Let’s talk organization. I’m a pretty organized person when I take the time. I like to know where everything is.

Some people have toolboxes that look like this. I really have no idea how they can work. How can you find anything you need in less than five minutes?

On the other hand, there’s my toolbox:

I’m very organized with my tools. Everything has to have a place. I need to be able to open the drawer and grab what I need as fast as possible so I’m not wasting time. I’ve spent quite a bit on the various racks and rails I use to make things neat.

And when I can’t buy what I need, I’ll make it. Stores sell racks for sockets, but one of my sets, by Grey Pneumatic, is of an odd size range and as such won’t fit on a storebought rack. So to enable clean storage, I took the time to build some racks myself. 1/4″ plywood and 1/4″ dowels, glue, paint, and patience. They actually feel a little sturdier than the plastic racks.

Snap-on includes these plastic magnetic racks with some of their socket sets. They’re pretty nice and can be convenient, and I’m sure lots of people like them, but they’re a bit too bulky for me. I want to maximize my storage space. So I buy these rails with pegs for the sockets to stick on, and screw them to 1/4″ plywood. I use these for things that don’t have a through hole, like swivel impact sockets, as well as Torx and hex driver bit sockets.

Unfortunately there’s always a point where you can’t organize well, and that point is my bottom drawer, where I stuff my seldom used or oddly shaped items. But better to have only one drawer like this than every drawer.