I have a sink which is from the 1950s. It's a big old boy, solid enameled cast iron with double drainer. I got it off a mate who was renovating his flat: it took both of us to carry it to my car, and it pretty much filled the back of an Octavia estate with the seats down.
We initially got it because my Mrs wanted it for when we did the kitchen up.
That day has now passed, and we didn't use the sink.
Never mind!, we said, we'll keep it for when we put in a utility room.
That day has also now passed, and once again we didn't use the sink.
We've now had it something like seven years, and it's buried in the conservatory behind two wooden doors I bought from Wickes because they were on offer (and which we didn't then use in subsequent DIY), and the Gumtree-sourced bath which, fingers crossed, is going to be used when we do the bathroom up.
In my mind we're recycling heroes, but deep down I know the truth.
I reckon charity shops exist as the least worst option for this scenario.
Used some stiff steel wire that used to be bucket handles to make something to hang bungee straps to in the shed and a bracket for a bunjee to stop bike from leaning into other bike. Had them laying around for years. Brought them with me when we moved. #livingmybestlife #slowworkday
I reckon my garage has reached an equilibrium where actual useful stuff is so buried in boxes of junk that it costs me as much to re-purchase things I already have but assume I've binned than I save in finding the correct spare part.
24 years from catching a drumstick at the end of a Reef gig at Brixton Academy to me needing something to stir paint with.
I'm 55 and haven't come in useful yet. But I'm holding out.....
It was brought home to me when I helped my mum sort out my late dads man cave (a 10x10 ft steel shed). It was packed as efficient as you'd expect from somebody who served his life in the forces yet, there were thousands of screws, clips, tins and general iron work that would never be used.
Then went into the loft of the house and found all the stuff he didn't think that important but didn't want to throw away. The whole loft space was boarded and had plastic tubs (the £15 under bed size things) all around, probably 100 of them in total.
So much crap (sorry dad) it was unbelievable.
Sorted through it all, binned most and kept some keepsakes.
Went home, stood back and looked around our garage - it was de-cluttered the following weekend.
I have some hope o2/c2 pads that I no longer have brakes for. Free to anyone has a use for them.
My best man's mum bought us some espresso cups for our wedding as he was going to buy us an espresso machine. He didn't buy the espresso machine.
20 years later I bought a coffee machine and used the espresso cups for the first time.
I got some large cast iron brackets from a railway yard 35 years ago, and due to the their need to be bolted through any upright, had not found a use for them until recently, when I used them to make a porch roof for a workshop.
Fortunately I bought two pairs, so I have still have one pair remaining, just in case.
as above.
Coming in useful = it'll come in useful + 3 days
Chuck them in the bin and youll find a use for them by wednesday.
We've done well to get this far without anyone mentioning their back catalogue of STW mags.
I've had a trailer cover that we used when going to & from uni, trailer's long gone and not towed one since but I finally used it to cover up some stuff in the garden 20yrs after leaving uni. Clock's still running on half the contents of the garage & loft, there's a pre-uni fishing rod up there too!
I get a ridiculous amount of joy from bodging a fix from something that i've held onto for ages
I've been getting better at keeping all sorts of old bits but now using white labels on drawers, organisers, boxes and trays. Still lose stuff and can't find bits but it's definitely getting better!
I've sorted the big tub of random bolts into various metric sizes. Sorted old sockets and screwdrivers, tidied up various piles of tools. Other bits now also sorted in different places, including lots of outdoorsy gear. It's unbelievably cathartic
Mrs BH for years rolled her eyes at the collection of “just in case” odd sized pieces of wood found in various corners of sheds and garages. Over lockdown she discovered a bit of a taste for around the house projects and can now be found sifting through said collection for her next project. Case proven, m’lud.
Had a XT thumb shifter in my spare for about 15 years before putting it in a pub bike.
We’ve done well to get this far without anyone mentioning their back catalogue of STW mags.
Don't!
The wife keeps making noises about the 4 crates full of early/mid 1990s MBUK. MTBPro, MTB Monthly, and various other mags.
I know I should bin them, but I can't ☹️
Use toe straps a lot for various jobs.
Managed recently to use one of the hundreds of bits of useless pish that I stubbornly/stupidly hang on to.
The night before an overnight John Muir Way ride, I started packing my stuff and loading it onto the bike. I realised quite late on that I had nowhere to mount my old school/cheap and therefore quite bulky sleeping bag. Obviously wanted to avoid a backpack, so started hunting the shed for something I could fashion into a rack. Ended up cutting up a 2005 OEM Bonty rim, and drilling it to bolt onto the various braze-on mounts the Pubesmobile has on the fork. Worked a treat much to my surprise/relief. Fully expected it to rattle itself off on the first descent off Stonymollan.
@sillyoldman that rack was pretty impressive. simple solution well executed.
bit of smoothing off with a dremel and a £100+ price tag and you're on to a winner..
A few years back my next door neighbour, in his 70s, broke a window on the side of our semi detached house.
He repaired it the same day using a pane of glass from the equivalent window on his side of the semi. He had removed it 30years before when their extension was built, and had kept „just in case“. Re-using that old window made an old man very happy.
@lovewookie - it could have ideally done with a bit of de-burring, but it was Beer Thirty by that point…
@J-R Love it!
