Swamped, the good and the bad. Or "My week with mom and dad".

OK, I'll admit it. I am swamped. I am trying to work full time (30 hours), and scrap/resell full time. And of course the regular life chores, you know the same problems many of you deal with.

I have an area outside the side door of my garage (fenced in) that just keeps piling up with "I'll get to that later". Well that pile keeps growing.

My office is a pile of vintage commodore and other vintage computer equipment.

My garage is a constant battle of repiling things everywhere in order to do something different.

I can't stop picking up anything that comes along scrapwise even though I know I don't have the room.

My tailgate is now my normal workbench.

So when I get a couple of hours, I always have to make a decision. Generate some cash? Or make some space? Hopefully it is a hybrid that does both. Well, It always does both, but some weigh heavier than others in that decision making process.

Here is where I am at right now. I am about ready to implode. The pile out side is huge, the stacks of tubs inside that also need attention are growing. (things like a bunch of heat sinks that have fans still attached, cables that need cut, etc. Not large amounts of money, but when I get the time it will be worth the time spent.

Add to that the load I picked up today, and then the craig's list free towers I picked up a couple hours ago and my truck (bed and cab) is full of 30 some computers and now my wife's car has a pile of them in the back as well.

Here is where it all gets good. Sometime tomorrow, my parents arrive for a week. My dad will be a great help getting me caught up. He is 76 and up until recently, he could work circles around me and most people I know. We have a couple house project to work on, but we will be definitely spending some serious time breaking down and making space. Then I plan on doing some serious planning to maximize space. As much additional shelving and such that we can pack into the space allowed.

The best part is that I now have about a week and a half off to make this all happen. I have some great plans to get this all working better and will surely post some pictures when we finish.

Aw, who am I kidding? The best part is going to be spending some time in the garage working with dad and some more good time with both mom and dad doing some Florida type stuff. (lion country safari).

So tomorrow, will be spent breaking down computers. (hopefully most of them before they arrive). Then Saturday is a trip to the steel yard to make some serious space. Then some time spent messing with those piles that all need separated to maximize return as well as spending some time making plans and getting ready to buy some lumber on Monday to get whatever plans we pull together going.

Then....................................

Stay tuned. It is going to be a great week with my dad and mom and scrapping will be involved, so I will update as we go. I will try and update this coming event every day. Unfortunately, I have to run to the muffler shop in the morning and get a new muffler before the whole thing gets started, but I got a good quote after running into some rough problems trying to get a quote.

I will try and get a few pictures of the mess tomorrow before we attempt to correct the situation. I have been working towards some space foe a few weeks now, so it won't be as bad as it was before I went hardcore.

Sounds like some good times ahead for you next week with your parents. You have the problem we all have, there is no end to it which means you always have money in the form of scrap laying around. I found that no matter how hard you try, organization only comes when you make the decision to not get any scrap for a few days.

It sucks since scrap to us is like a drug to an addict. The more you get the more you crave and when it gets taken away for a while you get withdrawals. I have a partner again and we decided to pool all our scrap from our garages and moved into a storage space. He is a bit of a neat freak but it works out well for us. He put in shelves and racks before we moved in. Labeled all the boxes so as we breakstuff down it goes right in a bin or box and when they get full they get shipped out or hauled to the yard.
Anything that need further breaking down gets put to the side till all the bulkier material is processed and hauled to the yard.
Good luck and enjoy the visit with the folks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BRASSCATCHER

Sounds like some good times ahead for you next week with your parents. You have the problem we all have, there is no end to it which means you always have money in the form of scrap laying around. I found that no matter how hard you try, organization only comes when you make the decision to not get any scrap for a few days.

It sucks since scrap to us is like a drug to an addict. The more you get the more you crave and when it gets taken away for a while you get withdrawals. I have a partner again and we decided to pool all our scrap from our garages and moved into a storage space. He is a bit of a neat freak but it works out well for us. He put in shelves and racks before we moved in. Labeled all the boxes so as we breakstuff down it goes right in a bin or box and when they get full they get shipped out or hauled to the yard.
Anything that need further breaking down gets put to the side till all the bulkier material is processed and hauled to the yard.
Good luck and enjoy the visit with the folks.

