The one-week rule

I’ve always been a “tosser” but I married a “keeper” (in more ways than one). My wife is a person who likes to hold on to things against a possible future need. I am the opposite. If I need it now, I keep it. If not, I want it gone.

I have filled a lot of dumpsters in my lifetime. Sure, there have been times when I later regretted getting rid of something. One popular definition of junk is something you keep for 10 years and throw away a week before you need it. I have always held the contention that there is no such thing as scrap. If it’s not usable, it’s garbage. If it is usable, it’s inventory.

Even so, I have managed to pile up a lot of stuff at various times, stuff that took up valuable shop space, piles that things I needed hid behind. This stuff sometimes managed to survive until the day came when I had to move my shop. Then, the principal of the day would become “no mercy” and the dumpster would quickly fill.

When we clean the shop, all of the possibly usable excess is piled (neatly) outside the back door. Things like extra cabinet doors that maybe got made the wrong size or were made for a piece that never got finished. I allowed a week for these things to disappear. More often than not, they did. Whatever remained after a week received much harsher treatment.

D.D.