Darn! I sure am disorganized.

[David Perich]

I was laid off from work a few years ago and have been collecting wood working tools since then. I've also been collecting some wood to work with.
It has gotten to the point that I don't have any room to do anything. I have to move stuff around just to get from one end of my garage/shop to another. In the summer, all my lawn maintenance equipment, my power tools and benches got moved out into the driveway to work on projects. I was working both in and out of the garage. With winter coming on, I won't have that luxury. I bought a new maple table top and wood vice to make into a woodworking table but there's no room for a table so the top is still leaning against the wall. Using my table saw is usually a pretty involved operation because I wheel it out into the driveway if I have to cut anything large. My garage was originally a single car garage that was expanded into a two car garage. Actually, there's still a bearing wall between them with a 4' doorway. That dividing wall is cinder block on one side and face brick on the other and is about 15" thick. It also has my electrical service breaker box mounted on it. I think things would be more manageable with a second 4' opening.
I tend to keep all the tools I've used on a project I'm working on in my field of view and the pile of them gets larger as the project proceeds. I know I should put everything in its storage place instead of just laying it down beside me, but its a difficult habit to break. I may just have to find a friend to help me organize this mess before I can proceed efficiently. I'm not a hoarder, but I think I need help similar to those hoarders on that TV show.
Any ideas?

[Steve Kohn]

Nope I don't have any ideas. Actually it sounds pretty normal to me. You'll know it's time to call for the dumpster when you can't stand it anymore.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

David - your idea about having a friend help you out is actually quite good. All too often, we don't see "the problem" or any quick-fixes in our own shop, and it takes someone else to point it out. I agree that it is hard to break these habits, but think of how much time you are wasted searching and moving and rearranging and looking for that one item - instead of going to where it should be, using it, and then putting it back.

I think you would find the space much more usable with another opening - and by "opening" I mean, remove as much of that wall as possible.

My suggestions:

Find another permanent home for the lawn equipment.
Enlarge the current opening, or make another one. Remove as much of that wall as you can!
Go vertical! I don't know what your ceiling height is, but putting less frequently used items on the upper shelves can make more usable space underneath.
Get that wood stored properly - decide on a storage system (vertical or horizontal) and make a wood storage area as efficient as possible.
Get non WW-related items out of there (into a basement, shed, etc). I recently moved my electrical, plumbing, and 'other' tools out of my basement workshop and into the garage (no worries if it gets cold during the winter), and I love the extra storage space it opened up.
Make as many items as possible mobile (casters, mobile bases, etc).
Set up a system for breaking down sheetgoods in place - a basic system is a straighedge and circular saw (with a good blade).

[Don Wacker]

Move out! Seriously, move everything out of the shop and only leave your table saw and work bench. Put everything in a storage unit and go get it only when you need it. If its still in the storage unit after a year you didnt need it and take it to goodwill.

Don

[Steve Meliza]

I have a two car garage that I am allowed to set up shop on one side of and use the full area on a temporary basis as needed. Since the area to become my workshop was crammed full of "stuff" I had to start making room.

Step 1 was to build an 8'x10' garden shed in the backyard so I could get all of the yard and garden tools and supplies out of the garage.
Step 2 was to sort through all of that "stuff" and throw out or donated much of it. My wife says if I haven't used it in a year and it doesn't have a home then it needs to go. I am a little more forgiving than that, but if "stuff" is keeping you from your workshop goals then parting with it is much easier.
Step 3 is in progress, and that is to run all new electrical and build all new storage and in a way that makes the most of the area available and the tools that I own.

[Bruce Seidner]

