Clearing out the backlog - a challenge to finish up those little projects that have built up

 We all have those big projects that we take time to work on, but we also have those little projects that build up around the place and occupy space in the back of our minds. They're little things that can be done in less than an hour but we don't ever seem to have time to do them. I'm making time right now to clear up a pile of these little projects - I've committed to doing one every other day.

Thursday is like my Friday as I stay home with the kids the next day so I had a little more time than on a work night. I spent my evening after the kiddos bedtime out in the shop. I replaced the damaged cord on my bench grinder. I also spent a bunch of time cleaning up some chairs I need to sell. They're not mint but they're no longer covered in spider eggs and dirt, and can fetch a hundred or two hundred dollars on eBay:

I also sorted out boxes and packing materials that had built up on the shop floor and put them in the attic.

For my next project, I finally hung the ladder from the ceiling of the garage. That was an awesome thing to get done - it's been bugging me for months that it was in the way on the garage floor.

What do you guys have piled up that you can work on to help you feel better about yourself as a functional adult? What can you take care of that's been bugging you for months?

Proof of the ladder hanging from the garage ceiling:

I used the Racor ladder lift and it's a pretty sweet setup. The ladder hangs down about 12" which is good enough as we have about 14" of clearance above the hatch on our biggest car. Or at least the biggest one that goes in this garage.

And yes, we have a ton of stuff hanging in the garage. We need a shed. Both walls look like this along with an "outdoor toy" cabinet and a workbench for small house projects and a treadmill and a TV and and and... Yet somehow we can fit 2 cars in there as long as we keep the stroller collection under control.

I start work again in one week, I have been cramming in as many little projects as I can and next week I plan to build this: 

Yesterday's project was finally getting copies of the keys to my latest vehicle acquisition and getting it towed to my house. That's not a project in and of itself, you say? Well,I paid for this car in February. That's right, 8 months ago I paid for it, and I'm only just now taking possession of it. So I'm counting it as a part of the backlog.

I'm going to get it running and post it on CL. If it doesn't sell, it may meet with the welder and sawzall and become a utility vehicle for around the property. I posted about it here: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/what-have-i-done-car-5-suzuki-sidekick-sport/136705/page1/

In reply to pinchvalve :

That looks great! We need something similar for our combination mudroom/laundry room.

Sent you a pm.

Thanks

Paul

I spent an hour Friday getting my workbench on casters, and moving my new slip roll from the car to the bench.

I have a sewing machine that had a bad tensioner for the bobbin, but was otherwise good. About a month ago I pulled a similar one from the curb to swap the parts over - I need to do that and get to work learning how to sew..

Would that ladder lift work on a pitched garage roof?  I'd love to get my 8' ladder off the ground but the only ceiling space I have isn't flat, its pitched...

I need to make a new plywood countertop for one of my workbenches and clean out some construction trash from my backyard.

and replace some vinyl siding I melted with the grill.

and a few other things. I think I made a list...where did it go?

That is a great looking chair, now you have me looking at them on ebay even though I don't really have a need for one. 

docwyte said:

Would that ladder lift work on a pitched garage roof?  I'd love to get my 8' ladder off the ground but the only ceiling space I have isn't flat, its pitched...

I think it would; you put the top of the ladder in a J hook and then strap the bottom of the ladder to the lifting rope using the included strap. I can't think of any reason it wouldn't work on a sloped roof. I ordered it from Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Racor-LDL-1B-Ladder-Lift/dp/B007PM4KPW but it's gone up a few dollars since I ordered it. I think I paid $39.

@Evan: I love these chairs. I've had this one for close to 20 years, but I have too many. I think I have a total of seven or eight different ones, some leather some cloth, some padded and some not. I think I'll be selling them all, just trying to start over with less stuff.

@Paulmpetrun: Responded! I hope I can talk you into buying my Sidekick. It's a good little truck but I just don't have time or a real need for it right now.

Some of these are really little projects. I've been bugged by my workshop door sticking really hard sometimes, and a minute with a small Surform had it opening and closing super easily. Maybe not the ideal way to fix it but this is a 60 year old wood door with all those years showing clearly on it so I'm not worried about getting it perfect, just functional.

This thread is me all over, get the big stuff done or the majority of a big job done, only to be left with an ever increasing list of small jobs and finishing touches that keep getting put off.

It inspired me into action last night and I spent the required 45 minutes sledgehammering apart the last of the concrete that was our front verandah.

Some of the things still on the list include Plane down a sticking door (thanks for the reminder), move a striker plate for a different door, fix window flyscreens, re-mulch back garden bed, clean paint off window frames that appears to be the result of a painter with Parkinson's. Fit a new blind to the spare bedroom. 

There's more, and I'll be trying to identify them over the next few days in a bid to get them off my back. Daylight savings just started, so there's a bit of extra time to knock some of these things over of an evening instead of trying to cram everything into a weekend.

In reply to daeman :

Awesome! That was my hope, spur someone else into cleaning up the little bits we leave undone around our lives. It's funny, we're just about losing our daylight savings so it's going into the long dark (literally) winter. Sunset will be 5pm here soon.

