Slashdot Mirror
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
I have a cheap ass wardrobe from Ikea that works great. the top shelve is for hdds, keyboards and other weird shit, while I use the coat hanger rod for cables and other wiring. the bottom shelf works great for extra cases and small parts in shoe boxes.
this was actually given to me and has solved so many problems since I got it. it's cheap, but it's been a great solution.
Creationists are a lot like zombies. Slow, but powerful and numerous. And they all want to eat our brains.
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.
O wait... for any techie, that would be the entire house.
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!
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.
BE very careful of static with plastic tupperware. YOu could very easily fry your gear.
I use two things heavily:
Sterilite storage bins, and WireTech wire shelving.
For the storage bins, I make heavy use of the clear storage drawers and bins. See this page for all storage options. Quite a few places sell Sterilite.
The other huge thing is WireTech shelving. It's very heavy-duty coated steel wire shelving in chrome, white, or black, that looks great and is very strong - each shelf can support 300 pounds. It can also be organized in nearly an unlimited number of ways. Take a look at Sensible Storage's site, click "Products", and then see Shelving Kits, Custom Shelving, and Accessories. I strongly recommend checking it out. WireTech is the only type that I have found that is like this. They work great for everything from equipment rack type setups, entertainment center towers, making really complex shelving setups, or just plain old storage.
There are a bunch of different places that sell WireTech, but there is one, and as far I can tell only one, place that sells everything online: Great Ace WireTech shelving. It's actually an Ace hardware store in Chicago, but I've ordered various WireTech things from them a couple times before and I've been happy with the results.
You'd be surprised how much the right tools help with the job, even for things like storage. Good luck.
There is a container for everything...
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
[
I've taken to buying a bunch of Storage contains from target, like the 4 Gallon one. I fill each with junk until it's full and then put it into Gorilla Rack shelving in the garage.
The trick is to enter into a simple text file the location of each piece of item, taking care to fill in enough detail to search for it in the text file. Each of the containers is numbered.
If I take something out of the container, it doesn't have to go back into the same one, I just move its description from one location into another.
This saves me from the heartache of trying to sort stuff. Sure, I keep cables and stuff like that sorted, because I have so many of them. But... for those odds and sods, it makes more sense to just put them in any old box, and keep track of them with a text file.
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.
Throw it all away. The 'it might come in handy one day' never happens, until you throw it that is. And if you do need it, you can go buy a new one, helping the economy and giving yourself a 'retail boost' in one foul swoop.
- 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)
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.
My mother does all my organizing for me, you insensitive clod!
True organization can only be had with extreme discipline:) That being said...
Maximum PC had a two page dealy on getting a tackle box for your PC needs. It's been working great for me. At the office and at home, I tend to be a bit of a maniac when it comes having things in their place, so here is what I can pass on:
1. Don't loose items sitting out. Just put them away in a place that makes sense. Categorize and place-- even if it means the broadest category ever. At least you'll remember where you put it ("Oh yeah, I put that with the other unrelated
thing because I figured...").
2. Don't let other people touch your stuff. Plain and simple. Get pissed and let them know it's your territory. You didn't spend all of that time organizing to have someone else crap it all up.
3. Buy a couple of cheap plastic file cabinets. The ones that you see at Target are great for this stuff. Use them for parts, parts and more parts!
4. Keep stuff. I use the spindles that CD-R's come on and label them according to their category (OS, UTIL, GAMES).
5. Visit your hardware store. Any gearhead will find a ton of great ways to organize tools, screws, etc. I personally love the vitamin organizer jobbies that you can keep smaller screws, shunts, etc. in.
Dear attemptedgoalie,
We have noticed that you are infringing on our patented Piles Technology. Please cease and desist immediately.
Apple Computers
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 have your mom. In fact, I had her last night.
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.
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
1) DEVELOP STORAGE AREAS.
You'll need some place to KEEP the stuff that you want to store. It could be an attic, it could be shelves in the garage, it could be wherever you happen to have room. Here's a couple of quick thoughts - Divide your storage needs into LONG TERM and SHORT TERM useage. LONG TERM gear that needs to be stored can be put in out of the way places, like the attic, garage, under the bed. SHORT TERM usage should be kept close to where you need to work. This is where you'd store crucial stuff - cords, extra batteries for that cordless mouse, whatever.