My garage solution has been to use boxes that stack.I think I have 9 or more sitting essentially 3x3 or some other permutation depending on what is going on. They stay on the floor of the garage and the bikes, garden tools etc are now hanging from the ceiling or off the wall above and around them. It is like a pallet of tools without the pallet. It is also more flexible to a multi use space like a family garage than dedicated shelving. I have been through the heavy file boxes and less expensive plastic boxes, all of which break or don't stack well, to a box that they sell at Home Depot for about ten bucks that has an integrated lid that opens from the center. It is the one that is a dark gray and called a "flip-top heavy duty" I think. It is not as heavy duty as one finds in warehouses but those are many times the cost. They are the only ones I have found that I can fill with power tools and parts that does not crack and stacks 3 or 4 tall without bulging. I use wide masking tape for labels and keep a roll and a marker right there because the contents of the boxes may change. But Drills, Sanding stuff, Routers, Table Saw Bling, Finishing Stuff, Sharpening Things, Cutting Tools, are pretty stable labeled boxes. When I am done with whatever combination of tools I have used they go back in the box. Yes, you have to put your toys back in the toy box. But then they are there when you need them and not in the way when you don't. Some bigger tools that already have large shell boxes get stacked on top of the boxes. So the big plunge Router, circular saw, and hammer drill still live in their original cases on top of the "pallet." There are only a few tools that stay out and there is a battery powered drill and battery powered driver and charging blocks that are on a shelf above the workbench. I have also found it helpful to have a half dozen of those 5 buck plastic tool boxes similarly stacked above the workbench and at the ready labeled drills, drivers, measure, etc. that are a little easier to get to. I have also made sure one of my work benches has 28" inches of under top clearance for mobile carts or tools on wheels. My other bench for wood working and assembly is lower and one day will have drawers under it but will have to live with shelves for the time being. I don't think I am alone in finding that when I put everything away in these boxes there were duplicates and redundancies that I either kept or gave away. I didn't think you could have too many drills but over the years have found that I do. Some stay set up for special purpose, like the heavy duty corded drill that stays in the Kreg Box with all the Kreg stuff, but some of the 30+ year old corded drills that have not seen use with the advent of cordless drills are gone. Same with the circular saws. I keep one that is a junker for 2x4's and one that is newer and upscale for breaking down plywood. You know what you do and what you use. Put'em in boxes and help start someone else's ability to fend for themselves by having a garage sale and selling the unused tools inexpensively. You loose the clutter and make someone very happy to get a working tool for 5bucks. My 2cents.

[David Roberts,Fitchburg,Ma]

When I first moved into my home, I knew the cellar wouldn't be a great shop. However I still built a wall length shelf/workbench, and put my brand new Ryobi RAS in the middle. I built two or three projects, and realized I had to move them out of the shop, to spin them around. That was when I looked outside my house, I put up an ad, and ended up renting the second floor of a barn a few miles from my home. I was there about 5-6 years, and at $35 a month, it was cheaper than storage. I eventually decided to move up, and got some space in a local mill building, $75 a month for a space 12' x 40' x 16 ' ceiling, had heat, a bathroom down the hall, and they included electicity. It ended sooner than I wanted when the space eventually became apartments, finally 6 years ago I built a pole barn in my back yard. There are lots of choices out there, but I am pretty happy with my almost completed retirement woodworking shop. If building in your yard isn't an option, you can follow my path, look at Craigslist, maybe the perfect shop is only a mile away.

[ian maybury]

It's actually a tough one to sort David. I've been working on my shop for over a year, and researching systems and equipment for a while before that. There's been several times where confronted with machines and piles of kit everywhere I really struggled to sort out the logistics of a method of getting a given job done. Installing shop systems is a B**** because you need to get to almost all parts of the shop at one time or another.

It really brought home to me the perspective that if you want to work wood that having the shop set up is a big part of deal.

It probably gets a lot easier if you've had a well set up shop for some years, and get to do it a second time after that knowing what you want - first time around takes an awful lot of figuring out, and is only going to be a starting point.

I'm more or less over the hump now as my big systems and machines are in, but I've gone through several major re-layouts and relocations of stuff to get there. It's hard to do, especially if money is tight, but it comes down I think to sticking with the task of organisation through thick and thin until it's done.

Probably helps a lot to (a) give it plenty of thought up front, and (b) to then blitz it if you can. I've had some health problems, and my energy levels are not what they used to be - with the result that I have had to pace myself a bit. I'd love to have been able to put in a few weeks of 12 hour days for example....

Get diverted off into working on the woodworking before this and (a) you won't be working in good conditions, and will inevitably end up with junk piles; and (b) set up will probably be deferred indefinitely....

ian

[Jim Andrew]

Your story sounds like mine, a few years ago. Fortunately, read Ben Franklin's autobiography years ago, and worked his system for 40 years. Now I can afford a nice shop. Thinking about adding onto it.

[Rod Sheridan]

David, we tend to keep too much stuff, and it gets in the way of actually using the shop.

