# Organizing messy shelves



## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Shelves were getting out of hand, especially when I needed fasteners. So I began a little project to organize this area and shot a short video - 






David


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

David that is a very neat idea . Like how the bottoms protrude to act as guides  
I never would have thought of that , and I may have to implement some of those in the future . 
Btw I wish I was half as organized as you


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

You forgot the messy shelves part.


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## Shop guy (Nov 22, 2012)

Thanks for the video, David. I'm going through some reorganization myself. I just built 2 new cabinets which are wider and taller than what I had with adjustable shelves. Now the trick is to remember where I moved things.


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

Shop guy said:


> Thanks for the video, David. I'm going through some reorganization myself. I just built 2 new cabinets which are wider and taller than what I had with adjustable shelves. Now the trick is to remember where I moved things.


Very basic. You hang a list of what is inside (and where inside if need be) on the door.


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## chessnut2 (Sep 15, 2011)

Nice and useful idea, David. Every time I'm fussing and fuming because I can't find something that I know I have, I tell myself that I need to do something like that. +1 on Rick's comment about the guides/supports at the bottom of the drawers. I visualize having a storage system like this, but I'm beginning to think that the best way I can avoid clutter is to stay out of the stores, and off of Amazon. Thanks.


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## kp91 (Sep 10, 2004)

RainMan 2.0 said:


> David that is a very neat idea . Like how the bottoms protrude to act as guides
> I never would have thought of that , and I may have to implement some of those in the future .
> Btw I wish I was half as organized as you


http://www.routerforums.com/kp91s-gallery/1708-router-table-upgrade.html#post18002

I have drawers made like that which have held up over 10 years. A little wax and they slide great.

David, if you run out of shelves to arrange, I might have a couple you could address!:wink:

Thanks for showing your "learning experiences" in your video, I don't want to have to make every mistake on my own as I learn. Much appreciated.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

Like most, I had shelves piled with various sizes of cans and jars, half filled boxes and opened plastic bags filled with various fasteners - you can see part of the "before" on the RH side of the first photo - and would spend an inordinate amount of time going through the shelves looking for a specific screw or bolt that I just knew was there. To make things worse, the shelves were deep enough that I had rows of containers on them, two and three deep depending on the size. In frustration because I could never find what I was looking for, I built a Hardware Cabinet based on a design in Workbench magazine which used drawers sized to accept different sizes of the hanging plastic bins. That worked so well that I then replaced most of the cans with stacked bins, which wound up taking about half the space as the stacked cans - and things are so much easier to find now too. Adding a pegboard door to the front of the shelves gave me additional "wall space" too.

To make the drawers work better, I bought a box of 2" x 3" zip-lock bags that I use for small quantities - larger quantities get their own full or half bin - and so have a bins that are full of little bags that have the same size - e.g. #10 - 24 machine screws - but different lengths or head styles.

Don't think that I have been bit by the CNC bug yet, but the idea of being able to "mass produce" a bin storage system is very intriguing. If I thought I had the time to play with it, my preference would be to buy a little CNC metal mill as I'm always getting ideas for gizmos that could be made out of aluminum or plastic.


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## ScottyDBQ (Jul 5, 2008)

Nice system of drawers and I like the ability too change drawer sizes easily. It is a never ending task.


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