A Piece of my Mind...

I am about to give you a piece of my mind. Please take this seriously, I don't have much mind to spare... ;) Construction companies need to listen to more women (and possibly men) in making their products. I'm not talking pink cutsie tools. I'm talking more along the lines of making tools easier to use, access and store. Ever try and put a drill back in the suitcase like container? Where exactly do they expect me to put the cords? Maybe I should YouTube it. I'm betting there is a video out there somewhere.

Take for example sand paper. If you buy in bulk, which I do, you get it in narrow cardboard boxes, granted, they are sturdy, but they have large holes in the front and back of the boxes for displaying their product. (I'm sure it also cuts down on their cost.) Now this presents a problem. I have never used an entire sheet of sandpaper at once. I always seem to have at least one square left over, that when I put it back in the box, falls out of the hole. Grrr.

This past black Friday, Sears had an advertisement for a sandpaper organizer. Brilliant!! The ad had it listed half price for $9.99 but didn't give a picture. When I made it to Sears, their organizer was a plastic file organizer. You want me to spend $10 on that? (In case you're new or have forgotten, my family lovingly calls me a cheapskate.)

Nope, not gonna happen. What was going to happen was sweetly asking my mother for an old file organizer she was going to recycle.


After trying the paper inside the organizer, I discovered it was a little tight. So, out came the scissors and I cut out every other "wall." Sorry for the poor picture, I need to work on my camera skills.


With my trusty Sharpie, I labeled the leftover walls with their new names. 60, 80, 100, 150, 220, Drywall Med, Drywall Fine & Specialty (mouse). Finally, I had a cheap easy to use system to solve the issues with my leftover pieces and unused pieces. It wasn't hard, it was just frustrating that someone wanted to charge $20 (full price) for it. I like using my tools and just wish there was an easier way to store and organize them without spending MASSIVE amounts of money. Anyone have any ideas you use to organize your tools??