- wood storage, set a certain area for wood storage, either vertical or horizontal. Throw out, sell or give away any wood that doesn't fit in the storage area unless you're using on the current project. Once the current project is completed, get rid of anything that doesn't fit in the storage area.

- tool storage, keep it organised, neat and functional. Put tools away once you're not using them. I like drawers, some people like cubby holes. Unless you're a contractor and travelling around, toss out the plastic tool cases since you want to store your tools in drawers or cubby holes.

- consumable storage............Those 10 gallon cans of paint that have been hanging around since 1998, take them to recycling. Make neat shelves and store your consumables in a well organised manner. Don't hang on to boxes of screws that you'll never use, or that have 2 screws in them, let the hardware supplier do your mass storage for you.

- invite a friend over, make sure it's the guy with everything in his shop neat, labled and organised. Put him in charge. Also invite over a friend who is a hoarder, his job is to take everything away that the neat friend thinks you should get rid of. The hoarder guy is not allowed to offer suggestions.

- repeat the above in a small way every time you complete a project, get rid of scraps, finish you won't use, hardware you'll never need again.

I follow this because I have a very small shop in the basement of a townhouse, yet I have a 12 inch jointer/planer, a sliding saw/shaper, bandsaw, drill press, cyclone etc. I just have to be brutal on getting rid of stuff that gets in the way of me enjoying the shop.

Regards, Rod.

[Chris Tsutsui]

Most intelligent craftsman can actually rationalize keeping every item because they can think of a unique situation where it will come in handy. You can't do this unless you have a lot of real estate, and real estate is not cheap for many people.

So what I recommend is periodically go through your inventory and fill up a tote or box with items that can be easily replaced, or cheaply replaced that take up space. If the item is sentimental then just take a picture of it to save the picture and then junk the item. If you are buying items at a rate faster than you can get rid of, then that's a recipe for a "hoarder" workshop.

There's a line between collecting and hoarding. Having 5 jars/bags of various screws and hardware might have been useful on occasion, but in reality you could drive to the local hardware store pay less than a dollar for exactly the hardware you need, and you do not need to store all those jars of misc items. Those hardware stores will always have a newer and bigger selection then I ever will have so unless the drive is prohibitive then I don't see too much of an advantage trying to create that store in your home.

Having scraps comes in handy with people that make a lot of jigs and so forth, but if you were serious about a project, you should budget for buying new materials and not rely on the scraps that you keep taking up a good portion of the garage.

My wife shops at costco so I've got a surplus of various consumables that kills the garage space. My wife has me keep cases of water for emergencies, baby clothes in trash bags, and kids toys, seasonal decorations, and so forth. If an item is bulky and cheap, then I'd prefer to toss it than store it for a year. If i complain enough about having to keep an old ugly comforter then eventually I'll have approval to toss it.

My garage gets pretty bad on occasion so I have to go in there with a change of mentality. I think... If this was a huge garage that I just bought, what items are of value and what would be junked. (Or what items would i not use). Then, try not to overthink and start building up a pile of junk. Sell items from that pile on craigslist, ebay, or have a garage sale if they are worth anything.

A clean and uncluttered shop will be safe, productive for planned out projects, and overall improve your experience.

It's like a computer... Eventually it gets cluttered with all sorts of software until it gets slow. Then when you buy a new computer and add only the vital software and everything is fast and efficient.

[Gary Kman]

I'm not a hoarder, but I think I need help similar to those hoarders on that TV show.
Any ideas?

Good insight. Now follow through with it. Tell your doctor what you have told us. Common problem, likely an easy solution.

By the way, I'm not suggesting anything I haven't done.

[Jerome Hanby]

One big problem I had (have) is it's hard to make any progress because I have to move things out of the way (into the driveway) try to organise, build, whatever, then move everything back inside when bad weather blows up or night time approaches. I spend at least as much time pulling out and putting up as I spend working. So, I rented one of those pods, had them deliver it, and I moved stuff into it. Gave me room to get my wiring done. Once that's finished, I'll turn all the sheet goods I have on hand into storage (using ideas from Tom Clark's book), do away with my colossal sheet goods cart, and get everything organised as I move it back into the shop. This is letting me work whenever I have some time no matter how short the period since I don't have 2 hours of set up/clean up for every session. Don't think I'm going to make my Thanksgiving deadline to get finished, but I think I'll be done before Christmas!