Often when I visit clients to provide them with an in-home estimate, everything is all smiles and nods until the lady of the house prepares herself to show me the garage or the shed.

Generally, I can sense when she is about to take this step; nervous laughter is usually a good indicator, heavy breathing or nail biting may begin, and her eyes may roll into the back of her head as she conjures up the strength to explain why Mr. Smith has a mitre saw taking up half the garage.

Mr. Smith, of course, had his family’s best interests at heart when he purchased the industrial-strength pressure washer planted firmly in the middle of the back shed. Not only does it provide an easy, hassle-free solution to re-staining your deck but it also acts to protect your home from local hooligans by doubling up as high-powered water cannon. Who needs law enforcement when you have 3600 Psi?

Tools remain as one of the vestiges of masculinity (or pseudo-masculinity for that matter). Your wife may think you’re overcompensating, but I understand the temptation to have the 11 drawer tool-chest with a titanium frame capable of storing the 75 toolsets you don’t own (yet).

Now, that you’re moving from your 2 bedroom house to a smaller condo, what to do with all those tools? How do you put an end to the memories of half-finished home renovation projects and the pain of injuries sustained in battle? (Read: drilling a hole in your palm).

Beginning the grieving process is never easy, gentlemen. Take a quick look around before you scan the garage one last time – you don’t want to see the neighbour watch you clutching your work bench like it’s a hot cup of coffee on a cold day. A moment of silence is acceptable – in fact, you may as well have two. Beyond a couple of moments of almost-whimpering, it’s safe to say that you have an unhealthy dependency on your tools.

It’s time now to think of disposal methods.

There, there – the hot glue gun will always be a part of you. Seriously, there’s still glue residue on your palm from the “freak glue-gun accident” of 2008.

Continuing in the theme of (pseudo)masculinity nothing screams manly like a Viking funeral. It also gives you the opportunity to use your tools one last time! So go ahead, create that raft with that saw you’ve used 6 times, set it down in the water with all your wife’s worst enemies and watch it float away burning in the distance – you’ll be glad you did!

In all seriousness though, when moving, our biggest challenge is parting with the things we bought with intentions of using fairly frequently. The question to ask yourself is, are you willing to pay a professional to move something for you that you don’t see yourself using at your new dwelling? Chances are if you are thinking about whether or not you are going to be using the item in question; you’re probably not going to use it. So do yourself a favour and don’t hold onto the things you can afford to leave behind.