Still stressing out about my tools

[IGBT]

If you had a lot of tools, good tools, that you had accumulated over the years and you wanted to hit the road, would you sell them?

I have about 5,000 to 7,000 pounds of tools, probably worth $40,000 if I had to buy them new again and probably worth $8,000 if I sell them on craigslist.

While some might say just sell them and re-buy when you need them, I bet it is not that easy to find what you once had in a timely manner on craigslist.

We are selling our home and setting off in a RV we built from scratch, but it does not have near the capacity to carry this stuff.

This is one reason I have been interested in the threads on purchasing small bits of land.   I was toying with the idea of having a little barn or shop to store stuff.   If I put things in a storage unit at $100 a month and keep that for five years, I am out $6,000.   I am not sure though that I can find a plot of land where I can park for months and use the tools for less than $20,000 plus the yearly cost of property tax and security (at least insurance).

Family is 3000 miles away in Georgia.    It would cost me $3000 in fuel to get there even if I could manage to load everything in a big trailer.

Hard to let go, but looking like that is what has to be done.   Sorry for the sob story, but those tools built this:

 

[BradKW]

Hey, now that's a nice modular home!

I was once in a similar situation and I ofen meet others with that dilemma as well, given I work construction in a run-away location like the Keys. I initially brought too much stuff, as do many others. Common scenario is an overloaded trailer.

Over the years I've learned that you really don't need all that stuff to do top work. I've leaned this by working with a fair number of boat and RV travelers who've been doing it a long time and have their sh*t down pat. Watched a guy last month build full set of custom cabinets with a cordless skill saw, horses and handfull of pipe clamps...was pretty impressive, and seen less quality come out of full shops.

Small table saw, baby compressor, couple guns, full cordless set, router, baby miter saw...seen guys build boats. If its got a stand, sell it.

You also find that whatever that tool is that you just couldn't take but end up needing, you meet someone who's happy to let you make use of it.

Good luck

 

[LeeRevell]

The problem with storing "stuff" of value on a piece of land you visit only occasionally is it may be stolen.  Break ins, neighbors 'borrowing permanently' without your knowledge or permission.....    it's a real problem.  Even storing with family can be chancy.

 

[highdesertranger]

I am going through this right now too. hopefully I find a place for them were I can still use them. highdesertranger

 

[Canine]

I went through the same thing. Got rid of my compression tester, leakdown tester, bearing press, jacks, air compressor, etc. Hard to do, but there are an amazing amount of repairs that can be done on a couple hundred pounds of tools. Even one lonely tool box is amazingly practical. When you were younger, did you have a limited amount of tools? If so, how much did you accomplish with all those mismatched, hand-me-down tools? Keeping that in mind helped me pare down to what I have now.

 

[Cammalu]

The problem with storing "stuff" of value on a piece of land you visit only occasionally is it may be stolen.  Break ins, neighbors 'borrowing permanently' without your knowledge or permission.....    it's a real problem.  Even storing with family can be chancy.

Oh Lee I sure agree with your sentiments. It's an awful feeling when you are robbed and have cherished items taken. It's certainly not worth having anything valuable if you have to spend your life worrying about having it stolen all the time.

I had a beautiful piece of property but it was a constant worry. There were always trespassers who would leave trash or otherwise damage the area somehow. Gates and signs didn't seem to keep the worst ones out and I'd often find poachers prowling around or just find pieces of butchered animals or tangled fishing line and trash by the lake.

It drove me so nuts that I wanted to take my guns and just sit out there and wait for someone to come in. One day I realized what it was doing to my well being and as much as I loved that valley and woods I decided to sell. It sold immediately and although I dearly miss sitting out there in the quiet I'm relieved that I'm more at peace without it.

Now I have a very small piece under 15 acres still with plenty of animals to watch and small enough to where nobody bothers it.

If you don't have anything it's a relief and as I get rid of one item at a time I find I'm less and less stressed. It's a process.

 

[masterplumber]

I don't think I'll ever get the wife convinced to sell our sticks and bricks. But if I did I was thinking I'd buy a cheap piece of land in the middle of nowhere and have a sea container on it to store the tools I couldn't part with. I have been rethinking the amount of tools I need though, even though I work in the building trades full time. Some of what I have truly saves time and/or makes a task easier. But often I find it's actually faster to accomplish a given task with a simple hand tool that does many tasks.

 

[wagoneer]

Giving your tools to younger people you know would open the door to the occasional loan of tool. Tools of my trade were always drums cymbals and stands made quite a few bucks and traveled the world. Having not played and not really wanting to has me wondering the same. They sit in my basement collecting dust. Young drummers I talk to don't really care about having drums made in the USA in the 60's.

 

[Kevin H]

I feel your pain. I had a complete cabinet shop before we sold everything and moved into the RV. Funny thing, about a month later I did not miss any of it. Life had changed for us and we were moving in a different direction. The voids left by sentimental things will be filled by new adventures and experiences.

 

[Matlock]

IGBT, your definitely not alone with this decision.

My home and property I can sell without much hesitation. It's my high-bay garage and tools that are hard to part with.
I did have a taste of being tool-less when I locked up the garage, rented the house and moved 1100 miles south for employment for a few years. I left everything save for some bare essentials that I packed up and drove off with. Living in an apartment with only a carport there was no room for tools or a place to use them.

Now retired and back in Ohio. I still rent the house but I've kept my garage and tools to build my Cube conversion which will be finished this spring.

