3 tips to organize your home workshop

Organizing your workshop will make every project much easier. Here are a few handy tips that will help you get organized today.

Magnets come in handy for a multitude of tasks around the workshop — everything from organizing your workbench to cleaning up spills. Here are a half-dozen fantastic ways to put them to work for you.

• Fix a large round magnet to the wall next to your workspace (or suspend it from the ceiling, if necessary) to keep small metal parts and tools from getting lost in the middle of repair work.
• Before using steel wool, wrap a small bar magnet inside the pad to catch any loose steel strands or particles and keep them from messing up your work area.
• Place small round magnets inside jars or boxes of screws and brads to prevent or contain spills if they're accidentally knocked over.
• Put a bar magnet inside a plastic sandwich bag to pick up spilled nails, nuts or washers — or even to clean up metal filings. The objects will stick to the outside of the bag, which you can then turn inside out to contain them.
• Magnetize the head of a screwdriver by rubbing it several times with a small horseshoe magnet.
• Hot-glue several magnet strips inside your toolbox or workbench drawer to keep your favourite flat tools at the ready.

Keeping loose lumber around your workshop can be dangerous for you and damaging to the wood. But an old wooden ladder can straighten things out. Secure the ladder rail to a wall with wood brackets, then use the spaces between the rungs to sort different lengths of lumber. You could also stand several pieces of lumber in an old golf bag or unused bin.

Loose power cords can be hazardous around the workbench. Besides posing a danger underfoot, they take up precious space in your work area and can be a real pain to untangle. Keep them neat and out of the way by screwing a few large bicycle hooks into the ceiling joists above your workbench and threading the cords through the open loops.

You'll save yourself time and trouble by following these easy tips to organize your home workshop.