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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 go to the container store and buy 20 gallon plastic tubs that have the lid. I put all my stuff in there. I give it a year and if I don't dig into it I donate it.
Turns out a charity in my area had several old machines donated to them from another charity and they could use the 4 speed CD burners and old memory I had.
So store your stuff, give it a reasonable amount of time and if you don't use it, donate it. Get some good karma generated in the process.
Rubbermaid makes stackable tubs and various other things for organization. Once you have that in order, look to store VERTICALLY (ie - build shelves) not horizontally.
If you want great ideas, tune into TLC channel and watch a show called "Clean Sweep" were extremely cluttered people learn how to organize and redesign rooms to bring their life back in order.
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
I went out and bought some cheap-assed, modular draws like these. Papers in one drawer, cables in another, etc. Stack them next to your desk and you're good to go.
BE very careful of static with plastic tupperware. YOu could very easily fry your gear.
Each episode they assist a hideously disorganised family to get their stuff in order by completely remodelling and organizing two rooms.
The toughest part is when they make the owners part with roughtly 50% of their junk from said rooms. They focus more on purgeing I think, cause after all, we all probably are holding on to way too much junk.
And no, I'm never giving up my TI99/4A collection!!!!!
Better than zip ties:
Get yourself some 1/2" Spiral wrap. Cut off pieces of 1" - 3". Use these to tie bundles of cable together. They're reusable, easy to take off without tools, and hold well enough without binding.
You should be able to get 10' of the stuff for $5 or less, in black or clear.
Anything is possible given time and money.
I took the bold and unpopular move of getting rid of everything I didn't really need. It was rough and I wouldn't really have done it if I wasn't moving to a much smaller place but the fact of the matter is that most of the stuff you have around "just in case" is never actually going to be useful. 2 gig SCSI drive when I haven't owned a computer with a SCSI card for 2 years? Gone. Boxes for gear costing under $20? Gone. Quick reference card for my router? Didn't need it when I set it up 3 years ago, don't need it now. Receipt and warrantee info for something that's been out of warrantee for 2 years? Into the shredder.
I highly recommend a paper shredder BTW, less because I'm worried about the security of my trash and more for processing mail I don't need so that you don't end up with those piles of envelopes that are 99% credit card apps and that one bill you actually need.
The hardest part for me was getting rid of books, I've never done that in my life. When going through them though I found a suprising number that not only had I only read once, I didn't even really like them. Got a few books I really wanted instead of 50 I hated from my local used bookstore.
For things that I actually do need to store I use white plastic crates with hinged lids. They stack well, keep dust out and you can label them with a dry-erase marker.
1) Think before getting new junk. Yeah, that old Mac SE might look tempting for $10 at a garage sale, but really, after you boot it up once or twice, what are you going to use it for? This applies to new things, too...
2) Refactor, Refactor, Refactor... in this case, be relentless in getting rid of stuff you don't use. And don't sweat getting rid of something you *might* need someday... the value of a clutter free life is much greater than the misc. computer cable you might need to buy again.
3) For the stuff you do need, organize it just like your file system. Large plastic containers (computer cables) can hold smaller plastic containers (categories of cables)...
4) This is something that seems to come naturally for the ladies, but if you don't use something very often but can't bear to get rid of it, get it out of your normal workspace. Find some storage in the basement or closet and keep your day to day workspace as clutter free as possible.
"Stuff" doesn't make you happy, it just accretes around you. It's crap, you shouldn't bother buying it in the first place, but since you have, get rid of it when you're done with it.
You think you might need it next week, or next month, or maybe next year? You may think it's worth something... Believe me, it isn't and you won't. It's just shit that'll just clutter up your life.
Government of the people, by corporate executives, for corporate profits.
First, let me point out that this is not anything particular to geeks; some people simply have trouble throwing stuff away.
... :)
Second, no storage solution by itself will succeed in the long run; retained junk will increase to fill any available storage space. It's like hard drives, except that you don't have the option of swapping out your old basement/garage and putting in a bigger one.
Third, storing old stuff is not really 'free'. There are costs in terms of messiness, increased difficulty of finding what you want, and lost storage space for stuff that might matter more than your 10-year-old computer power supply.
Fourth, seriously consider the replacement cost of any item you intend to store. I've seen fully operational pentium PCs selling for under $50 in used PC stores; when you need an old part, just buy one and cannibalize it to your heart's content.
I do wish I could practice what I preach though
Imposing Libertarian views on everyone online since 1992.
