[AT] Cleaning the shop (or not)

[Herb Metz]

Greg, wish I could help on your last question.
However, confusion can be reduced as to which drawer(s) has the parts I am 
using at that time;  I leave any drawer being used open approx one inch. 
Then close all partially open drawers when that portion of the project is 
completed.   Herb

-----Original Message----- 
From: Greg Hass
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2014 9:20 PM
To: at at lists.antique-tractor.com
Subject: [AT] Cleaning the shop (or not)
The last couple of days have gotten to a little over 40 degrees which
feels like summer. Unfortunately, Wednesday is supposed to get to a
record low of 5 below zero; terrible for the middle of March. Anyway,
with the better weather, the last two nights I have "looked" into the
shop. It is such a mess I don't know where to start (a lot of people say
start at the beginning) but I'm not sure where that is. Everything is
where I threw it last November when this weather started. Last night I
put away 2 wrenches and tonight I put away 2 wrenches and 2 hand
grinders. The rest of the time I spent staring at the mess and trying to
come up with a plan. I think some of the problem is I have too much
"stuff". Some of it I might only use once a year, but a lot of it should
stay in a heating building or it will be damaged by cold and moisture.
Before going further, I should say my shop is 24 x24 and 10 feet high. I
realize this isn't big but its better than any thing I've had before. I
do have a couple of outbuildings to store things like plow parts,
combine parts and tillage parts that some rust on them wouldn't hurt. I
have run out of wall space and always said I would not build shelves up
in the air to where I needed a ladder to reach them, but maybe I should
reconsider. My biggest problem is where to put things so I can find
them. Bolts I have in plastic drawers labeled by size so that works
great. I have sets of plastic drawers, cheap tractor supply type,
totaling 200 or so drawers. One drawer has set screws, another grease
fittings, another square keys; and the list goes on and on. Many times I
spent almost a half an hour opening drawers before I find what I'm
looking for. I can't really label in alphabetical order because
different sets have different size drawers and I fill them according to
the size of the items. Any hints you guys have on how to organize or
things you do to make things more efficient  and less  stressful while
still being somewhat convenient and easy to do?
    Greg Hass
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