I'm still on the fence about selling everything Vs leaving things the way they are now and just heading south for the colder months each year. I'm spending this winter sorting through things trying to get down to my self-imposed 300lbs limit for electrical / mechanical and woodworking tools that I'll take with me. Everything else will be sold.

 

[MrNoodly]

I think all of us had some sort of vision of what our new nomadic life would be like -- what we would be doing, what we would need. The reality is usually different. Sometimes only slightly different, sometimes very different. Sometimes in negative ways, sometimes in positive ways. We couldn't know until we were actually doing it. So maybe the thing to do is put all your tools in a storage facility for a year, or with a trusted friend, then go out and live your new life and see if and how that changes your plans and priorities.

 

[Patrick46]

Great idea! ^^^

 

[IGBT]

I have thought about doing the storage facility thing but worry that one year might turn into three years.

I used one of these storage places a number of years back when we moved houses from Atlanta to Seattle.  I put $1000 of junk in there from the move and didn't mess with it until I had paid a total of $5,000 in storage fees.

The problem is I really want to keep my Miller 211 Mig welder.  It runs on 110/220 and is what I used to build the entire skeleton frame of our RV (and the propane carrier under the truck and even the trailer hitch!).   The problem is I then would want some way to cut steel, so I would want to bring my horizontal metal bandsaw, bench grinder, and drill press.   I also would need to bring the tank of 75//25 gas mix.

I think I will just have a little manly cry and sell everything.    Someone is going to get a sweet deal on that Miller...I love that thing.

 

[planet-beaver]

I'm in the process of downsizing right now. So I'm selling my large tools 1x1 and buy smaller versions. We are going nomadic with 2500HD truck and small 22' trailer. The back of the trucks will be my 250cc bike (310lbs) and tools (300lbs). I have a nice 6 foot long SS tool box that I'm bolting to the bed of the truck and will have it locked up (2 locks) plus chain around it. All stored under locked fiberglass cap with painted windows.

I have been doing vehicle repair and restoration for 15 years and plan on making money on the road with these tools. I'm downsizing:

welder (from 220 to 110)
compressor (from 50 gal to 10)
gas welding/cutting set (from 160lbs to 30lbs)
full frame 30 ton press (to c-clamp style)
generator (from 5000w to 2000w Honda)

Hand tools, well that's easy. Eliminating 80% of it with new multi function tools. These new tools are amazing. They swivel, pivot, ratchets everywhere. With my old school Craftsmen tools I needed 5 different style of wrenches. Now one will do the job. Even the impact guns, the new Astro Nano is 1/2 of the size, 2x the power.

 

[MrNoodly]

I put $1000 of junk in there from the move and didn't mess with it until I had paid a total of $5,000 in storage fees.

That might be the wrong way to think about this -- value of the things stored vs. the cost of storing it. What you bought was freedom from needing to deal with that stuff, freedom from needing another place to keep the stuff, freedom from needing to haul it around. And what it demonstrated is what it costs -- beyond the price you originally paid -- for you to keep that stuff. I was paying a mortgage, property taxes, insurance and utilities in order to keep my stuff. You probably are, too. But getting rid of the house still leaves you with the problem of where to keep the stuff you don't want to part with. It might not cost as much as having a house to keep it in, but it will cost something.

 

[eDJ_]

Our ancestors used to do something with firearms and powder they referred to as, "to Cashe".   That was to put in specialized containers and store underground.

I was in Colorado and heard of "La Cashe Poudre" and asked what the name meant. I was told it was French for, "to hide the powder".  In which case it was buried under the ground to hide it from the Indians who may raid them
and use it against them.  So in the cover of darkness it was hidden in holes dug in the ground and covered.

If you had some of those blue plastc drums with water tight resealable lids,  you may be able to place tools in them and seal the lids in such a way that these could be cashed similar on lands you would have access to later.

Again,  here you know where this stuff is and doing it under the cover of stealth if not darkness.

Bob has suggested burying a School Bus in the Desert.  If you could get one cheap enough that could still
be driven a few miles, perhaps it could be loaded and covered.   If it could be purchased for less than $1000
bucks, then the goods could be loaded into it.  That would still be less than a year's rent at $100 a month.

Something to consider at least.

 

[SternWake]

Last Year i was going out for a road trip and spent a good amount of time deciding which tools to take out of my Van, as one can always imagine a situation where a certain tool is absolutely required and nearly impossible to obtain elsewhere.

If one has the space it is all too easy to carry much more than needed.

if one ever does downsize, they might still think they have such and such a tool, when they do not. I hate searching for something I thought was right here, where i always put it, but might have gotten moved elsewhere in the van, or removed entirely from it.

I've already wasted so much money keeping a 5x10 storage unit, I refuse to do any math regarding continuing to keep it vs the monetary value of the items kept within it for so long.

 

[akrvbob]

I feel your pain. I had a complete cabinet shop before we sold everything and moved into the RV.  Funny thing, about a month later I did not miss any of it.  Life had changed for us and we were moving in a different direction.  The voids left by sentimental things will be filled by new adventures and experiences.

Extremely well said!  :idea:
Bob

 

[Cammalu]

Do you have a relative that might let you put a shed on their property? You could buy a shed and fill it and lock it up.

 

[KMAG YOYO]

I'm in the final stages of closing out my cabinet shop like Kevin H (Best way to make a small fortune in cabinetry? Start with a large one). I'll keep what I can see using in the next year and sell the rest. 

The way I see it, if I can sell a tool on craigslist today, I ought to be able to buy a similar tool tomorrow for a similar price. If I really think I'll need that tool some later day, the money can earn interest in the mean time.