Remaining a "maximalist" -garage/junk organization

[pELYgroso]

Do you have questions about how to organize your spare axle shaft collection or the best way to store your 3rd set of spare tools (you know, just in case you can't find your #1 or #2 pipe wrench)? Do you hesitate to ask about it on RME due to feeling guilty that you have so much stuff that others would consider "junk?" While the "minimalist movement" seems to be sweeping RME, some of us just can't part with our stuff. Myself included. This thread is dedicated to us "maximalists" and ways that we can sort out our maximalist lives without throwing much, if any of our junk away.

My back story: I'm building a house right now that's due to be completed in about 3 weeks. I've been living in our camper trailer with my wife and 2 kids for about 6 weeks now, definitely living the "minimalist life." I've been following the minimalist thread here, and pondering whether or not I want to move-in to my new house with the minimalist attitude when it comes to my shop and its contents. My last shop was definitely not a minimalist space. I've concluded that I like my stuff. Literally every day I think to myself at some point, "Dang, I have exactly what I need for this in storage." While I've gotten by borrowing tools from neighbors, or buying some things that I need that are currently buried in storage, it has been rather inconvenient at times and I've just decided that I use/need my random junk to much to toss the bulk of it. The key will be organizing it so that I'll have an idea where certain things are when I need them. There's nothing worse than knowing that I have something that I need but not knowing where it is -especially when it's one of those things that's been sitting there for a year or more just waiting for its day to shine and be useful.

While my move-in process will likely include throwing away or selling some stuff, I don't want to discuss that in this thread. Please don't mention the ol' minimalist logic along the lines of "Have you used those multi-function lawn-aerating shoes/roller blades in the last year? If not, maybe you should just throw them away." If you do, you will be banned from the internet. Greg, can you back me up on that? (just kidding of course)

seriously though, for those of you who are trying the minimalist thing, I give you props. And for those taking it to more extremes like Steve w/ his upcoming adventures/goals, I'd be lying if I didn't say that I'm a bit jealous of your dedication and diligence to get wherever it is that you're going.

But for me and where I'm at in my life, I just value my stuff, and love the times when I find the perfect use for something that I could have thrown/given away but didn't. (and that happens all of the time) I went with an attached oversized 4th car garage instead of doing a detached shop later on. I'll have a little less space than my previous shop and I'll need to be better at organizing my "junk" (treasures). I'll start this thread with just a couple of questions and I'm sure I'll have more as I'm planning out my shop organization.

I'll start with this one:

1. nut/bolt/screw storage....what do you do? I have lots of assorted fasteners. LOTS. And I'm ALWAYS going to them for different projects. In my last shop, I had maybe 1/2 of them somewhat organized, and the other half was scattered in a few different places. I never got around to putting them all together into an organized and sorted "system." These are probably the items in my shop besides common tools that I seem to need a few of the most often. For this reason, whenever I need 2 small bolts/nuts, I buy the pack of 6 so that I'll have the extras for later. How do you organize your fasteners? I'll definitely need a good storage system for these.

Do any of you have a "man box usa?" (http://www.manboxusa.com/) These seem pretty cool and convenient, but for $1k+ I think I could build something larger with similar features and have $ left over.

Thanks guys!

Feel free to ask questions of your own!!!!

 

[Kiel]

I also have a problem. It's a big step admitting it. Now back to accumulating things

 

[BCGPER]

My "manbox". 40' of cabinets.

 

[Spork]

I'll start with this one:

1. nut/bolt/screw storage....what do you do? I have lots of assorted fasteners. LOTS. And I'm ALWAYS going to them for different projects. In my last shop, I had maybe 1/2 of them somewhat organized, and the other half was scattered in a few different places. I never got around to putting them all together into an organized and sorted "system." These are probably the items in my shop besides common tools that I seem to need a few of the most often. For this reason, whenever I need 2 small bolts/nuts, I buy the pack of 6 so that I'll have the extras for later. How do you organize your fasteners? I'll definitely need a good storage system for these.

My dad has some 30cal military ammo boxes and they are split by sizes, not sure where he got all his bolts from, most were probably from stuff he took apart, I remember sitting with a 5 gallon bucket in front of me sorting nuts and bolts into the ammo boxes. Maybe it was his way of getting me to identify bolt size or at least come closer to guessing what size.

 

[pELYgroso]

I also have a problem. It's a big step admitting it. Now back to accumulating things

Problem? Or do you just like to have stuff that will help you with future solutions? haha. Do you have a plethora of nuts/bolts/screws? How do you store them?

My "manbox". 40' of cabinets.

Wow, that's awesome! Where/how do you organize your nuts/bolts/screws?

 

[pELYgroso]

My dad has some 30cal military ammo boxes and they are split by sizes, not sure where he got all his bolts from, most were probably from stuff he took apart, I remember sitting with a 5 gallon bucket in front of me sorting nuts and bolts into the ammo boxes. Maybe it was his way of getting me to identify bolt size or at least come closer to guessing what size.

This isn't a bad idea. How did you sort them? Did you have a guide to fit each nut/bolt into to tell you the size? Now that I think about it, most of my assortment would be much smaller quantities than ammo-can size.

 

[Kiel]

My bolts are fairly disorganized. New ones are in one tote, old rusty used ones in another if I get desperate. I move to strike the word "manbox" from this post lol

 

[pELYgroso]

Wow, that is some serious organization. Those index files look PERFECT for nuts/bolts! I need to find a setup like that! And those cantilever racks are exactly what I've wished I've had for years. Any idea where to get those?

 

[jeeper]

These are what we use for nuts and bolts. My brother has a wall full, all labeled and organized.


Another awesome idea is to run 2x4's sideways in between wall studs, like fire breaks (if unfinished shop walls) for little shelves. This is good for holding oils, spray cans, etc and takes up exactly ZERO space.