Use old glass jars with metal screw on lids. Affix the lids to any low ceiling(basement); a couple of sheetrock screws will work just fine. Then you can fill the jars with anything you like; screws, nails, RJ45 jacks, etc. and screw them to the ceiling.
SINARS is not a recursive sig
However, I stick with clear storage (although it's not as pretty, when people are looking at the stuff inside, but it doesn't look that disorganized, as I stick with smaller containers, so you just see the repetition of 18qt containers.)
Unfortunately, the 18qt containers are just a shade too large to fit 3 wide on a 36" shelf. [it's a press fit, and the middle one goes in last]. As for the Wire Tech shelves, I use the same, and have consolidated multiple sets to get better shelf density. [I've been collecting them at Target when there are sales...although they don't tend to have the 24x48 ones anymore]
Anyway, one of the important things to consider is what the size of the items you're looking to store, and the bulkiness. To put things into perspective, the 18qt containers fit the parts for a rebel blocade runner with room to spare, and it's a damned tight fit for the imperial star destroyer.
But I find that with too large of containers, I'm in no better situation then when I started for computer parts -- using the 18qts, I have one each for scsi cables, power cables, audio/visual, mice and peripherals, internal drives, internal cables, misc. cards, etc. I have 24 bins crammed into 18"x36" shelving [8 shelves], and I have another set of shelves for random computers and larger stuff.
I've also gone to the trouble of labelling the bins, so there's no confusion -- I highly suggest Brother P-Touch, especially the 3/4" TZ tapes, as you get the most color choices [I use bright yellow]. Although the computer printer one lets you print the most varied stuff, for organization, you just want to be able to grab it and get a label, and the ones with the built in keyboard do better for that. I've also labeled power bricks, so I have some clue what they're for [both stored, and when I need to pull something to free up a plug on the power strip, so the ones in use, as well]
Oh, and for some reason, all of my home improvement projects seem to involve security [replacing doors], or adding shelving. I've also adapted the crawl space that's accessed from my basement so I have an extra 16' x 4' of storage that takes the long term storage, which I keep in the 70qt containers [stacked two high, and two deep, so I could fit lots more, if need be, but I need to better organize, so I don't have to pull out 5+ of 'em next year when I'm searching for halloween stuff again]
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
Q: What do boats and kids have in common?
A: They're the most fun when they belong to someone else
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
Actually - that's a very good point. My house may be a mess: but I can find anything I need within a minute (or less: it just depends on how recently I used that item - if it's been a year or more, it'll be "somewhere in the attic/loft"). My Mother, on the other hand, is very "clean and tidy" yet it can take her 30minutes+ to find one item: a standing joke in my family is "Where's object Y?", "Your Mum has probably 'tidied it away' and we'll never see it again". Books, Magazines, christmas presents (she's still got no idea what she did with my Father's christmas present 2 years ago) all go missing. Me? 30 seconds and Viola: and that includes the time running up the stairs to get to the right room.
I'm with this guy -- I use Sterilite bins for all my cables, the multi-drawer units for organizing parts by class, and I use metal door shelf cabinets for holding hard drives, peripherals, etc. (anything that cost a bundle to buy.)
I go one better on the cables though -- every cable (if large/long) or all of a type, like 50 pin micro SCSI cables, go into 1 gallon ziplock bags. Then they go into the Sterilte bins. This way they don't tangle, it's easy to see which cables are in each bag, and I can either dig through the pile or dump the lot out when I'm looking for a particular cable, and they never get tangled. It also insulates them from moisture, etc.
-- Gary Goldberg KA3ZYW 301/249-6501 AIM:OgGreeb Digital Marketing Inc., Bowie, MD
Ever wonder why you have all that crap?
It's all out there. Lego, books, etc. Old computers and everything. Fuck your private museum, and the clutter that goes along with it.
I took all my out of date - but still valuable - books to the Library. They were grateful, and who knows how many future geeks will benefit from my old Linux and Cisco admin books?!
All those Apple ]['s, Macs and C 64's ain't worth a hill o' beans. Lose 'em. There's a reason why you are the only one who picked them up - they're useless. NEAT-O, but utterly useless.
Make room within your apartment, and YOURSELF for better, more valuable information and maybe - just MAYBE, you'll set yourself free from whatever it is that's been keeping you from getting a date.
