Home › Forums › Storage Solutions › Save the planet. Save money. Save your items. Save space. Steel File Cabinets!
Tagged: inventory system; organization;
- This topic has 18 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 3 months ago by Amatino.
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11/07/2016 at 12:08 pm #5158
I’ve been getting steel file cabinets for free on Craigslist for the last year. I’m up to about 20 now. Each drawer holds about the same as one of those blue bins and is super easy to get to. Each cabinet has 4 or 5 drawers. They are also rodent proof and made of steel which is a solid frame just in case a tree falls on your shed. As far as space goes, You couldn’t maximize your space any better than by using a file cabinet. There are tons out there as people don’t store files in them any more- instead we use hard drives!
Hope this helps!
Brad
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11/07/2016 at 5:42 pm #5221
This is such a great idea. Im surprised more people aren;t using this method. Just a whole wall of metal file cabinets. I always see them being given away at auctions.
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11/08/2016 at 12:11 am #5277
Do you add some form of walls to the sides so that you can fill them to the top?
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11/09/2016 at 1:43 am #5363
Wow, I never thought about that. Brilliant! I was offered a huge double-file cabinet not long ago. Now I wish I’d taken it!
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11/10/2016 at 9:33 am #5468
I don’t add any sort of walls to the sides. Hasn’t been a problem yet. Some of the drawers have sides built in. I haven’t needed to stuff any of them full yet. I still have plenty of extras as of now. I take out the metal hanger things and give them to our salvage guy. He drives down the street every week collecting everyones metal junk.
A few other things-
-My theory is to keep each drawer as empty as possible by spreading out my items among all the different file drawers. That keeps me from needing to dig to get items. When they all get full, Ill just get some more.
-The great thing about file cabinets is that when you need an item you don’t have to pull a heavy bin off the shelf and set it on the floor. The drawer slides all the way out and you can look down on the entire contents hands free. They hold a ton of weight as well. You can fill them with tools.
-To maximize space in my storage room I arranged the cabinets so that some are lined up along a wall and the next set are lined up facing those. The distance between the fronts of the two rows is the exact distance of the length of the drawer. If I open a drawer all the way, the face will come within an inch of the face of the opposing row. Same thing happens the other way. No wasted space- neat and orderly (sometimes).
-I also store my death piles in a few of the cabinets. It’s really nice to not have to look at the stuff every time you walk by.
Sorry if I seem like the prophet of filing cabinets. I just hate to see something so perfect for what we do get destroyed. And they are free!!!
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11/10/2016 at 11:28 am #5490
Can you provide some context as to what kind of inventory you have? Can you post a picture or two? I’d really like to see what you have to better understand your process.
I really don’t think filing cabinets will work with my kind of inventories.
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11/16/2016 at 4:53 am #5929
My store on eBay is Virginiapicks. I have a little of everything I guess. Most fit in the cabinets but if they don’t they just go on top.
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01/02/2017 at 12:37 am #9319
Hey Skycam, had fun looking through your sold items. How much do you usually pay for the estate pipes, and does estate mean that you got it at an estate sale or something else? Thanks.
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03/10/2017 at 10:20 am #14211
Just ordered a PALLET of file cabinets, a paper shredder and an office chair from Bulq.com for $257.00. I will now have 10 cabinets to fill up with inventory, which is much better than the random boxes and piles I have now. I know I could have found used file cabinets cheaper, but I do not have a truck or other method to get them back to my house, so this seemed like a reasonable solution. I plan to paint them and pretty them up a bit too. That’s my office expense budget for the year! Thanks for the suggestion Skycam! I absolutely HATE the site of “stuff” everywhere, so this should help calm me down and feel more organized.
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03/22/2017 at 7:41 am #15038
I just switched from clear bins to file cabinets. I have pancreatitis and sometimes too weak to move bins around and get to a sold item. I found side opening totes but they were pricey @ $20 each. I decided I needed drawers but the plastic stack drawers were flimsy and cheap. So in my search for organization I came across 4 drawer lateral hon file cabinets. The drawers do have sides and hold 350 clothing items so far with 1 of my 3 total cabinets empty for future inventory. I spray painted them white (rustoleum paint+primer) and labeled each drawer with 3 inventory custom skus. My office looks very clean and organized with zero clutter in sight! I love the calm atmosphere in my office now and pulling to ship takes just seconds!!
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03/22/2017 at 1:07 pm #15065
I wish some of you file cabinet folks would post some pics! It is just hard to imagine a setup like this.
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03/22/2017 at 1:11 pm #15068
I will! It looks amazing, but I need to finish painting the office first. 🙂
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03/22/2017 at 2:07 pm #15077
Hope this works! I had to figure out how to add a picture. 🙂
File cabinet drawer each pile has a letter label with corresponding sku in eBay listing https://imgur.com/gallery/VGP5O
- This reply was modified 7 years ago by Lanie42273.
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03/25/2017 at 3:49 am #15271
Wow, that does look great!!!! Tomorrow morning, I start the garage clean out. The plan is to put metal file cabinets in on one side of the 2 car garage. I’m trying to figure out what can go out there in an unheated environment. It’s real cold here in winter, being it’s MN. I’ve heard Ryanne say not to put clothes out there, but I’m not sure why. Is it because the mice could get in them and nest?
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03/26/2017 at 3:02 am #15299
I would guess that is the reason. Any sort of critter that is looking for warmth will find it’s way into the clothes. I would keep them and any paper items inside, as well. Mice will shred the paper for nests.
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03/26/2017 at 9:14 am #15306
I thought I would share a few comments since I recently gone through the research and installed the proper HVAC equipment for our 1500 sg ft storage/work facility.
Next to temperature control, the biggest concern for storage is keeping the humidity level in check. Some items are best kept at lower humidity levels, but a general rule for keeping items from turning black and green is a humidity level no higher than 60% with the sweet spot at 55%
As for temperature control, some categories due better than others in different environments. What’s important is to keep the high and low range as narrow as possible. Hard items will do fine at 35-75 with softer items having a higher lower temp. Anything above 75 and you’re asking for trouble, especially if you can’t keep the humidity in check.
Items that will help in the above in addition to the proper HVAC equipment is insulation and airflow.I’ve learned years ago that you need to be proactive with rodent control. They are not always discriminatory where they live or play. The $40 a year in rodent bait is well worth it.
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03/26/2017 at 11:46 am #15309
I would be worried about file cabinets in a garage. Spider and bug heaven! Yukky!!!
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03/28/2017 at 8:36 pm #15516
Okay, I’m still trying to figure out what hard goods I can actually put in these steel file cabinets. Yes to china, pottery, lamps (sans shades because of the fabric), fans, metal pots, rubber boots, glass, plastic things, and……..? I can’t put clothing, fabric, books, records (because of paper jackets),shoes, magazines, purses, stuffed animals, sewing patterns, post cards, wooden objects, etc. So, what do you store in your outdoor (garage or shed) storage facility? My temps will go below freezing. Thanks for your input fellow trash elves.
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12/01/2017 at 2:59 pm #27839
It now holds decor items in my store. Thanks so much for the idea. Loving it!
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