What are your Tips for an Organized Workbench? [Ask e14 - Join, Share & Win Competition] September 2025

I label as well but relying on other people to actually read labels is not a very good control measure.

Most stuff is already labelled to some degree but often the labels are covered over by PAT testing labels or printed so small that it is not easily read.

I find that there tends to be a lot of wasted space higher up, which could be used for less frequently accessed storage. 
If you have a good set of warehouse platform steps, then accessing it is usually not so much of an issue.

However, fire risk safety assessments are now tightening down on floor-to-ceiling storage as apparently fire fighters like to be able to shoot a water jet up to the ceiling allowing it to cascade down over the tops of storage racking. I've recently been asked to try and keep around 500mm clear above any storage racking for this purpose.

Nice, I can see how the plastic provides protection against water.

Very nice.  I zoomed in and took a look at your labels.  I noticed that some of them have dates and that the bins collect the items from specific projects.  That would be my strategy as well... as opposed to others who might instead gather like components all together, ie capacitors with capacitors etc.

Good re-purposing... benefits the pocket book and the environment.

'Keeping all the accessories together with the main item' is the way I like to do things as well.  For me it's a time saving measure but your example about the power supply mix up shows another advantage of the system.

Over the years things like wall wart power supplies accumulate... so your decision to label them with their target makes a lot of sense.

bradfordmiller said:

For stuff I tend to rewire or have more complex relationships (e.g. the home theatre) even the "data"cables get labels, e.g. Sub-L or Scope1 on both sides.

I wiggle one end of the cable and then try to spot which other end moves ...

dang74 said:

I zoomed in and took a look at your labels

I don't label. That forces me to look in several boxes before I find something. And that keeps my memory fresh. Because I see all the other stuff I have, before I find what I need.

I do the same with my records. I have loads of them, and they are unsorted. I approximately know where a record sits, when I want to listen to it. But by the time I find it, I've already put aside five others that I wasn't looking for - to play them.
I thrive on disorder. But not on the working desk.

Labelling nearly everything is quite recent (last few years) for me. The problem is that it can take so long to find the right job box when looking through the older ones because some may not have been opened for many years.

You know you have a serious issue of forgetfulness when you can't remember the job even after opening the box.

I have found that, on balance, the labelling saves time.

@ dang74 

I keep job related parts in a job box but more general components in component places (drawers or nests of little boxes.)  I find that kitting is much faster when the components are indexed and kept out of the job boxes. In the last few years I have been reducing the proportion of bits that go in job boxes and I think this has saved a lot of time.

@Jan Cumps 

My records are kept in alphabetical order but seem to form themselves into piles of most recently played. Currently about 10% seem to have escaped that way.

MK