I am deciding to do a revamp of my home workbench parts & projects storage again. To get started, especially being 300km away from home right now, I decided to write down what the current setup is and what I want to change.

Parts/Components

SMD & sub-20mm modules

These go in Aidetek cases. These are pretty great, but they're sort of then in a pile on my floor, so I definitely need to find a better place for the organisers to go. I have: Small SMD, 0805 resistor kit, Large SMD, MCU/Actives, and modules. The kits are labelled and then the internal compartments are labelled, which is challenging for the tiniest ones. Also easy to get lazy — I need to go through and add labels where they're missing.

TH components, fuses etc.

Bunnings Tactix divider cases in the narrower 310mm size. Annoyingly these only barely don't fit two side-by-side in the repurposed wardrobe I'm using, so I am just planning to reorient them on their backs bookshelf-style instead. Fuses need their own case now, as do LEDs, having previously been shared with others.

Fasteners

Same type, Bunnings Tactix 310mm divider cases. These are great for being cheap as and sturdy enough for indoor use, with clear lid. Wood screws, Plastic/metal screws, then metric fasteners in M1-2.5, M3, M4-5, M6, and M8, and one for imperial fasteners.

MCU devboards

A dedicated drawer in my two under-bench IKEA ALEX units, with a corflute grid to make sections. These are liable to get shifted out to make room for an improved tool drawer instead. The way that Alex drawers, though sturdy, don't pull all the way out, makes the back 20cm 'lost space'.

Medium-sized modules & parts

Screens, antennas, sensors, PCB modules and such accessories, live in a few clear plastic 13L bunnings ezystorage tubs, in labelled ziplock bags. The two I have are outgrowing, so I'll be transplanting into more smaller tubs probably, or maybe sticking with 13L ones. Depends how much space I clear on the shelves.

Semi-Bulk stuff

Power supplies, Cable offcuts, big connectors, heat-shrink etc, go in the 13L or 18L ezystorage tubs on top of my workbench upper storage area for seldom-used stuff, or some on the bottom row of my IVAR open shelves. Once again, this needs reshuffling to match changing use patterns — I shouldn't be getting the stepladder to pull stuff off the top of the workbench as often as I am. A big box of old 6TB SAS drives really needs to go. Maybe a fedi taker...

Projects

Individual electronics projects go in 4 or 6.4L ezystorage tubs on the IVAR shelves. Need more of these and to be smarter about how I stack things to not lose too much usable space. Boxes are labeled with the project name and the YYYY-MM date of when they were kicked off.

Index

I don't currently have an index for any of these and that may need to change.

But the biggest risk of making an index is how quickly it becomes outdated. My current philosophy is "iterating on obviousness" — modifying the system each time I don't know where to find or put something, such that next time there is one obvious & findable place for it to live. I also rely on transparent containers/bags to see inside, and large legible labels from my P-Touch labeller with 24mm label tape.