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How Do You Organize Your Gear?
truffle writes "Like many geeks, I have acquired a large amount of items and gear over time, including miscellaneous hardware, cables, and such. I have books, papers, Lego, and more. I generally store most things in roughly sorted cardboard boxes, which is neither efficient nor attractive. For the non-messy geeks out there, how do you organize and store your geek stuff? Is it possible to have a clean organized grown-up home, without throwing everything away?"
I personally prefer separation of the different internal computer parts and cables into tupperware type containers. I also have a much smaller one just for all the different types of screws that can be used in a system. The tupperware gives it a very organized look, and still allows me to just throw the stuff in there in typical geek fashion -- a bonus for me.
dmiessler.com -- grep understanding knowledge
The only problem comes when guests arrive.
Then each pile goes into a box, which is kept in the basement until they leave.
My mom says I'm cool.
O wait... for any techie, that would be the entire house.
I write this, as my wife throws another PC carcase I left out at my head.
Why worry? Each of us is wearing an unlicensed "nucular" accelerator on his back.
Sig changed for readability by G.W.
For some strange reason my piles of crap and boxes of who-knows-what got organized real quick soon after.
Added benefit of this organization technique is that it comes with a free "relationship" thrown in. Did I say "free"? Whoops.
John.
has got to be in a big pile on the floor. When you run out of floor space, that's nature's way of telling you to find a bigger apartment or get rid of some stuff. Either that, or just pile higher.
Am I really the only one who thinks that "Rubbermaid" sound a little... well... you know?
I like to spread everything out all over the place, that way I can see anything I might need once in a blue moon and not have to waste time looking in containers.
tip: just make sure you leave a small walking path, so you don't step on your things!
I throw out all the packing materials, but keep all the extra cables, driver disks, replacement rubber feet, instruction manuals, disposable headphones, and other cruft in separate ziplock baggies. All sizes; the 1 Gallon freezer bags can contain a spare five-port ether hub, a DC brick, and two short cat-5s. Then I can toss the baggies into a crate without worrying about them getting too intermingled. I have dozens of clear stackable containers I use for everything, including such electronics junk. And I mean, everything. http://www.halley.cc/pix/?f=portraits/naptime
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...enough my Mom just comes and tidies it up. I use the same method with dirty clothes. And if I'm hungry she just makes food. So why are you asking on SLashdot. Everyone has a mom don't they?
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
I put it all in a big box that retracts into the wall, so I can quickly hide it when girls come over. Wouldn't want my chances to be killed by the sight of that Commodore 64-powered particle accelerator, now would I?
The coolest voice ever.
"Is it possible to have a clean organized grown-up home, without throwing everything away?"
No. No, it is not. Just ask my wife about the morse code transceiver in the bathroom linen closet.
- You have regular sex (vasectomy is suggested in these cases - no, it doesn't hurt you wussies)
- your wife will make sure all of your 'junk' (yes, we all know it is) is in the basement or the attic - where it's definitely out of sight.
- You get kids (yes, they are fun)
- You get a housekeeper (ok, help with houskeeping)
- You get a friend for life
Of course, some of the key points are based on finding the right man/woman - which I guess means cleaning your place up."I can't give you a brain, so I'll give you a diploma" - The Great Oz (blatently stolen sig)
My mother does all my organizing for me, you insensitive clod!
and that's all.
How's my programming? Call 1-800-DEV-NULL
There are these plastic, resealable bins that you place the stuff you want organized into. Every week these bins are collected by an organization squad to be stored. At any time you can collect your stuff from the organization depot. Just look for a cloud of seagulls over an area with a dubious smell and you will know an organization depot is nearby where you can reclaim your goods.
Heh, for a moment there I thought you were going to finish that out with "all the used ones in a sticky mess"...
I have not lost my mind... it's backed up on disk somewhere!
You obviously are single. Otherwise, your significant other would have informed you that this stuff doesn't look at all great.
Organizing your stuff takes a long time to actually get to the point where you stick with it. What you have to do is analyze the stuff to space ratio and minimize the stuff as best you can to get started:
Start with your desk. As a geek, that's where you spend most of your time anyway, so the rest of the space doesn't really matter. Go through the crap on your desk and figure out what needs to be there. Create a filing system (I use a set of 10 clipboards, 4 notebooks, and a single binder for my critical stuff) and stick with it. The more complicated the better, because you'll start to realize that it's more efficient to just do without than to deal with trying to file the next document you have. Store the system just out of reach of your desk, to make sure you have even less incentive to file it. Also, make sure you have a large garbage can or can easily reach the window (try to get a window on a side of the building that never sees the sun)
Write small. I use a 0.3mm mechanical pencil, and can get between 1500 and 2000 words on a single page of 8.5*11. This helps in two ways: Decreases the number of papers you need for a given document, and makes it much easier to ruin it by dropping Easy Mac on it. To avoid this last problem if necessary, simply make sure to use the filing system mentioned above.
