Man Cave

[Spark-Doctor]

I am currently upgrading and extending the man cave. I am astonished with the amount of crap i have accumulated over the years but for some reason, i just cant throw it away.

Please provide a reality check. 

[hexreader]

Work out the cost of the extension versus the (realistic) value of the "crap"

You will probably find that the cost of space is far higher.

Don't know if this helps in any way.

My motto is - if in doubt, bin it. In the unlikely event that it turns out to be a mistake, buy a better, newer, cheaper replacement.

Disclaimer:  few people think the way that I do.

[Ian.M]

Do a full and accurate inventory then you can put what you want/need to keep into less accessible/convenient storage spaces, and still be able to find stuff without rummaging.   If its not worth inventorying, its not worth keeping.  Also consider disposing of anything that's been gathering dust long-term that you don't have definite future plans for.  To ease the pain, working or nearly working equipment and rarer/choicer components may be suitable for rehoming via the https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/ subforum.

[exe]

Please make a picture of what are throwing, I may help "re-home" it.

Anyway, you are on the right track. I'm also trying to reduce amount of stuff I have. For this reason I restrain myself from buying any big equipment.

[james_s]

My motto is - if in doubt, bin it. In the unlikely event that it turns out to be a mistake, buy a better, newer, cheaper replacement.

Must be a convenient situation. Unfortunately my interests are mostly vintage stuff so newer and cheaper != better. There is less of the stuff I'm interested in having existing every day so any time I get rid of something it usually costs me considerably more to get another one later if I change my mind.

[Halcyon]

Unfortunately my interests are mostly vintage stuff so newer and cheaper != better. There is less of the stuff I'm interested in having existing every day so any time I get rid of something it usually costs me considerably more to get another one later if I change my mind.

My situation is the same. I collect vintage computers and associate hardware. I have some pieces in my collection which are irreplaceable and the cost involved in replacing some items would be prohibitive. The other problem I have is even if a replacement is available, it's not guaranteed to have been stored or looked after properly. Leaky Ni-Cd CMOS batteries are one example where if the owner hasn't got to it by now, the item is probably ruined.

[John B]

Maybe this is like bringing a case of beers to share around at the AA meeting - but everytime I've thrown out accumulated bits of scrap and recyclable items, I've later needed them. Look around the room. See all that air? That's usable storage space!

[james_s]

For me it's about 50/50. Half the time I get rid of something and don't miss it, half the time a few months later I really wish I still had it. It's really hard to predict what specific part I'll need to fix something that comes along, or what will pique my interest and start an obsessive binge of playing with a specific topic. My hobbies and interests come and go, many things in a circular cycle where I'll get bored or burned out but then eventually come back around to it.

[Raj]

Remove unnecessary stuff. UNNECESSARY.

[Red Squirrel]

There's different approaches, one is to simply organize stuff better so it uses less space.  But another is to ask yourself if you REALLY need certain items.  Start with big ones.  You can give away the ones you don't need. I find it's easier to give away stuff than to sell it so unless it has a decent financial value then just give it away.  I sometimes post stuff on our local FB and if anyone interested they can PM me for my address.   If it's stuff that does not matter if it gets wet, I just put it outside and put a "free" sign.  I've gotten rid of lot of stuff that way.  Also makes me feel less bad to get rid of stuff if I know it's not just going in the trash.

[GreyWoolfe]

I am definitely not a hoarder but I do tend to hold on to certain things.  Mrs GreyWoolfe used to give me grief about all the wood scraps I would keep after a project.  After a few times of needing a piece of wood of a certain size and I would get it out of the scrap pile (and not have to go buy more) and give it to her, she stopped giving me grief.  Do I need 3 oscilloscopes?  Nope, but the 3rd was only $5 for 100 MHz.  Do I need 9 multimeters?  Nope, but I like multimeters and non of them, including the bench meters was over $100, half of them were $50 or less and I try to use every one.

I am in the same boat as you but with tools.  I have accumulated enough stuff that I have long grown out of my Craftsman rolling chest.  In a couple of months, Mrs GreyWoolfe will be coming into some money and she has stated that she is going to seriously upgrade my tool box for me and has budgeted up to $1K so I can get what I need to get organized again.  No getting rid of anything.  I have my own enabler.