Once you've identified your STORAGE areas, you'll be better prepared to deal with what kinds of METHODS you'll use to store stuff in those areas. (If you're going to store stuff under your bed, you can't use boxes that are too big to fit!)
2) USE A STAGING AREA.
We see this all the time on Clean Sweep. For those of you who haven't see it, they take all of their stuff that needs to be organized, and RE-PILE it into smaller piles - Keep, Sell, Throw Away. You can do the same kind of thing. Decide what gear goes into LONG term storage, SHORT term storage, whatever.
3) STORAGE METHODS.
Here's where most people jump to - but if they don't consider the first two options of WHERE to store stuff, and WHAT to store, they'll end up wasting a lot of time.
CHEAP options (so you can spend more money on gear):
- if you're going to use cardboard boxes, go to your local grocery store, and get some BANANA boxes. They're large, they're sturdy, they're free, they have handles, and they're all the same size. They're excellent for storing bigger items. You could probably fit an mid-range sized server in one of them!
- if you are looking for good ways to store small items for free in a small space - go to BURGER KING. Ask if you can have a bunch of their PICKLE BUCKETS. Burger King uses 5 gallon plastic buckets to ship their pickles. Get 5 of them. (they shouldn't charge you a cent if you ask nicely) Next, cut off the BOTTOM 4 or 5 inches of 4 of the buckets... and then use some cardboard to make subdivisions inside of each one (like the inside of a wine box). Then, those bucket bottoms will STACK INSIDE of the fifth bucket - and you'll be amazed how much STUFF you can store. Perfect for Legos.
A suggestion: wash those pickle buckets REALLY WELL with bleach - and if you can, let them sit in the sun's UV rays - it will really help get rid of the vinegar smell.
Hope those thoughts help!
G.B.Y.L.B.T., PastorEd
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!
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...
"Am I really the only one who thinks that "Rubbermaid" sound a little... well... you know?"
No, you are not.
Best part of it is, I work st Home Depot now, and the "Rubbermaid Girls" (our product vendors) have this thing for wearing vinyl.
I think they know what we think, and are certainly using it to thier advantage.
No, I'm not kidding.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order- Ed Howdershelt Via Tass
and don't forget that after you've donated that stuff, get a receipt saying you donated "printer, monitor, etc.". I used to think it was a waste of time, but at the end of the year you can claim that you donated $500 in computer hardware, and that can be a tax deduction. You'll still donate the same stuff, but at the end of the year you'll give less money to the government (whether that's good or bad is debatable... I happen to enjoy not giving away so much of money to the IRS, ymmv).
...or at least pretend to. When I was growing up as an Air Force brat, we were allowed to take ONE BOX of stuff when my Dad got transferred. Cut way down on the clutter.
BE very careful of static with plastic tupperware. YOu could very easily fry your gear.
For sure!
I use a similar no-no for non-CMOS electronic components. I have a huge stockpile of passive components - resistors, capacitors, etc - and things like tubes, bipolar transistors, etc. Over 20,000 vacuum tubes alone, according to my last inventory.
What I use is 4x8" generic ZipLock-ish baggies which I buy at the local head shop. The guy must think I'm a mega-dealer, because every few weeks I go in wearing a shirt and tie and buy 100 (or more) 4x8" baggies for $6.
I drop a piece of cardboard with a label into each baggie, then I stuff it with components. Then I put the baggie into a 4" wide cardboard parts tray (Bankers Box # 7353). The trays are then stored in cheap metal shelving units with 9" space between shelves. I have 6 shelves for vacuum tubes alone.
Unlike doing this with other methods (small drawers), I can simply insert a weird resistor value between standard values. I can drop a bag of #6-32x0.75" screws between the #6-32x0.5" and #6-32x1" screws. If I fill a baggie with 1k 1/4W resistors, I just add another baggie. Suddenly find a 12AX7A? Stick it in a new bag behind the 10 or so full of 12AX7s. I can take a group out, throw them into my toolbox and take them with me, not worrying that I'm going to spill them. It's very handy.