Become an alcoholic. Drink heavily at your desk. The more often you knock a beer over on your stuff, the more often you'll get rid of stuff that you no longer need. Nothing important will be destroyed, because that stuff will be filed as above. Also, if you're plastered, you won't notice how much of a craphole you actually live in.
Moving on from the desk, minimize the space you need in your apartment. As a geek, all you need is your desk, some degree of bookshelf, a futon, and a microwave. If you're an especially talented geek, just pull the futon up to your desk and you can eliminate the need for a chair. Resist the temptation to use the fridge in the kitchen, as you will forget the stuff you put in there until it's too late (as an aside, this fridge can generally be unplugged and used for extra storage for your other stuff. Same with the stove).
Take note of all of your extra space and the stuff you have. Rank it all by how cool it is and by how often you actually play with it. Find a retail store and get all of their old empty boxes you can. Fill these with your stuff, filing it carefully into such unused rooms in the house as the kitchen, bedroom, dining room, and the shower in the bathroom. You really don't need any of these. Organize it all compulsively, making notes of where everything is. Put these notes into the filing system. Resist the urge to get rubbermaid containers, as the next time you burn the popcorn the sprinkler system will come on and relieve you of the storage problem.
Make containers out of your Lego to store everything else in.
You sly dog: you got me monologuing! - Syndrome
I recently attached RFID tags to everything I own. I took a digital photograph, and entered each item into an object oriented database.
Now, I look up my stuff in the database, download the RFID ID into the reader, and wander aimlessly around the house until my RFID reader starts beeping.
No really, I am not kidding, I swear...
--- Generation X: The first generation to have SIG lines inferior to their parents... ---
I get these five gay guys to come in and organize it for me, as an added bonus they ridicule my pr0n collection.
sic transit gloria mundi
How do I make my bed?
How do I brush my teeth?
How do I dress myself?
What do other Slashdotters use that roll of paper next to every toilet for?
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
When I got married, my wife got together with my mom and pitched all my magazines: comics (many first editions), 10 years worth of National Lampoons and, of course, all my pr0n!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!
Now, I have all my terrabyte or so of pr0n on DVD, with full backups stored in a secured location.
Live and learn...
topic: "gear"
audience: "geeks"
discussion: "girlfriends"!?!
am I missing something?
My wardrobe was made by DEC, and fits nicely with the geek decor.
Recycling? Can you recycle electronics? I didn't know you could do that! We always burned them. Oh...be right back, gotta check on the fire.
This works, and it's actually kinda healthy! My first big move (late 2000, Brisbane, Australia to London, UK) made me throw out a TONNE of stuff. It also taught me to be brutal about the old, crappy stuff. Even the new, useful stuff can be replaced. Since then I've moved from London back to Brisbane (more stuff thrown) and I'm winding up to move from Brisbane to Vancouver right now (more crap being thrown there too). It's a pain in the ass to have to go through it all, but it's good for one's perspective.
The complete opposite is my Dad, who moved recently and still had stuff from the last TWENTY YEARS. It was frightening - he had old rusty garden tools that were nearly as old as me, ripped tents, sacks of old clothes, fifteen tape measures, even old glass jars of nails from beyond the dawn of time. Only when all the old crap wouldn't fit in his nice new house, he started actually letting stuff go...
!!!
...
I could have used that 2 gig SCSI drive!
This was obviously a bad topic to peruse for someone running on old hardware...
... You are a dealer!! How many audiophiles have you got hooked? How many tube amp junkies crawl to you begging for a hit? ... Where do I sign up?
"Consensus" in science is _always_ a political construct.
I still feel strange that I haven't moved in the last five years
Dude, I've been in the same place for the last 27 years. I feel like I've been frozen in amber. It just ain't natural...
I didn't realize that the entire purpose of life is to get a date.
Sounds like you may have to release yourself.
It's actually kind of satisfying to read a book and destroy it afterwards. I like to rip out each page as I read it, and throw it into the bin. It makes it feel like you're actually absorbing the book.
Call it a destructive read process.
Assuming that I sit at zero degrees (looking from the top, "north" being straight ahead):
19 degrees to right is the first monitor, 30 degrees right is the second monitor. OK, skip over the empty wine bottles since this is a geek list...next is the DSL modam and a standby 28.8 modem. Further over ther is the phone and printer, and...
Did your family mind that you used a refrigerator box?