By nature, do we thrive in clutter? (farmer, house, pole barn)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I was just outside, getting the faucets ready for the freeze, and didn't have enough covers. Trying to figure out how to make something other than a lot of socks......my eyes fell on DVD spindle covers and then bubble wrap mailers and I think I may have an answer....with paracord or zip ties.
Are we inclined to be like that, that because we think of ways to accomplish things, we tend to have a lot of junk around.....even if at a time, we don't know what we would do with this or that?
I don't keep a lot of bags, string, or other weird stuff around...but I do have a nice assortment of zip ties in the tool boxes. Wife throws out all my budding 'collections', so if I want to keep it, I throw it in a tool box. She knows better than to touch those.
I like to have quick access to my stuff. I want to be able to see it, lay hands on it, know exactly where it is. Couldn't tell you how many things I've bought doubles of - even triples - because I wasn't sure if I had one. In our pole barn in Maine, I have built many shelf units and filled them with clear plastic totes (to keep the mice out). In these I have everything from camping gear, shooting gear, winter clothing, tools, fishing tackle, ratchet straps, kerosene wicks, etc that the house won't hold.
I'm as innovative as the next person, but space is a big issue, especially living with Miss-neat-as-a-pin. So at long last, the Tennessee place is going to get a small pole barn of its own - for my sanity and hers.
Every good farmer or rancher has a bone yard of old equipment, just because you may need a part that the store doesn't have. Sometimes they'll cobble together a whole new invention to do a job there isn't a manufactured tool for, or to save money.
I've seen a lot of bale pickers made from old truck frames and an outdated farmhand.
This fall I saw one made from an old school bus with a ramp running the whole length and up over the driver for picking round bales.
He would back up to the bale, and had 2 hydrolic arm that grabbed the bale and pushed it onto the ramp. Worked slick!!
Having miscellaneous bits and pieces lying around gives you options when you need to get a job done.
I've spent my share of years in remote locations where you tend to keep stuff on hand simply because you can't trot down to a local store to buy it. If you are creative enough to dream up one off the wall idea you're creative enough to resort to something more mainstream from items you do have legitimate uses for. I have never "lived in clutter." "Clutter" sort of implies someone isn't a good planner, disorganized, and that they can't distinguish potential values. So, they hang on to everything. That's a very slippery slope.
I'm not a fan of clutter -- my need for organization stomps all over that. Do I have a lot of stuff? You betcha. Is it where I can't find it when it's needed? Nope. That's where organization comes in. Spending a good part of my growing up days looking through all the piles of junk/stuff/may need that someday that Dad had around the farm is probably why I'm more organized than he was. I hated spending hours searching for something he was sure he had. Somewhere.
Shelves in the garage and workshop have labelled places for specific items. There might be more than one of something, but all of that something is in one place. Even have a place for packaging materials, because one never knows when that will be needed. If I need to jerryrig something out of what I have, I know where to look for inspiration.
Pantry items go in a specifc place, every time, so I always know exactly where that item is (and when I need to buy more). I do not have a junk drawer - my organized brain refuses to allow it.
Spousal Unit had his father's tendency to keep broken stuff, because he might have another use for it. Over the years, I've tossed a lot of broken stuff, because he doesn't have a use for it and doesn't even remember having it. Sigh.
I was just outside, getting the faucets ready for the freeze, and didn't have enough covers. Trying to figure out how to make something other than a lot of socks......my eyes fell on DVD spindle covers and then bubble wrap mailers and I think I may have an answer....with paracord or zip ties.
Are we inclined to be like that, that because we think of ways to accomplish things, we tend to have a lot of junk around.....even if at a time, we don't know what we would do with this or that?
My wife creates clutter... I on the other hand am very organized. Clutter = chaos
Clutter and keeping potentially useful stuff are two different things. Apples and oranges.
In a clutter situation, you may have something you need but might not even know it. Or if you know it, you might not be able to find it. Adding people to the mix makes it worse. Did my spouse use/consume what I'm looking for? And the more people you have, the more clutter there is.
The happy medium is to keep stuff you may need and rehome the stuff you won't. The stuff that falls into the middle needs an organized home. Putting stuff into bins and/or stacked on shelves helps, with the inventory of each bin clearly printed/written on the front. It helps if the bin is clear so you can see inside it, but the inventory list is important. If you take something out, cross it off. If you put it back in, write it down again. Don't wait thinking you'll "put it back in later". You might not. You might find a more appropriate bin.
Interesting thread! I personally don't like clutter, yet I guess you'd never know by how my desk is, ha! But I have things in a pile, not just loose papers all over in every direction.
If I can wake up each morning & have a completely cleared away, streamlined, home, I'd love it. Also, I don't like a lot of things all around because dust accummulates too much & way too fast in all the nooks & crannies. At least if a counter or desk is pretty cleared off, I can just wipe dust a lot more often in 1 swipe!
Since we're on this topic, I've read/heard some people say, "my house/office/room, etc. is messy becauase that shows I have a life OR I've got things going on, etc." as if to say they're not dull, but exciting people or something. Well, I don't know about that. If that's what they want to think. I think people should try to be neat no matter how busy they are or think they are.
Just to note a few things. The air bubble mailers, bubble plastic, were just recycling that had not gone out yet. As it is now, though, two of them are tied around faucets. When this alert is over, I will probably order more of the proper stuff.
What do I need more of? Paracord! What does a girlfriend need more of? Duct tape (in her video on the Net)! Neither one is clutter but the stuff to tie life, whatever that component may be, together and as such, it is the stuff we tend to stock up on.
But, once we have identified a need, do we then have a place for the stuff we picked out of the heap? Maybe. I am remembering another girlfriend, a horsewoman out on the coastal plane, who was desperate because at 0200, found her well had busted a pipe....and those of us she could reach were trying to remember our damage control training to jury rig the problem. Would layers of bubble plastic mailers and paracord do it?
Maybe if it happens, especially since I don't know where I put those pipe repair vises I bought in reaction to her incident, a decade ago.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
