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Purposeful Storage

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Categories: Experiences and daily life; Projects and equipment

Word count/read time: 459 words; 2 minutes

Some of us are faced with storage issues, some are hoarders, and others like order. Tidy and compact works to a certain point. Bold and grandiose, too, when the situation warrants. George Carlin had a whole thing about people's stuff and the silliness that goes along with it.

One forum discussion I stumbled upon was jump ring storage. Mind you, there can be numerous colors, gauges, and inner diameters for each metal. A distributor or manufacturer would need thousands of inventory SKUs to track everything. They'd be knee-deep in shelves, bins, and boxes. But it'd be overkill even for the most extreme enthusiast.

Pictures accompanied many posts. One showed a massive wall dedicated to small pullout bins, each having a unique jump ring (estimate 98%+ empty space, even with jump rings in the bin). Others had plastic craft boxes or small totes. It felt like the SNL skit of how to carry a baby with all the systems people were using.

Part of it is one-upmanship and ego. Not in a bad way but a prideful way. "Look at MY storage method!" They're not hurting anyone and enjoying themselves in the process so congratulations on their system. Everyone decides what works for them. Money, space, simplicity, ease of access...there are many factors that must be considered.

I contemplated many of these tricks for storing rings long before reading the thread. What stood out was the wasted space. A storage maximizer person like myself will look to the details. It's not like these solutions are bad ideas, inefficient, or anything like that. I can tell, however, that these people are not short on space and their collection can sprawl in multiple directions.

In a ~10qt storage tote reside my fine silver jump rings and some wire. Most of the space is taken up by dividers, separators, bags for each gauge, and individual bags within gauge bags for the jump ring sizes. At less than 1% full, it would collapse under its own weight before reaching a fraction of its capacity. A larger tote contains bars, ingots, sheet, long sections of wire, and more.

In other words, a whole wall's worth of jump rings could be put into appropriately sized storage totes and bags. Plus, everything would easily transport for craft fairs, shows, demos, and tuck away so there's space to take out another stowed hobby (at least how my universe works).

I moved many times and had to find creative storage solutions specific to each location - it became easier after a half dozen times. Still, it takes time to figure out how to store everything given the size constraints and restrictions at each place. New stuff is added constantly and the layout continues to evolve. Time for more space.

Posted by M: October 15, 2026

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