How do you guys organize your stuff?

Thread Starter

stoopkid

Joined Mar 3, 2011
146
I've only really gotten interested in electrics over the last year and I already have wayyy too much stuff to keep organized. First I just spent days finding plastic organizing boxes with small enough cells to make it efficient. Soon after I found a solution I had too much for that to work so I started punching holes in the little ziplock bags that I get my parts in and put them on rings. Now I have too much for that. So how do you guys stay organized?
 

Zazoo

Joined Jul 27, 2011
114
I was using the small flip-top organizer trays you can buy for fishing gear and craft beads. This got cumbersome to work with as I added more stuff though - I ended up having tons of trays that took up half my desk and frequently got knocked over.

Eventually, I installed a peg-board and shelving behind the desk I use. On the peg-board I attached multidrawer organizers (the kind you get at home improvement stores to store nuts, bolts, screws, etc.) I use these to hold all my components. Larger items go in a set vertical plastic drawers on the side of the desk (I bought these at Wal-Mart for like $8 each.)

It works nicely, although it tends to just free my desk up to collect other clutter. Oh well.

I'll throw up a picture in a bit.
 

Thread Starter

stoopkid

Joined Mar 3, 2011
146
A pic would be helpful, thanks.

The problem I had with tackle boxes is that the compartments tend to be bigger than they need to be and there ends up only being a few dozen of them.
 

justtrying

Joined Mar 9, 2011
439
I found a set of plastic ones where you can adjust the dividers. It works well on the go. Eventually a multi-unit organizer is in order for a workbench, but I am not there yet ;)
 

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,415
Bank boxes, plastic zip lock bags of all sizes, kit boxes (w/ static foam), and a few candy boxes. I also have a strong shelf that I use to hold the bank boxes. The only failing is my memory, I occasionally loose track where I put stuff.

Resistor Parts Storage
 

joeyd999

Joined Jun 6, 2011
5,237
I have no idea...I let my technicians/engineers store the stuff.

When I need something, I shout out, "I need a [fill in the blank]", and 2 minutes later its on my desk!
 

amilton542

Joined Nov 13, 2010
497
I think I have some kind of disorder with being organised, it can make me feel ill with c*** everywhere, I mean everything just in general. All my deodrant cans will be neatly lined up, books arranged in alphabetical order, shoes lined up in pairs, I think it was from being too organised with Lego and Meccano.

It really kicks in with groups of conductors. I have to ensure they are all parallel to one another in a rectilinear fashion with a soft right angle bend or a double set in the conductor to make it to its destination.
 

nerdegutta

Joined Dec 15, 2009
2,684
...books arranged in alphabetical order, ...
WHAT!:eek: Not by height! Oh, man.... How does that look? must be up and down and up...

I got some drawers with small compartments, but I have not enough, so the Strantor way is growing. Until next time I clean... But now it's a new year and new possibilities...
 

amilton542

Joined Nov 13, 2010
497
WHAT!:eek: Not by height! Oh, man.... How does that look? must be up and down and up...

I got some drawers with small compartments, but I have not enough, so the Strantor way is growing. Until next time I clean... But now it's a new year and new possibilities...
You get used to it ;)

If you don't put it back from where it came from your in trouble!
 

magnet18

Joined Dec 22, 2010
1,227
I think I have some kind of disorder with being organised, it can make me feel ill with c*** everywhere, I mean everything just in general. All my deodrant cans will be neatly lined up, books arranged in alphabetical order, shoes lined up in pairs, I think it was from being too organised with Lego and Meccano.

It really kicks in with groups of conductors. I have to ensure they are all parallel to one another in a rectilinear fashion with a soft right angle bend or a double set in the conductor to make it to its destination.
That, my friend, is called Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, or OCD; I have a friend with it, though it's much more selective (her rooms a mess, but she flips when the volume isn't an even number, [even after I explained that the numbers have no absolute meaning, and are relative to the TV in question])

And +1 to the height comment, that's how mine are :D

As to the original post, I have a bunch of shelves around my desk, and they are covered in boxes and bins and totes and organizers and such, all crammed full. Components are organized by type. Diodes in a box, resistors in a little divider thing you can get at a hobby shop, wire is all in a bin, IC's are in their tubes in a pile on a shelf above my desk, and so on

It sounds better than it is
And my desk generally accumulates junk until I can't see it/work on it/push the junk back any further/cant fit my laptop on it/just cant take it anymore, and I'm forced to clean it.

If you want a cleaner hobby, switch to software ;)
 

strantor

Joined Oct 3, 2010
6,782
My problem isn't mainly that I am disorganized (which I am), it's that when I get into something, I get totally into it. to the point that nothing else comes into the equation. I will stay in this mode until something forces me to change gears, like crippling bathroom pains, or the total absence of a workspace. Once my workspace becomes so cluttered that I cannot function, I temorarily drop the project, and the new project becomes spring cleaning. I will then organize, categorize, sanitize, etceteraize, until I have a sterile workstation and the pick back up on my project if I can remember where I was. My workstation will stay sterile for about 5 minutes.
 
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