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Nice. That sounds like a great deal. Hope it keeps working. Good partners are very hard to find.

Good luck with it PH. When you start building shelving, if you'll use good treated 2x4s ripped in half, not only for legs, but also for the rails, they'll go twice as far, and not be nearly as intrusive, but still be plenty strong enough for most any loads. I seldom use nails anymore either, even though it usually means pre drilling, I use screws.They hold lots better and are more easily removed when making future improvisations

Most of all, enjoy, no, treasure the time with your Mom and Dad. Special time with Dad in the shop is priceless.

My dad passed away when I was only 23 so I'm making the time up with my sons. But even after 30 years there's still a tear once in a while that I couldn't have spent more time being the younger one with my dad...

Jon.

Hope you get to enjoy the time with your folks. Funny you wrote your description about your workspace. I was looking at mine a few days ago and am in serious need for some reorganization. Please send your dad to my place when he is finished at yours. :p

Sometimes I go into the purge mode and sacrifice some money for space and peace of mind that the uncluttered look brings.

I go biggest to smallest. So if I get a washer, motor is taken out that day and the metal placed in the trailer, Computers and microwaves, ac's and such are the next to go, All to get the big metal into the trailer. Then when there is space go with the smaller stuff into buckets for the small scale. If you keep the big steel out of the way your area can be alot cleaner. Then like this week, I was able to sort out all the motherboards and other circuit boards and stuff. I might make several trips to the scrap yard during the week but at least I can move around my driveway.

So often it is about time vs money...I have found that the money I generate from breaking down some things just doesnt add up with the time spent. Best thing is set a $$$ per hour you want to make and if the breaking down activity doesnt equal that...then dont do it...just leave it in there and keep going.

I dont break down the little copper bearing stuff for instance. It just goes in the bucket and is sold that way. Same with little motos in printers....05-..10 a pound extra is not worth the time spent as I try to make $50/hr. I just leave it and go ti the next thing that pays more.

Believe me it helps.

I can sympathize with you on the clutter and mess. When I was just working out of my house, I started off with our laundry room (which was the original garage for the house). That started filling up, so I put rows of metro shelving in it. That filled up, and I kicked the fiancee's car out of the two car garage. My mopeds moved up into the rafters and I filled that garage up, and stuff started piling up in the carport in the backyard. When she came home one day and there were things stacked in the living room, that was the beginning of the end of my home-based adventure.

Now, I have an almost full 2000sf warehouse. Constantly battling with prioritizing things. In the past month, I haven't broken anything down but have filled up a 30 foot long 8 foot wide row with computers, ptac units, appliances, electronics, etc etc. I have to climb over things to get into the bathroom. Thing is, I don't advertise that I buy this stuff. I don't know how people find me, and I fear for when I start advertising. All I have is my website and there are almost no visitors to it.

You know, my mom comes by every once in awhile and helps with things. Last time she was in, I spent time on testing computers and she actually made it possible to walk down an isle (she organized and put everything onto the shelves). She also dug up a pallet of lab equipment that I didn't remember having.

Also, parrothead - where are the pics?

Not to split hairs but I just ran out of inventory for my little operation, I could use some of your "problem" :) Keeping perspective, hoping you enjoy your time with family and tear into them computers! good luck!

I just made the trip to "home" to see my father, he's 92 and it was great.

On the build up of stuff one thing that helped me in my has been to completely tear down towers on the tail gate and toss the case to the front of the bed. I have several tubs at the ready so the sorting goes quickly. What also aids in my dismantling is I have two vehicles one to pick up and one to fill with the shred/steel.

My thoughts on scraping is its like being on a tread mill always looking for more scrap while trying to process what you have. I expect my cycle of scrap is much like others kind of like a slinky toy. As soon as I get ready to get rid of some I start to worry where the next load is coming from. Best luck and enjoy the folks. Mike.

Swamped should = making money
Good luck and enjoy time w the family

Having a great time so far. I neglected to get any before pictures. But we pulled out this morning with a full truck and trailer headed to the yard with a load of shred. Price is still holding steady at 8.5 cents per pound and has not waivered from that in some time. Had a $122 and change ticket. Best part is an empty truck and an empty trailer.

