A bit of a tidy up, and a storage solution

[Phoenix]

Hi All,

Hope you had a good Bank Holiday. It was a bit cloudy down here, so I finished a big tidy up 

I have been using these food containers to store my bits and pieces in.





They are 3 for a pound at ASDA, and I have been stacking them up on the floor. However they do keep falling down and like Jenga, it is difficult to get the one you want out. I needed a better idea 

As I had some laminated flooring left over from fitting a floor ages ago, I used it to make a shelf unit to hang on the wall



Flippin' 'ek was it heavy though 

I also got some drawer knobs to go on the front if the containers, although after fitting all 40, found they weren't really necessary.



Here it is hung on the wall and fully stocked 





I also treated myself to a tool box, from the same company I get my layout cases from 





Fantastic ..... I don't now have to sit surrounded by junk while I play with my trains, and I have space for a drink or 2   

All best wishes

Kevin

[crewearpley40]

Sounds like a few bargains. Neat and tidy

[Phoenix]

Cheers Chris,

Now instead of this 



I have this 



All best wishes

Kevin

[ntpntpntp]

Nice shelving  

I do similar but with takeaway tubs, and have stacks of them for spares and scenery etc. A great excuse to keep having Indian or Chinese 

[crewearpley40]

At least you can find items Kevin.
  I invested in boxes  I noticed going cheap in my local DIY store

[TrevL]

I also treated myself to a tool box, from the same company I get my layout cases from 

Like the toolbox Kevin, do you have a link to where you got it from please?

[Phoenix]

Hi Trev,

I thought I got the case from where I got my layout cases from, which is here

https://www.cases-and-enclosures.co.uk/

They have all sorts of cases in all shapes and sizes, and also do extras like castors and extra handles etc.

But was wrong, I got it from these guys .....

https://www.jwewgroups.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=513232

It was £24.99, is lockable, has a shoulder strap and dividers for the inside.

Hope that info is useful

All best wishes

Kevin

[keithbythe sea]

Great solution Kevin, very tidy. Bet you can't find anything now. 

Thank you for the links, very interesting.

[Bealman]

How good is that. I hope it all stays as tidy as it looks!

And I reckon the knobs on the takeaway containers look cool by the way. 

[Bigmac]

i like the coal scuttle! Should keep your tenders and bunkers replenished for a long time.

[Phoenix]

Hi All,

I do like the look of the knobs on the containers, so thank you for that George, and thanks also for the great pics on your layout thread .... I really like what you are doing there 

Lovely to see others storage solutions, and glad the links to the cases sites are useful. I am so glad I got the tool box. Before that I kept everything in one plastic box, and was fed up with getting stabbed with all sorts of pointy things while looking for one pair of tweezers right at the bottom of the box 

The coal scuttle needs a bit of a clean up and is an acquisition from Mum and Dads old house 

Incidentally the larger containers are these



They are a bit more expensive than the others, but come with free cakes in 

All best wishes

Kevin

[LASteve]

Pay attention @emjaybee

[emjaybee]

Pay attention @emjaybee

Harumph!   

Don't know what you mean.   

When I worked in Facilities Management we used to have a sign by our (mine and the guy I worked with) desk that said...

..."A tidy desk is the sign of a sick mind."

Our two, back-to-back, desk were large. Project folders were just manilla card folders (think A3 folded in half), every 'project', however small, went in one of these folders. Graham and I both had a ring of these folders around the circumference of our desk of varying heights, as we were both constantly dipping in and out of around 20+ projects at a time. Everything from purchasing a new hand held sander (£20) for one gang to purchasing a new NDT tester for coach, EMU and bogie springs (circa £500k). These folders came off the rim of the desk volcano into the crater in the middle to be worked on and were then returned to the rim. Both of us knew exactly what was where.

We were both exceptionally pleased when someone discovered that some University bod at Loughborough (I think) succesfully wrote a dissertation on cluttered desks and had identified the 'Volcano Filing System' to be one of the most efficient methods of filing. Along the lines of:

Unimportant stuff moved further away from the centre of the volcano.
Important stuff stayed in easy reach.
Items could be readily found by reference to other items; their proximity to the centre; and the depth at which they were e.g. I was working on it a few days ago when I was looking at this other thing, so it must be nearby in this pile.

I seem to recall they argued that this method is more efficient as that it's this kind of way that the human brain works.

Later, after privatisation, we had some new senior management that decreed we had a 'clean desk policy' at the end of the working day. It was a choice of 40-50mins of filing at the end of the day, and similar for retrieval in the morning, or just dump each pile on the floor under the desk. The latter worked for us. The policy was quickly dropped when our office made a point of filing major projects after every interaction to make our point to senior management. It's amazing how you can slow down a process whan you want to.

I have very little time available for modelling, I'm not going to waste that on tidying up!