Wow ... some of you have impressive parts storage!!
I have a big, two home made roller cabinets with a lot of drawers for specific categories (electrical, plumbing, screws, weather stripping, batteries, adhesives, ...) and a big stack of clear plastic sort bins on reconfigurable stationary shelves with stuff grouped (roughly) by category. Nothing is ideal since I sometime keep stuff in original boxes (the roller cabinets) and some I sort in plastic bins (example: one for stainless flat washers, several for stainless screws, several for stainless nuts and bolts, ....). But over time I find I can hone in what I need IF I consistently put things back in one of the two places. It is always a struggle and things need to be flexible since sometimes you get a lot of odd categories and other times have small stock of stuff you use a lot. I also try to keep notes if I need particular stuff and I am running out so I can restock. But I try to limit what I buy if I doubt I will realistically make use of it in the future since the collections can grow too large (I work on a lot of different stuff). I am also getting to an age where I am starting to worry about where to eventually place stuff and do not want to burden kids/family with stuff they might not need. Fortunately, I live close to two hardware stores. But I find it essential to have a good stock of basics to avoid slow downs during work.
