2016 Spring Home Improvement

5 / 32

2016 Spring Home Improvement LINCON DAILY May 2, 2016 Page 5
Principle 1: Poor grade tools are generally the lowest
priced tools in the display. They are made of the least
durable materials and although they may resemble
good tools in some ways, they are poor knock-offs.
Don’t buy the lowest priced tools because they will
usually lack quality and durability.
Principle 2: Some reputable companies may have
different grades of tools in their own brand name. It
is common for a brand-name company to attempt to
encourage you to buy their line of tools by having
several tiers of tool quality available to you. They will
present you with their lowest (poorest) quality tools at
low prices, and present you with a mid-quality line of
tools for a moderate price, and may even present you
with a contractor grade tool choice for yet a higher
price. Don’t be confused by brand names. Even
though a reputable company presents low priced tools
it does not necessarily mean they are good quality
tools.
Principle 3: Tool retailers that do not have a wide
diversity of tools to select from may not be the best
place to purchase tools. You want to be able to
compare tools and select the quality tool you desire
from the widest selection available, meaning that the
Wal-Mart or grocery store selection of tools may not
be right for you except in an extreme emergency.
The principle to be followed is that, like wealth, you
accumulate tools over a lifetime and over a lifetime
you become tool-wealthy. Buy the best tools you can
afford every time you shop for a tool, so that when
your tool collection begins to grow it is populated with
tools that lasted through the first job and are ready to
go for all the upcoming jobs in your future.
Good quality tools used right should last a lifetime.
2. Tools that you cannot find are like not having
tools at all!
You have tools in the trunk of your car, tools in your
garage, tools in the junk drawer in the kitchen, tools
in your workshop and some tools who-knows-where.
You remember buying them, buy have no idea where
they are when you need them most.
Having good tools requires organizing and storing
your tools so that you can locate them quickly when
that next job comes up.
Principle 1: Tools that you cannot find are no good
to you. You know that you bought them and you can
even remember when you last used them, but you
can’t put your hand on them. Those are worthless
tools. And they became useless because you did not
take the time to organize and store them so you can
find them the next time.
Principle 2: You should spend as much time cleaning,
maintaining and putting your tools away as you did
using them. Your tools should be in their unique
storage spaces (even if the storage system is known
only to you) in a condition to pickup and use again
immediately. It will hinder the job if you have to hunt
for the tool and if you have to clean it up before you
use it again.
Principle 3: Although it is more difficult to maintain,
having tools in different places like your trunk and
garage and workshop is doable if their placement in
those locations makes sense in context rather than
merely ending up where you used them last.
The most important thing here is that good
organization can save you time, money and frustration
if you develop a system for the storage of your good
tools and follow it every time you use a tool. Put
away properly, your tool can be there like a good
friend for you next time you need it. Put away
haphazardly, you may ultimately end up buying
duplicate tools, wasting time and money.
CONTIUNED ►