Vent: My wife asked me why I keep a broken floor jack in the corner

Paul Lane · 2026-03-12T15:00:16.099275+00:00

I was cleaning up the garage last weekend, trying to make room for a new tool chest, and she pointed at my old 3-ton floor jack that hasn't worked right in years. I gave my usual answer about maybe fixing it someday. She just said, 'So it's garage art?' and walked back inside. It hit different because she wasn't mad, just honestly confused. I stood there looking at this heavy, greasy paperweight taking up prime floor space, and I realized I was keeping it out of some weird guilt. I bought it at a yard sale in Toledo for 40 bucks back in 2015, and it feels like a waste to just scrap it. But she's right, it's just a block of metal that doesn't do its job. How do you guys decide when to finally let a big piece of gear go?

noahchen7mo ago

My buddy had this old air compressor that sounded like a dying animal. He kept saying he'd rebuild the pump, but it sat for three years. Then his kid started tripping over the hose in the garage. He finally sold it for parts for like twenty bucks, and the space it freed up felt better than the money. Sometimes you just need that one thing to make it clear it's time.

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matthew_owens97mo ago

Margaretf40 is right, but maybe the guilt comes from that yard sale story you can't let go of.

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margaretf407mo ago

Forty bucks at a Toledo yard sale in 2015. I'm honestly stuck on that part. That jack owes you nothing.

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