Cardboard bins!

OK, that may not be the most exciting headline I’ve ever written, and I’m not sure the exclamation point really helps all that much.

But I am, personally, nonetheless very excited about cardboard bins right now, because thanks to them, for the first time in almost five years, I am no longer burdened by a giant unsorted junk parts bucket.

I have played around with a lot of part storage systems and I’ve finally decided that bins are where it’s at. Unfortunately, “professional” plastic parts bin systems are prohibitively expensive for the number I need to satisfy my organizational compulsion. But these fold-up corrugated bins I bought off Amazon only cost 69 cents apiece, including shipping.

I took an old bookcase and added an extra “halfway” shelf to each level; 6″ per shelf leaves plenty of room to toss parts into the bins without wasting space. The finished unit holds ninety 4 x 4.5 x 12″ bins, which are labeled with a thermal-tape printer and arranged alphabetically. You can see the whole enchilada in my Flickr set.

Got a favorite parts storage hack? Let me know, below!