I have a ton of DIY parts, cables, old iPods, accessories, etc., as I'm sure most of us do. Living in an apartment means little storage space. I have those big clear Rubbermaid bins and the little parts cases, but it's still sort of unwieldy. I want something perfect.

How do you store your crap? Any recommendations?

I have several stacks of sterlite clearview storage drawers

This sort of thing

One big (6 unit) stack and two small (CD/DVD+ wide) (6 unit) stacks.

I brings some sort of order to what would otherwise be chaos.

My crap is all over the place... no help here.

No matter how much storage space I have and how I organise things, theres always at least one large drawer which contains "misc shit".

If there is a secret I'd like to know it too.

No matter how much storage space I have and how I organise things, theres always at least one large drawer which contains "misc shit".

If there is a secret I'd like to know it too.

The words "misc" "random" "other" are all over my file directories... and of course my real life organization is something like that too

No matter how much storage space I have and how I organise things, theres always at least one large drawer which contains "misc shit".

If there is a secret I'd like to know it too.

Only way I've personally seen to organize everything is to be OCD. Everyone I know except for those select few have the "misc shit" category

I settled on the rubbermaid clear containers as well. Not sure there is an ideal way.

Whether it is headphones, nuts and bolts or whatever, there is always a misc. bin/drawer/cabinet/etc.

I keep the misc. audio stuff at work, because they gave me way more storage space than what I need.

My crap is all over the place... no help here.

yeah i have my shit everywhere. shelves, drawers, dining room table, the corner. i still always lose my tape measure for days at a time.

The only thing audio-wise that I have organized is my tube drawer and that's only to keep them all out of site of my wife. Parts are housed in a dresser organized by "project drawers" which is a pretty awful way of doing it but the best I've managed so far. Still I routinely have to dig through every drawer to find what I'm looking for.

Bought some knock down furniture from an IKEA like place. Stuff is made in Scandinavia and China. Bought a two drawer lateral file that works great for cables, manuals, etc. Bought a single drawer file with a raised glass shelf on top at Office Depot for my headphone rig. Keep tubes and cans in the file drawer.

I have a few stacks of smallish plastic drawers, each draw being similar crap, eg: USB cables in one, ICs in another, computer parts, etc etc. It gets a bit screwed up -- I've found, say, the same kind of item stored in 3 different places when I've forgotten I had already created a storage space for it. Once in a while, I pull absolutely everything out and re-sort it and get rid of shit I don't want or need. I'm a bit OCD though, i cable-tie-and-tube the fuck out of the cables behind my computer, even though I hardly look at them. I hate seeing ugly masses of cables though. Once in a while I completely pull apart my computer rig...and yeah...same shit again, re-wire it all to perfection.

Now, when I get the tired of the layout of a room...then there's a day of complete anarchy.

As soon as I get stuff organized (happens only every year or two), I find myself rummaging around and looking for random and not so random things 'til everything is out and about again all over my home. If I had kids, I know things would need to change, but since I don't, I like my messes.

I like my mess too, wifey on the other hand.....

Its funny that. You explain to them the inherent superiority of a fully random access, constant seek time, horizontal filing system (aka - the floor), and they just will not listen. Bless their cotton socks.

Latest edition of Fine Woodworking had a suggestion by a reader of mounting the small drawer cases to mdf and stacking them on top of a lazy susan. Looks and sounds like a great idea to maximize storage space in an relatively small area.

I like to use these see through plastic storage containers and label them. That way I can see what's in it as well

I agree with the posters who recommend the Rubbermaid clear plastic stuff - it's cheap, you can get it almost anywhere, and it's modular. Of course, the only way to avoid being overwhelmed with crap when space is a real issue is to occasionally throw shit away, as hard as that may be.

I agree the see thru rubbermaid stuff is easy and practical. I still want something MOAR awesomer.

I have one of these

IKEA | Storage furniture | Bookcases | EXPEDIT | Bookcase

and I use a few of these

IKEA | Storage furniture | Bookcases | EXPEDIT | Insert with 2 drawers

http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/StaplesProductDisplay?&storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10051&partNumber=484971&cm_mmc=Shopzilla-_-Shopping-_-Office_Supplies%253ETotes_and_Drawer_Storage-_-484971-116223&srccode=cii_10043468&cpncode=19-22684183-2

I have one similar to this, works nicely if you actually organize this in neat section. I am still not fully there but almost.

Just sell all that shit you not use...

I stumbled across the holy grail last week while looking for a certain transformer that I know I have somewhere.

Still haven't located the transformer though.

I stumbled across the holy grail last week while looking for a certain transformer that I know I have somewhere.

Still haven't located the transformer though.

Mark has a scary, scary DIY cave. Not scary in the sense of what you can't find, scary in the sense of what you might find when you go looking...

"Oh hey, look at that, 40 OPA627s."

I stumbled across the holy grail last week while looking for a certain transformer that I know I have somewhere.

Still haven't located the transformer though.