Sorry, no reality check here.  If it is test and measurement equipment, go visit the TEA thread.  Plenty of enablers there to encourage you to keep it all and buy more. 

Maybe this is like bringing a case of beers to share around at the AA meeting - but everytime I've thrown out accumulated bits of scrap and recyclable items, I've later needed them. Look around the room. See all that air? That's usable storage space!

Right there with you!!!

[Red Squirrel]

Scrap lumber I'm bad for.  I hate to throw it out, especially plywood, because it's not cheap and I know I will eventually need it. And I often do end up using it.

Had to move all the stuff out of my garage since I want to refinish it to use year round as a shop, that convinced me to get rid of lower quality pieces of lumber just to save me hauling it in the basement.   I put it all out to the street to let random people take it.

[GreyWoolfe]

I save plywood, 2X4 and my personal favorite, 2X2.  Anything under 4" in length on the lumber does get pitched.  For the plywood, less than 1 square foot will get pitched.

[james_s]

I have a woodstove downstairs so scraps of wood never go to waste. I stack them up outside and over the winter they become BTUs.

[ferdieCX]

New things are usually very low quality, vintage equipment is oft designed to last forever.
I also keep old components that are not any more in production.
Quality pieces of wood and plywood get sooner or later used in something.

[bitseeker]

I am currently upgrading and extending the man cave. I am astonished with the amount of crap i have accumulated over the years but for some reason, i just cant throw it away.

Please provide a reality check.

I think you're going to have to post pics in order to generate accurate reality checks: "oh, that's a nice one", "man, that's crap", "hey, I'll buy that off you", "why do you still have those?", etc.

[leeatljs]

The things you own, end up owning you. 

[Tracer-D]

New things are usually very low quality, vintage equipment is oft designed to last forever.
I also keep old components that are not any more in production.
Quality pieces of wood and plywood get sooner or later used in something.

Totally agreed, my husband and I have a lot of things in our garage. Wish we'll use all of them 

[eamoex]

I am currently upgrading and extending the man cave.

Good on you, man. I wish I had a man cave to start with!

[Ordinaryman1971]

Sell all your gear, with the money you get buy a bigger house... start collecting again.... life is perfect.

[eecook]

If you don't use it after a year or so just throw it away.

[james_s]

That's an incredibly wasteful attitude, I shudder to think of all the good stuff that has been thrown away because of an attitude like that and someone who couldn't be bothered to try to rehome it.

I have loads of stuff that goes for a year or more without being used, but then I end up using it later. It happens when you have a lot of hobbies and projects, I finish most of them eventually but usually I work on something a while then get burned out and set it aside to work on something else for a while.

[eecook]

That's an incredibly wasteful attitude, I shudder to think of all the good stuff that has been thrown away because of an attitude like that and someone who couldn't be bothered to try to rehome it.

I have loads of stuff that goes for a year or more without being used, but then I end up using it later. It happens when you have a lot of hobbies and projects, I finish most of them eventually but usually I work on something a while then get burned out and set it aside to work on something else for a while.

It's a personal thing. Having clutter and electronic scrap laying around the lab (which is small btw) stresses me out, even if its organized. So across the years I have learned what things I am most likely to actually use and assigned a finite amount of space to them. Once it is full I selectively throw shitt away.

Back when I was hoarding, literally, I even moved and carried all that shitt with me, pfff, not anymore.

At some point last year I had like 20+ brick power supplies from old stuff so I just kept the ones I liked the most and moved on.

Some things I cannot even sell and there's no electronic garbage recycling program where I live so it ends up in the dumpster. I wish there was a better way. I am open to suggestions.

[NiHaoMike]

Some things I cannot even sell and there's no electronic garbage recycling program where I live so it ends up in the dumpster. I wish there was a better way. I am open to suggestions.

Donate them to your local hackerspace or engineering college.

[eecook]

Some things I cannot even sell and there's no electronic garbage recycling program where I live so it ends up in the dumpster. I wish there was a better way. I am open to suggestions.

Donate them to your local hackerspace or engineering college.

No hackerspace in my town. Probably to a technically oriented high school. Although being a third world country and all you would be surprised on how hard it can be to help. It would not surprise me if I show up with a bunch of stuff and they have absolutely no idea how to handle the fact that somebody is there giving shit out for free. Crazy shit can happen on this side of the globe.