 

[DAA]

These are what we use for nuts and bolts. My brother has a wall full, all labeled and organized.
View attachment 101302

I have one of these setups on a wall hanger at our place in Nevada for nuts, bolts, nails, screws, fittings, etc., etc. etc.

I have them on a shelf, in my reloading room, for reloading junk.

But in my garage, at home, I have nuts and bolts sorted by size in small sturdy plastic pails that originally held J4 bullet jackets for bullet making. Not as slick as the shelf bins, but stackable and do at least keep them organized enough to make finding what I need fast and easy.

I reject minimalism, it's just not me or who I want to be. But I don't think I qualify as maximist either .

- DAA

 

[pELYgroso]

those would probably work great. Are those the harbor freight ones? The only hang-up I have with those I guess is not knowing how strong they are. Will they hold-up if they are full of fasteners like heavier lag bolts? Maybe if I get those I go for some higher quality ones rather than the HF ones....

 

[Gravy]

I have pallet racking for stuff I don't care to keep inside the main garage itself. (Stuff like axles, driveshafts, shocks that I don't care about getting wet).

I'm onboard with this thread too. Organization would be great.
I need to identify and store (or get rid of) my tool doubles: right now my screw driver drawer is overflowing.
I have almost all my hardware in hardware trays. The problem is I can never remember what is in what and I hate unstacking them and opening them one by one until I find what I need. What I need is a slider system like at the store...

My wife got me a label maker for my birthday. I thought it was a sucky gift at first: until I got busy with it.

 

[nnnnnate]

When I was working on my CJ7 a few years ago I was buying a lot of nuts and bolts and just started buying handfuls rather than counting out what I needed at the time. This ended up being a hassle to keep track of and I struggled how to organize everything. I had looked at the bins already posted here but for my garage I knew they'd get crap in them (metal and wood dust) from doing work in the garage and I wanted something that closed all the way. I looked for the metal bolt drawers that you can buy hardware out of at places like Ace or Southfork but they ended up being too much for what I wanted to pay.

A whole slew of these would be ideal in my mind. But $$$...

After searching some more I decided to cheap out and buy some of these from HF. They are $9 each before the coupon.

I think I'm up to 3 of them and I've tried to keep them organized more or less by type. One is for nuts/bolts, another for screws and misc fasteners, and a third for electrical ends. I like that the snap closed and stay closed well and that the individual bins inside move around. Rather than bring the whole thing inside I pulled out just the bin with the drywall screws and left everything else outside.

I have plenty of work to do to get my space organized like I want it to be but I do it little by little. One thing that I do is when I'm working on something I always end up with extra fasteners. Rather than leave them in a pile somewhere I have a glass salsa jar on my bench that they get put into. When its getting full or I just find that I've got free time without anything to do I'll go through it and decide whether the stuff is worth keeping around or not. Then I'll separate it out into the storage cases.

I will say that Brent has got an awesome amount of stuff shoe horned in his available space. Everything seems to have a place and its all easily accessible, its clear he has spent some time thinking about how to have things situated.

 

[DAA]

those would probably work great. Are those the harbor freight ones? The only hang-up I have with those I guess is not knowing how strong they are. Will they hold-up if they are full of fasteners like heavier lag bolts? Maybe if I get those I go for some higher quality ones rather than the HF ones....

The ones I have at home are high dollar, got them free while helping clear out an empty warehouse space. But the ones I have in the shop in Nevada, are indeed the HF ones and they are holding up just fine. They are hanging on the wall mount unit - so taking more stress than sitting on a shelf, and no failures yet after more than ten years. Most are full to the top with heavy hardware items like deck screws, bolts, framing nails etc.

- DAA

 

[Hickey]

My dad is a legendary pack rat. He once "cleaned" out his garage and dropped a few things off that he couldn't throw away. "Mom made me clean the garage, and I figured you use these"

An open tube of white lithium grease and an open bottle of brake fluid. Both dated before I was born.

So anyway, I've tried to rebel against this upbringing, but a lot of it stuck.

If you have room for a loft in your garage, build one. I built mine and included a small jib hoist I built with a Harbor freight atv winch, lawnmower battery, and a trickle charger. It can lift a pair of waggy axles into the loft.

 

[bryson]

If you have room for a loft in your garage, build one. I built mine and included a small jib hoist I built with a Harbor freight atv winch, lawnmower battery, and a trickle charger. It can lift a pair of waggy axles into the loft.

Let's see a pic of this bad boy!

 

[Unimog]

I have a couple of small lofts - very useful. I have a buddy who has a giant loft and an elevator powered by pulleys and a cable to his truck to put ATVs up there.

 

[Hickey]

Let's see a pic of this bad boy!

I really should get some pics of it. I'm too ashamed of my messy garage.

 

[Spork]

This isn't a bad idea. How did you sort them? Did you have a guide to fit each nut/bolt into to tell you the size? Now that I think about it, most of my assortment would be much smaller quantities than ammo-can size.

They were just sorted by diameter, he could have a 3/8" bolt 1" long and he could have one 6" long in in the same ammo can. This was before Metric became popular so it wasn't as challenging, I usually had to compare it to one that was already in the can, my dad could pick up a bolt say it's 3/8" and drop it in the can without much work. He had a can dedicated to small stuff/screws/weird junk and one to the huge bolts. he would either dig around in it with a longer bolt or dump into a bowl/container when he was looking for something specific.

 

[sixstringsteve]

I keep my bolts, nuts, and washers separate in small 1-2 gal buckets. I always preferred having them separate, since most of my bolts were all from toyotas, and there are only about 4 sizes of bolts. If I had metric and standard bolts, I'd definitely separate those.