Sorting out the Nuts and Bolts

A project that has kept me busy for the last few quiet Sundays whenever I've had a few moments was sorting this giant bucket of nuts, bolts and anything else hardware-related that you can think of (the results of an accidental spillage of a few containers in the garage at our last house).

I laid out an old sheet in the third bedroom (what will become the bathroom), dumped the entire contents on it, and got to work.

The early stages of the sorting process.

All of the bits and pieces I wanted to organise were combined with a generous serving of dirt and random things, so I actually developed a useful trick when I discovered a magnet in the rubbish, which I then used to pick up the smaller objects (without their surrounding dirt). That sped things up considerably, and really helped with the tiny pin-like nails.

Still going. As much as I wanted to lay everything out neatly on the sheet to admire my handiwork before putting things away in the various containers, I started to run out of clear space very quickly. So I had to start sorting a few things into the containers as I went.

Voila! The pile of rubble is gone, replaced with nice neat rows. I put the lines on the sheet to good use.

A better view of my beautiful rows. Note that about half of the quantity is laid out, the other half is already in the various containers.

A close up. I lined everything up in categories. Bolts, nuts, wood screws (flat tops and rounded tops in separate lines), washers, nails, and all other random things in height order.

Some of the random items.

And then the most satisfying part of all - organising it into the containers. Because I'm so proud of my effort (and because it satisfies the most obsessively organised part of my being), I'm going to show you every single painstakingly organised tray (don't worry, there aren't THAT many!).

The odds and ends.

 

The washers and nuts.

The nails.

The flat-topped wood screws (my nickname for them, not the official name).

The round-topped wood screws.

And then the entire drawer unit was devoted to bolts. The largest ones at the bottom...

 

Slightly smaller bolts...

Smaller again (kind of - well thinner at least)...

You guessed it... smaller again.

Bored yet? Bear with me, second last drawer!

And the last drawer for the smallest!

All of the discards (including all of the packets that had been previously unopened) went back in the bucket.

Our beautiful tower of fabulously organised hardware. Now stop groaning at my obsessive compulsive need for organisation and admire how easy it will now be to find exactly the right nail/bolt/screw for each task! Heaven!

No seriously, it's really important to your sanity to have all of your bits and pieces in some semblance of order. Every task happens quicker (because there's less frantic searching), and there's much fewer needless (and irritating when you're mid-job) purchases if you can tell easily exactly what you do and don't have at first glance. So be prepared for some seriously efficient nailing/screwing/bolting in our future!