Hive mind is real, didn't see the thread but have been thinking/feeling the same.
Started last Wednesday and so far I've;
Finished painting and reassembly of some AR lowers
Painted some LS400 calipers to sell
Installed the front and rear lowering springs and new struts in the MX6
Fender rolled the quarter panels on said MX6
Welded in a new catalytic converter on the Integra
Taught my son to change the spark plugs on the Integra
Adjusted the timing in the Integra
Got approved for TSA precheck ​​​​​​​
Mowed the seriously overgrown lawn

This weekend was spent knocking out landscaping projects that have stagnated.

I shoveled the last of 9 tons of gravel into my flower beds this weekend. The pile was delivered in April, and I'd been picking at it slowly (obviously). That makes something like 35 total tons of rock that I've shoveled into these beds now, and it might finally be done which is exciting.

Also threw the last of our mulch into some beds too. That had been ongoing since Labor Day.

It's nice to have that part of my driveway back again.

Oh, and I took down a big hornet's nest that showed up on the lowest boughs of one of our trees this summer.

I just want to go on record as saying that this thread has cause WAY more work than intended.

I wanted to add a usb charger and Bluetooth mike to the bmw.

The dash came out, new stereo, rca cables and antenna wires ran.....

Lots more than an hour.

But almost done and much happier 

My latest effort has been to clear space by clipping old magazine articles pertinent to my interests, and tossing the rest of the magazines.  We're talking cubic feet of magazines now gone from my house.

Organizing the info for my future search and retrieval is part of the process.  

I'm finding it difficult not to stop and re-read the magazines, but I am succeeding.

GRM is being spared the butchery - for the moment.  

Unfortunately, no "little" projects to do at the house or on the car. 

The house I purchased was a total loss write-off by the insurance for smoke damage, it was literally completely renovated down to new cable wires run to every room, new flooring/paint/granite/cabinets/etc. 

The only real project for it is to do all the front landscaping (including having some pro's come cut down and remove a few trees and trim the others). 

I guess my small project would be get the 135i cleaned up and take pics so I can put it up for sale.

In reply to Dusterbd13 :

I certainly did not intend to make you pull the dash on your car, but now that it's done I'm glad it worked out.

Last night I took photos of some wheels that I've been meaning to use for 9 years and haven't. They're in the classifieds now.

I've been keeping on some small projects but haven't been keeping my thread up. Now this has become another small project to maintain! Oh no!

I went through the last of the MR2 Spyder parts from the wrecked car, freeing up one of my garage carts from car part purgatory. That was a big one. I have posted most of them on eBay, and am shocked at how much they were worth. Stuff like used suspension arms I would assume were just scrap, looks like I can get over a hundred bucks for them. There were several items like that, in the "probably scrap" pile, that added up to over $500 worth of stuff. Plus I freed up a cart, which is always a win, when I only have two carts in the garage.

I got the Sidekick running and assessed the condition more thoroughly. That's a big one. It's going to be for sale here shortly. One forum member already has dibs of a sort, if he passes it'll go to the hive.

I think tonight I will clean up and post another extra set of wheels. I need to get the pace of the outgoing to outstrip the pace of the incoming, and maintain that for a while.

Time to revisit.

Planed down the edge of that sticky, noisey door! It took maybe 10 minutes total.... Why did I leave it for months?

Got the 2001 Ford courier washed, detailed, photographed and advertised for sale.

Finally got my new side gates hung.

Cleared up the last of the concrete rubble from demolishing my front verandah.

Chucked the worn out old sliding glass/aluminum doors from the rear of the garage ( most satisfying because I got to smash the glass once I got them Into the dumpster!)

Still a few little jobs from further up the page to tackle, hopefully some of those will disappear this week as I keep chipping away. Trying not to start any new big jobs till the smalls are sorted

Edit: what's progress without pictures?

For ten long years I've been kicking around this 35k BTU kerosene heater:

I bought this thing when I had an unheated garage and had a love/hate relationship with it from day one. They smell bad, you have to leave things open so fresh air can come in to make up for combustion air, and so you're always fighting a losing battle with the cold. Then one day I apparently got bad kerosene or didn't keep enough fresh air coming in and it got me feeling pretty sick (anxious feeling, coughing with a feeling like something stuck in my throat, etc). Figured out it was the heater and my relationship turned to hate/hate from that day forward. I stopped using it. I moved into a place with a heated garage, and kept this "just in case." Then moved again, new place also had a heated garage. For ten years this thing has sat, empty and unused, taking up space along with the unneeded kerosene container. I saw it to other day and posted it to Craigslist, right at the beginning of the heating season. It fired right up with a little kerosene in it, and less than 24 hours later I have turned it into a nice $100 bill. For some reason this small sale has me feeling more hopeful than a lot of cleanup projects I've been doing.

I hope that dopamine hit will keep me going on this backlog clearing effort.

What have you guys been working on??

Cleaning the duster up for the first time in almost 4 years. Every day i spend another 20 minutes with a claybar. Decklid and 1/2 a quarter panel done!

Changed out the vanity hardware as the final step of our master bath light remodel. Mrs STM is happy.