It's a vicious cycle: No date, stay home and eat pizza and fiddle with VIC-20. Get fatter, so chance of date decreases, self-image goes down, fewer dates (fewer reasons to go out of the house period), more pizza, more VIC-20s, fewer dates, more pizza, more Amigas, and so on.
WHY?! Because you're a geek? Get a damned GEEK PRIDE tattoo! Hell, get the Apple I schematic tattooed as a swingin' back-piece! A portrait of a PPC Amiga 4000! A friggin' Data General if it makes you happy.
Just. Let. It. Go!
You just throw it all away?? Everything can be useful somewhere, if you look hard enough. Especially with computers and wiring.
Our recycling center charges for electronics by the pound.
Does anyone remember when recycling companies actually bought the fucking scrap?
As I recall, that sort of thing usually served as an incentive to recycle!
To me, the box type is important. They should be somewhat shallow so you can find stuff without having to dig too deep. Since I moved recently, I had dozens of those standard 1.5 cubic foot book boxes. I cut a bunch of them down from 12 inches to about 7 inches in height (cut the flaps off and turn the extra height into new flaps).
Now, organize all of your stuff into categories. If you're a real packrat, you'll have categories like 9-pin serial cables, LP record cleaning accessories, channel 3/4 video modulators, wall-warts, etc. (You might even have some actually useful categories, too.) Each category should be small enough to comfortably fit in a 1-gallon food storage bag. Fill each bag, tie it up, and put a label on it. Dutifully write down the bag's contents in your notebook.
If you have lots of circuit boards, you probably already have anti-static bags for them. Be sure to keep each circuit board in an antistatic bag, especially if putting them in any kind of normal plastic bag or container.
Organize the bags into larger categories and fill the boxes with bags. Label the boxes and update the notebook with the box contents.
Now you can stack the boxes on the floor or on shelves. I managed to cram an unbelievable amount of junk into about 20 boxes, which all fit neatly in the corner of the basement. And the best part is the whole system only cost me about $20 (mostly food bags and pricey label tape). Fancy bins from a container store have taken up more space and would have cost well over $100.
Life is so much better now that I've invested the time to organize all my stuff. In the past I'd waste countless hours trying to find some adapter or cable in random piles of semi-organized junk. Now I just reference my notebook and grab it in a few seconds.
Recycling companies are generally out to make money, and they lose it trying to recover stuff from circuit boards usually, combined with the hazardous waste fees/expenses related to things like CRTs, some capacitors, etc.
If its a company, they really don't need to offer INCENTIVES do they? Its not like they're around to give you money so you can be happy?
Not terribly "insightful" I've got to say.
Another thing- why is it that when you finally get up the courage to throw something away, you find you need it less than 6 months later?
This has happened to me far too often.
graspee
...take over the house.
First I made the Former Front Bedroom (TM) into my office. When that filled up I set up a PC in the Former Living Room and PC Anywhere'd to the original PC where all the email and files still are. The Former Living Room accumulation spread to the Former Dining Room. The kitchen counter is often the only clear space for working on the innards of computers and disk enclosures. The only places spared have been the master bedroom and the spare bedroom. The laundry area is full of boxes, too.
My Former Dining Room has made a terrific computer room, with two six-foot equipment and work tables, two 5-foot-tall 19" racks, 10KVA of 240V UPSs, a 21-inch Hitachi monitor and 8-port KVM, about a dozen computers of three different types, a parts bin arrangement, a cubbyhole arrangement that can hold many dozens of disk and tape drives, and three six-foot-tall shelf units.
Home Depot sells a storage unit billed as being a "shoe rack." It's made of chipboard, very sturdy (far too sturdy for shoes), is subdivided into 25 cubbyholes and is perfect for storing 5.25" devices when stood on a table or shelf.
The sturdy wire-frame shelf units someone mentioned earlier as being sold at Sam's Club in the wheeled version in chrome are also sold at Home Depot without wheels in chrome or black. The shelves can be substantially improved by cutting fiberboard to fit, either the thin stuff for just making the shelves solid for books and such, or the heavy fiberboard for holding massive items.
In my world, if it's out of sight, it may as well not exist, so I try to arrange things so that as much as possible is visible. Opaque boxes are bad, sometimes necessary, but always labelled. See-through bags and containers are good.
I would love to have affordable RFID tags and some form of designed or de facto homing on desired tag numbers. I use barcoding to tie items back to a 100% complete purchasing and receiving database but often the problem is that I can't find things I know I have.
Look at the bright side: there's always seppuku.