What you need is a system:

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_yc6o9Hp_U[/video]

Make it mobile…

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/SRAM-new-rig-Europe-2011.html

Just to prove that I am not a messy sod when it comes to tools, I have a large sheet of 9mm ply on the wall above my workbench. This holds the bulk of the tools that I own (yes, marked out in size order and grouped by tool type) so that I can a) see which ones are missing and b) quickly identify what I need for a specific job. Tools I need for a job then come out with me to the job and go back on the board when I am finished.

Bike tools [generally] live on the workstand.

Plumbing tools (rarely used) reside in a large toolbox under the bench along with the power tools and the socket set. I’m currently waiting for time to go through my dad’s old toolbox to organise the tools from there onto the board too.

I’m not OCD in the slightest, but I do like to be able to find things (see the other thread on Smith’s third rule of tool ownership).

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/article/keeping-the-bikes-ticking-at-the-mtb-world-cup-gallery-40893/

I organise mine like this.

😀

Seem to have acquired loads of tools for biking and DIY and materials over the years so it needed to be sorted out if I was to fit a respectful number of bikes in the garage

I built myself a 3m long work bench with a shelf running underneath. the Floor below and the shelf hold about 12 plastic boxes with different things in them. these are where the DIY tools and stuff live. This gets them out of the way meaning the work benchtop is free for bike tools and bits.

I have a 5 draw Halfords chest which holds all bike tools, but they are shared with a smaller plastic toolbox which goes with me on trips away. I also have a kind of metal filing cabinet from ikea which has 8 shallow draws – this holds all the important bike bits that I never use but can’t get rid of.

In reality quite a lot of the tools live on the workbench top so that I can spend 20 minutes looking for the right allen key.