We got home by 9:30 and tore into the pile on the side of the garage. It was a little bit of everything. Got a load to the non ferrous yard by 1 with a ticket at $129 and change.

Have a little more steel now and some more space to get to the breaking down of the piles inside the garage. Made some good headway there today.

Next few days will be a little slower. Church with them in the morning, then lunch, then pick up some boards from a local scrapper. The afternoon will be spent getting some plans together for a few various projects that we want to tackle as well as a shopping list for those projects.

Monday we are driving down to West Palm area to go to the Lion Country Safari for the morning, then coming home with a stop at the brand new Bass Pro Shop. Then off to Home Depot to get that lumber and other items we need for the projects.

Then Tuesday will be a drive to Tampa to move some E-waste.

After that we can move a little slower and take some time with the projects and get some naps in here and there.

We have been having lots of fun and getting lots of good clean up done and making some money in addition. Today, we finally got cleaned up enough to get the first project on the "reorganizing" list done.

Until now, I have had an 8 foot table on stilts that I had a printer set up on and some old commodore equipment. We had bought the materials for this on Monday, but we did not get around to the project until today after driving around and hitting some thrift stores and such for fun first.

I present to you, my new commodore work station. It is set up with 3 working systems so I can test other components that I have laying around and get them sold. That will of course free up even more room. The set up is from right to left, oldest to newest. monitors are 1702, 1802 and 1902. Systems are Vic 20, 64 and 128.

http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...psf837c462.jpg

Here is a picture of the stilts that the table is on. This is an old trick from BBQ competitions. I have no idea who started it, but everyone did it. The cabinet is full of some old commodore equipment that all needs tested. The cabinet was the base from an office printer that I scrapped some time ago. There is also a large 6 foot cabinet behind me half full of more commodore equipment. Cables, power supplies, drives, etc. None of it is big money stuff, but I will enjoy getting it going and putting it in someone else's hands to use again.

http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...ps885f2fde.jpg

More to come soon I hope. Since taking the picture, I have already populated the lower shelf with manuals, 5 1/4 disk containers, and other such goodies that had been stacked all over the place until now.

I love the stilts idea

nice set up !

Well, the week is almost up. My parents will leave early in the morning to beat the traffic back home to Illinois. We did a lot of projects and cleaned a lot of stuff up. We had a ton of fun seeing some sights and hitting the local eateries.

We rebuilt the outdoor kitchen a bit, we replaced some trim around windows that needed replaced, we made some progress in the garage and in the office (see picture above), and various other small tasks.

We didn't get to all of the projects we wanted to, but we got a great start on the massive to-do list that always exists.

We pretty much cleared the big pile outside of the garage and by the front of the garage near the trailer. All was broken down and turned in. As we made our way through the garage, we found a few things stashed here and there that needed broken down a little further. After all of the work, I now have a maybe 12 gallon tub with stuff that need to be broken down as well as 2 cop/alu rads that need the steel cut off on the side of the garage.

My work bench in the garage is cleared, but the rest of the garage is still a mess. Most of it anyway. I already had a wall of shelving that holds nothing but containers for separated metals and computer parts.

Enjoy the time you can spend with your parents if you still have them. If you don't still have them, I am sorry for your loss. I have mine and I don't know how much longer I will have them. My mother will turn 80 next year I think and my father is hitting 78 or so. (sorry I never know their exact age, I have never been one that cared about that stuff). They are starting to really show it. This is the first time that I can say that my dad can no longer work circles around me and that is sad. He was a marine and is now a Baptist minister and he always seemed to have infinite energy. That is no longer the case. Last year my mother was able to spend all day with us hitting garage sales and thrift stores. Now she has 2 or 3 stops in her at the most.

If you still have your parents, grab them and hug them and cherish them. You may never see them again. With my parents that is a real possibility as we only get to see each other typically once a year in person. (Skype helps!)

Sorry, I did not take as many pictures as I thought I would.

Nice story Parrot, cool table too

Thanks for the update...sounds like a great week.