there was the long gone pink slip stuck real good to the bottom of the box.

 

i asked my dad who remembered me showing them to him, he thought it was near the sheet metal brake. my cousin stopped by ct1932ford, and cleaned around the brake but did not find them. i called a couple other hambers, Mallomike and oldblue1930 both of who have used my shop, both remember seeing them next to the tire machine and near the brake lathe respectively. so looked there. nothing.
after dinner i went back up, of course i am putting some stuff up on a shelf in the parts room, i am standing on the top step of the step stool when the timer for the light switch turns the lights off and at the same time [or close] the compressor, which i installed in the parts room kicks on. the aisles in the parts room are tight, i could not remember if the steps on the step stool went left or right, i had one hand on a box full of coils [not sturdy] and a box of parts under my other arm. i went off the wrong side of the stool and dropped the box of stuff and stumbled and groped my way over to the light switch. ok cleaned that mess up. now i am filthy, bruised and still have not found the plates. well there is still tomorrow.

 

Ha...Consider yourself lucky. My list of lost functions is a bit longer.

 

Phew!...........This thread has made me feel sooooo much better


Ray

 

me too!
i did find my flashlight, i had set it on my tractor outside [don't know why] and the wire cutters where in a drawer full of light sockets...[don't know why]
i have to sit down and try to figure out exactly how many 1154 light bulbs one guy needs, or 6v coils, or fuse holders, or assorted wheel bearings, casters, valve springs...etc...

 

Did you sell them at a swap meet? I may have bought them! Come over to NY and you can borrow mine, about 45 minutes from Danbury

 

thanks for the offer! no i did not sell them but i am starting to think i may have lent them out.

 

Where are my wheels?!?!? I KNOW I had some wheels here. Somebody came out here and TOOK 'EM!!!...that's what happened. Well this fkn STINKS!!!

Oh......................here they are.

 

Kitchen remodeling or Haloween party use?

 

I seem to spend a lot of time looking for shit I just used. I figure for every hour spent in the shop i spend at least 15-20 of it looking for a tool, a pen, bolts, my beer or my phone. Even though it was in my hand less than 10 minutes ago. My shop is fairly clean..... Just set it down and cant find it..... i must be scatterbrained or preoccupied or something. I usually do a pat down of myself periodically " phone, keys, wallet " . It's almost an unconscious event that happens regularly front pocket ,front pocket, back pocket and if they arn't there I panic slightly until I remember where they are or I find them. Yesterday I walked in the house set my keys and my wallet on the file cabinet and then started to scan the room for my phone..... Moved some stuff by the computer , looked under some magazines which by that point my wife asked me "What are you looking for?" and as the words " my phone" escaped my mouth I realized I was currently talking to my dad on it. My wife just walked away shaking her head.

 

hmmm....i am able to spin the fridge around
i did come to the conclusion that i have a bunch of stuff i didn't even know i wanted

 

I have a system all worked out that works great - I find the item(s) I know I have, or built, right as soon as I either replace them or make another......works everytime!

 

Could Bruce P. be right? Who has more crap in there Barn.

 

somebody give this man a high five! that is one of the truest things i have ever heard!

oh, and by the way, that garage sounds really nice. i would kill for three stories to put my crap.

 

I went over last fall to help a buddy install some shelving in his garage and noticed a 150,000 BTU salamander heater in the corner and remarked I used to have one just like it years ago...

He said "I believe that. I borrowed that one from you five years ago."

I loaded up several items, spring compressor, engine storage stand, tubing bender, and cam installation tool that I had loaned him before I left.

Moral is: I now have a dry erase board and if you borrow it, your name and item desscription is written down before anything leaves.
Works like a charm.

 

How about when you buy a part that doesn't really fit in with your plans, figure out a way not to use that part, start driving your car you find out your genius plan isn't practical. So you give up go back to plan "A" now you can't find the part you didn't want in the first place and have to buy it again!

 

I'm going back in today! Its not even my stuff

 

Ever notice that when someone's got a house full of old crap (like on the show "hoarders") they're seen as mentally ill, but if they have a barn full of old crap (like on "American Pickers" or "Chasing Classic Cars" ) they're seen as cool? I like that.

 

folkswagon-good point!
well looked again this morning, and then some more after lunch, Mark came over and spent a few hours cleaning out under my tool bench still nothing.
i did find an extra sandblaster

 

But when you do find the misplaced parts or item, you also found a new spot where you put stuff. So next time remember to check in that spot also so you cover all the bases before continuing on to look elsewhere. New spot every time.

 

exactly, i think because i have not used it, it kept getting moved "back". it is going to turn up somewhere, piled behind, under or above something else.
on the tool bench mark did find a tiny #2 tap .

 

I always put my stuff where I can remember where it's at,,you know how that works out!