B&M bargains - cheap storage

[Weaver]

Found a few good things at B&M bargains recently.

Firstly, if anybody fancies those 9 litre Really Useful (that's the brand) boxes that I use to carry models to shows, then B&M are currently selling them for £6 each or three for £16, which is WAY cheaper than they were when I started buying them. I'd get your skates on with these because I get the distinct impression that many high-street stores that used to stock them are moving to other brands and selling off the Really Useful ones at clearance prices. I've stocked up on quite a few while I can!


Secondly, they've got a range of very cheap clear acrylic desk/dressing-table organisers in. These are mainly aimed at make-up products, but modelling stuff has very much the same form factors, so they're good for storing tools and brushes on the back of your bench or on a shelf over it, and of course, being clear, you can see what's in them better.

I've bought some of these "3 compartment multi-purpose organisers" (£2 each) which allow me to have all the tall stuff along the back of my shelf and all the low stuff at the front of it. I'm going to buy three more of these. The far organiser is standing on a "stackable storage box with drawer" (£3) which will give me lipped shelf space and an extra drawer at zero space penalty. I'm going to have these drawer boxes all the way along too (I only bought one to start with because I was unsure of the fit):




This is much better than my old storage, which was these round artist's brush stands sitting on the same shelf. Contrary to appearances they do NOT rotate, many of the holes are too small for tools, you can't see stuff at the back and they used the space inefficiently:




There are lots of other things in the clear acylic range that might prove useful to you and they're all as cheap as these. One that particularly jumped out at me, but doesn't suite my setup, is this 12-place make-up brush holder: perfectly useable with paint brushes of course :




Few things about B&M Bargains if you're unfamiliar with them.:

1. Don't judge the range by their website: there's WAY more different types of the clear acrylic stuff in a big shop than they have listed online.
2. Stock range can be very variable from one branch to another, depending on the size of the branch and (I suspect) a degree of independence for the managers.
3. If you want any of this, get your skates on: they tend to buy clearance stocks from wholesalers then never get it in again, and it moves fast.


Before somebody asks:

1. Yes, I am going to take the labels off: I just left them on for the photo.
2. Yes, I may well end up sticking them together with double-sided tape or some such.

[The Wooksta!]

I've argued against round storage containers for years as they are simply a waste of space.

[Weaver]

I've argued against round storage containers for years as they are simply a waste of space.

My mum used to keep lettuce in a circular, conical plastic bowl in the fridge, and she'd even keep that bowl in the fridge when it didn't have any lettuce in it, "because that's where it's supposed to be".

Then she'd complain that there wasn't any space in the fridge...    

Getting rid of that bowl required one of the most ridiculous and heated rows we ever had, with me pushing the logical argument, "look at it with your eyes and think about it with your brain: you can literally see all the space that's wasted around and underneath it", and her pushing the semantic argument: "it can't go in the cupboard because lettuce doesn't go in the cupboard, it goes in the fridge and the bowl is a lettuce bowl so it has to go in the fridge too."

[kerick]

Did you tell her refrigerators are not for storing empty bowls?

[Weaver]

Did you tell her refrigerators are not for storing empty bowls?

But they are you see if the bowls are lettuce bowls because lettuce goes in the fridge so lettuce bowls have to go in the fridge too. It's obvious: the clue's in the name: LETTUCE bowl. See?

[kerick]

Did you tell her refrigerators are not for storing empty bowls?

But they are you see if the bowls are lettuce bowls because lettuce goes in the fridge so lettuce bowls have to go in the fridge too. It's obvious: the clue's in the name: LETTUCE bowl. See?

Because you have to keep the lettuce bowl cold. Can't put lettuce in a hot bowl.

[Weaver]

Went back to the shop on Friday to get some more, and it was all gone! However, after a serious " you gotta be freakin' kidding me!" moment, I had a wander round the store, and it turned out they'd "just" rearranged the whole place overnight, and the clear acrylic stuff was now spread between three different shelves at the other end of the building (B&M are funny like that).

Anyway, here they all are in place: 7 x 3-compartment organisers and 7 x  drawer units. There was room for quite a bit of stuff in them (and they're still not full), so that's made more room in various drawers, and also allowed me to get a small drawer system off the bench top: overall, a very positive knock-on effect. I havn't decided how and whether to secure them yet. The two smaller 9-compartment organisers with sloping tops at this end are something I've had for a while (they were on the bench top too).

[zenrat]

You sure they wouldn't be better off in the fridge?
 

[Weaver]

You sure they wouldn't be better off in the fridge?
 

You keep craft knives in the fridge?

Always wondered what other hobbies you have...

[PR19_Kit]

You keep craft knives in the fridge?

Always wondered what other hobbies you have...

Precision meat carving? 

[The Wooksta!]

For a time, I used to hide my knife box in a disused fridge at work, as someone had a habit of borrowing my knives and not returning them.

[Weaver]

For a time, I used to hide my knife box in a disused fridge at work, as someone had a habit of borrowing my knives and not returning them.

I did some work experience in a motorbike shop where the chief mechanic put all his own tools back in his own toolbox at the end of the day and put his own padlock on it.

[zenrat]

Sensible bloke.  I'd do the same.



I keep Bare Metal Foil in my fridge.

[The Wooksta!]

Most of the other chefs did the same, either padlock the box or used a roll for their knives and they went in their lockers at the end of the day. 

[NARSES2]

For a time, I used to hide my knife box in a disused fridge at work, as someone had a habit of borrowing my knives and not returning them.

I did some work experience in a motorbike shop where the chief mechanic put all his own tools back in his own toolbox at the end of the day and put his own padlock on it.

I think that's fairly common, or was, within those industries where your tools were so important to your job. I know my brother did the same when he worked in the shipyards.