For chips I use tubes, because I received several hundred of them once as a gift. As far as sorting things, my general principle is to do so as necessary, and not over-do it. It is important to never be in too big of a hurry to find anything when using this system. It helps me take a more zen approach, and keeps me from being tapped too often for widgets, because most of my friends don't have the patience to wait while I find them. However, I find that if I can establish gravitational centers for certain types of objects, I am able to approximate my way toward what I am looking for, and my eye will pick out the appropriate object on its own. So I don't worry about having several part numbers in the same drawer, but not too many. When there get to be "too many", I sub-divide them into several categories to bring it back to a managable mess. When I can't find something I know I have, I go back into organizational mode for while. I once concluded that I needed a spreadsheet with several columns: what an item is (generic type and specific identifier), where it is, and quantities if the item is a collection of similar items. Being currently self-unemployed, I'm actually working on this now, although slowly. Containers are treated as items in their own right. Containers can be put inside of other containers. A drawer is a container, as is the cabinet it fits into, as is the room where the cabinet is. Then the idea is to then adjust the representation of the inventory in unison with adjustments of real inventory. That's always been the fatal flaw for me. However if it is maintained, such a spreadsheet is easily sorted to find availability and location. For me the driving inspiration is that somebody else might be able to find something in my mess. Well, if they could find it, I don't suppose it would still be considered a mess, would it? -- John Tinker