For static sensitive stuff, I use 4x8" antistat baggies which I purchase from Newark or DigiKey.
I can't claim that I invented or discovered this method - I first saw it while I was working for Litton, and I loved it.
Doesn't work for big stuff like transformers, stepper motors, complete assemblies. For that, I still have to use TupperWare (or the disposable resealable containers.)
Having an inventory of parts is useless if you can't find what you need when you need it. But it's even worse if you *can* find it but it doesn't work. Remember to think about static.
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
When it comes to being tidy I like to stick to a few simple rules :
/old useless warez (You are NOT gonna install windows 95 my friend) / old books (No, a reference to borland C++ 4 is NOT handy in this day and age).
:>
1) If it's broke don't fix it. Throw the bugger away. If you haven't found time until to to fix that broken xt you never will. It's just there collecting dust.
2) If you have ten of em, throw nine away. I myself had loads of cool (working) xts but let's fact it people : those are TOTALLY useless. You are NEVER going to use them, even if you could find old arcane network card's to hook em up to your network.
3) If it's not new in box and you have at least 2 other computers that supply the same function THROW THEM AWAY. It's not like you're gonna sit there with 4 386's alle used at the same time as serial terminals. 1 is more than enough.
4) Throw away all those crappy cover cds (winzip 5.x anyone ?)
5) Throw away your old print outs. I used to have literally HUNDREDS of these. I used to print everything I came across over the internet for further reading. After a while you know at least 75% of those papers by heart, at least 80% of them are outdated by six months & at least 20% of them are totally useless to you. Dump em. They're history. If you have to keep them store the originals on your server. It shouldn't be more than a couple of 100 MBs.
Do the above and you'll find you have a lot more closet space that can be nicely filled with your current (useful) hardware/books. I know throwing away things is HARD, especially when they're really cool (my wonderful XTs) or have a special personal relevance to you (O that first motherboard I fried) but you HAVE to. These things only hold you back. You'll feel better when you do, TRUST me.
BTW If you have something really cool in prestine condition then (especially if you have the original box/diskettes/manuals) for the love of god DON'T THROW IT AWAY. Give it away to a computer museum or at least sell it to a retro computing store or over ebay. Then at least someone else can enjoy it as much as you did and you'll have a bit of mullah left over so you can soften your sadness by getting that spanking new laptop you've always wanten
... 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.
The clear plastic storage drawer sets you get from the Container Store hold up better and make more efficient use of space (less "rounded" corners and sides) than the Rubbermaid ones from Wal-Mart. They're stackable and come with wheels too.
For extra extra organization, I have mine categorized and labeled just in case I can't immediately identify the types of cables/connectors/weird stuff from the outside. It's also worth the time to untangle, roll up, and secure the cables with twist ties . That way not only are your cables organized and *useful*, but you also get rid of most of the twist ties that have been collecting in your kitchen drawer for years (the ones that come with garbage bags).
Of course, it helps to get rid of all the completely obsolete stuff you *know* you will never use again too. Here's a good rule: find everything you don't need now, haven't used for three or more years, and don't actually plan to use in the forseeable future, and list it on eBay in lots (SCSI cables, 500MB hard drives, 150W AT power supplies, 286 boards, giant ISA video cards with 2MB ram or less, dot matrix printers, those cables you acquired some years ago and never figured out what they were for, etc). Whatever meets those criteria and doesn't sell on eBay, throw away; it's junk. Trust me, you will not miss it.
-=[You cannot consistently judge this statement to be true.]=-
Put everything in a closet, attic or other storage space. (Boxing everything works too.) Record the date. Twelve months later, get rid of everthing still sitting in storage. If you have not used it for 12 months, you probably never will. Donate books/journals to the library (so you can still access them if you need to), and donate everything else to GoodWill or a domestic violence shelter or a school or something. Donate porn to Slashdot. For cables that you "must keep," buy a cable rack(s) and hang it in the walk-in closet behind the door. Get rid of that old incomplete 386/486/586. If it's not plugged in, you don't need it. Have a garage sale.
...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.