Organising Truism: A simple tidy-up can become a major unplanned project.
It started out innocent enough- shift around a couple of my husband's tools, which he was temporarily storing in the pantry, to free up floor space. Later that afternoon, there I am sifting through and organising hundreds of screws. Not at all how I planned my day. (This is also why there are no 'before' photos).
Earlier that morning in my initial efforts to tidy up, I peered into the open tool bag and realised that everything was piled in and mixed in together. Let's call that 'the down the rabbit hole moment.'
Once I took out the screwdrivers and bigger tools, there was a layer of screws and plastic pieces and beneath a layer of dirt and debris. I emptied the contents on to the garage floor and then proceeded to sort through a large plastic tool box.
On the pantry floor, I sorted the tools in rows by type- wrenches, levels, chisels, snips and cutting tools, ratchets, flat bit screwdrivers, Philip screwdrivers, etc. I left the layer of screws, dirt and other miscellany in the tool box for the time being.
One word: 'Ugghh'
Organising Truism: It always gets worse before it gets better.
Sometime during my sorting, hubby wakes up and walks in. Let's call his 'oh lord moment.' Tools (although lined up in rows) were all over the floor. Not to mention the stuff that had been dumped out in the garage. I left everything out in the open looking messier than before. That was my 'oh crap what have I done moment' so I stepped away to give myself time to mentally process everything.
Organism Truism: Sort, research and plan before you buy
Screws and little things had been buried at the bottom of a deep, large tool box and bag. I needed an organiser with lots of smaller sections. I found the perfect solution with the following:
The Double Lockjaw Organiser had useful features including a strong plastic body, see-through side, deeper section on the other side and a handle.
Initial Sorting
One side filled
Clear side filled
Super useful latches
I also opted for the Double Latch Craft and Go specifically because its smaller size would allow for easy portability.
One side filled
Clear side filled
Stacked small part organisers
For the screwdrivers, I tried a magnetic knife rack.
Photo Source: First4Magnets
That would have worked just fine if the tools were staying on a wall at home. But it wasn't practical for lining the tools up in a tool bag or tool box.
I envisioned some kind of roll up case which had pockets for each screwdriver but I haven't found it yet.
I looked at a metal three drawer tool box.
But in store, the box runners didn't glide as smoothly as I would have liked and the drawers just weren't deep enough for the quantity of screwdrivers to be stored.
This tool box has two take-out trays:
It definitely won't hold everything, but it's an improvement on the current battered tool box. But I didn't buy it right away, I still wanted to sleep on it.
Organising Truism: Rome wasn't built in a day
The floor stayed in its chaotic state for several days and I still haven't acted on the ultimate product solutions for the tools.
Kinda organised, can you tell?
I eventually picked everything off the floor and kept them in the basic groupings within the tool bag and box. I went though a smaller zip-up bag that contained much the same as what I had packed in the sectioned organisers (again too busy throwing away things to stop and take photos, but you can pick it out next to the ladder). By that time though, I was over sorting through hardware and those organisers were full, so I dumped everything in a clear plastic box (obviously easier to pick through than a deep black bag). There is also a white bucket with who knows what that I am pretending does not exist. But, I do have a plan and very happy with what has been accomplished. And most importantly hubby can find his stuff (dare I say even easier) without having to ask. And we kind of agreed, well I suggested nicely, that he never has to buy another screw again.