I use cheap plastic boxes from Ikea called "samla".
They come in different heights that fits different components rather well.
The 14 cm high ones take most cards standing up or quite a lot of harddrives.
The 28 cm one takes most motherboards standing.
Theres also lids if you want and clips to secure the lids if thats needed.
They also stack nicelly, both empty and with lids.

"organize"

*laughs derisively*

🤣 what's organization?

For the limited organization that I do, I use the clear plastic shoeboxes from The Container Store. It's a popular organization chain in the southern US. They come in several different sizes, and you can buy them in bulk.

dkarguth wrote:

🤣 what's organization?

I do not know.
But I know how much it annoys me if I do not find stuff instantly.

My aunt was a messie. When we cleared out her home after she had to go to a nursery home, it was a holy mess. When we seeped through all these layers of stuff, we were amazed to find multiple storage locations for similar stuff, from various decades. My aunt apparently just bought new, if she didn't find something.

I found myself in a similar situation last year,
Had bought some small electromechanical parts and did not find them a few months later so that I had to buy new again.
To me this signaled I had to do a new, thorough clearout.
I threw much away. I already sold most of my collections, the rest will go soon.
Keeping only stuff that is essential, the tools I actually need.
And parts that are either necessary in regular electronics maintenance or very hard to obtain.

And I am happy, as I get more free space and reduce the number of so-to-say "opened files".

To sell the stuff that still had some market value, I bought cardboard shipping boxes in various sizes.
And I found them very suitable for storage, too.

Cheap and not tending to accumulate static electricity.
Can be easily labeled and closed for dust and light protection.
Separators for cards are easily made by cutting cardboard pieces.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Anti-Static-PCB-Boar … VXC34a&LH_BIN=1

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-Laptop-Memory-tra … S%21-1&LH_BIN=1

Or similar. Some people cut wood to make holders, you can make better ones for motherboards that way but they hold moisture.

I've been hoping to get one of those blueprint cabinets and line the short trays with anti-static foam.

https://www.globalindustrial.com/c/office/fil … nets/blue-print

Honestly I don't need something that heavy and bulky, you could build something.

Heck you could get wire cube shelving and zip-tie panels every couple of inches and line it with a little padding. I should do that. Well, maybe make "sliding shelves" out of plastic or something.

Good idea on the flat file cabinets. They're pricey though even used.

There's another thread about this... somewhere...

If we were more organized, we might be able to find it. 🤣

My office... or should I call it, The Toy Box... kinda sounds like the rest of yours. I've got a workbench with just enough space cleared to work on one thing - everything else gets stacked on the pile to the side. Every flat surface is covered in parts bins, loose cables, a pile of hard drives or anti-static foam with CPUs. I've got a line of PCs jutting out from the couch, plugged into a KVM under the couch.

I say to myself that this is a temporary situation while I finish buttoning up my builds. Lots of detail work to finish -- cables and minor spare parts to secure, cases to repair, etc. Then, I will build shelving under the desks that line one wall. And it shall be glorious:

Will it ever happen? Who knows.