Putting together a healthy toolbox is a proud moment for many homeowners. It’s the start of a DIY journey, an investment in the maintenance of your house, and also a great cost-cutting measure, no pun intended.
Why is that? Well, if you can commit to light maintenance in the household, you rarely need to call out contractors to perform the work for you.
That being said, it’s important to remember that some tasks are absolutely out of our purview unless specifically qualified to handle them – such as boiler servicing, plumbing, and electrical work.
Having a toolbox is one thing. Learning to organize it correctly is quite another. Thankfully, there are many fun accessories and utilities you can implement in your toolbox or in your wider toolset to make DIY so much easier, and yes, enjoyable, to deal with.
But where should you get started with such an approach? Never fear, because in this post, we’ll discuss all of that and more:
Toolbox Organizers
Orderliness and cleanliness are close to godliness – that’s how that phrase goes, right? Either way, having an organized toolbox can save you hours of time added up over your career as a DIY hobbyist.
With that in mind, let’s consider some of the best toolbox organizers.
Adjustable Toolbox Dividers
Toolboxes can come in various forms, from large containers to clamp-together boxes with handles, all the way to rolling tool chests or fold-out robust compartments. Either way, how the internal divisions of your toolbox are structured may or may not be conducive to storing your tools well.
Toolbox dividers allow you to define the shape of an open container space yourself. This means that if you have shorter screwdrivers you don’t have to waste them in pre-arranged larger spaces, you can keep the compartment divided without wasting space for other tools.
This modular approach to organization is not only convenient, it adapts to the tools you buy and the slow completion of your toolbox over the years. As such, dividers are well worth your investment.
Smart Toolbox Locks
Tools are convenient utilities but can also be dangerous in the wrong hands. Most would agree it’s inappropriate for your child to accidentally stumble upon a handsaw or screwdriver. On top of this, good tools can cost a pretty penny. Perhaps some have sentimental value to you, passed down from a relative.
Smart toolbox locks are a good place to start. With these, you can easily attach a biometric access point to your toolbox, like a fingerprint (no retina scans or voice control here like a spy film, luckily), to gain access to the tools you need.
Keeping your toolbox under appropriate lock and key also gives you an incentive to put everything away when you’re finished.
Custom Foam Inserts
Toolboxes are robust, but they can easily be banged, dented, and scraped when bringing out heavy tools year after year. Well, treated, a great toolbox can last decades and decades, but that lifespan may be limited if you throw your tools in haphazardly.
Custom foam inserts are a great means of keeping your most expensive tools in good condition. We mentioned having tools passed down in the family – sometimes older tools are still functional but may have vintage handles, or utilities with the kind of craftsmanship you rarely find these days.
Knowing they’re safe in your toolbox and that you can carry it around or in your car without damaging said tools is another means of securing peace of mind.
Magnetic Tool Holder Strips
Magnetic tool strips can keep your tools secure in a particular compartment, similar to foam but with less of a need to customize the shape of the insert.
Of course, your toolbox might not just be limited to an actual box or compartment, but you may display tools on your walls, too. Hooks can work just fine here, but having magnetic strips placed on a display wall can certainly look cleaner, and are easier and quicker to attach.
Screw and Nail Organizers with Compartments
Sure, people talk about standing barefoot on LEGO pieces, or tiptoeing around the Christmas tree after its pine needles have caused your comfortable living room carpet to become the most painful place in the world, but misplacing screws on the floor is absolutely up there in the frustration hierarchy.
But it’s not just stepping on mislaid screws or nails that can be so difficult, searching through them to begin with can be a chore! This is especially so if you have around two tiny screws in an avalanche of slightly larger screws you don’t need. Mixing them together, then, is a bad idea.
Bringing organizers for you to easily lay every single different type of screw or nail you have, even miscellaneous ones and spare pieces from constructed furniture, and keeping them in clear, labeled compartments is a great idea. As such, it’s most likely one of the best recommendations on this list.
Tape Measure Holder Clips
“Where’s that tape measure?!” is possibly a frustrated utterance that has been said in every single household across the United States. At some point, it seems that divine intervention will cause you to lose yours, too.
No longer. With tape measure holder clips you will always know where you’ve stored your tape measure, and will never need to root around a thousand drawers to find it.
Wrench Organizers
One of the iconic tools in a DIY hobbyist’s arsenal is of the humble wrench. But one wrench is not a one-size-fits-all scenario. For this reason, it’s good to have a number of them of various sizes so you always have the exact tool you need.
Laying those all next to one another can look quite messy, however. For this reason, a wrench organizer you can easily lay on a shelf or mount on a wall, ideally with 15 or so slots, is ideal. This way, you can easily organize your wrenches from smallest to largest and wrench your way to victory.
Toolbox Accessories
Toolbox accessories are optional but can be very helpful in how they help you with particular tasks. They’re a sign of a developing DIY expert, the same as how a home cook will begin experimenting with small conveniences or pick up specialist tools in their culinary repertoire
DIY deserves to be treated with the same respect and passion, and here’s how:
Flashlight Holster Attachments
Some consider a flashlight to be an essential element of a toolbox, others think it’s a more general-purpose tool for use in situations outside of household maintenance.
The truth is that both interpretations are true. In fact, flashlights are affordable and you’re allowed more than one in your property.
That’s why it can be good to have a flashlight holster on your toolbox so you always know where your exclusively DIY-intentioned torch is at all times. It might even be hand-charged in case you run out of batteries.
If you’ve seen enough Clint Eastwood films, you could even hazard a quick flourish and spin as you holster it. Just make sure to complete the look with a smoldering glare.
Custom Toolbox Labels
Labels might not sound like the flashiest accessory ever, but you’d be surprised just how useful a label-making machine can be. To start with, you can easily attribute your name to each individual tool, label each compartment, and even each toolbox or box of accessories you use for DIY if you have multiple.
For example, if you lend a set of pliers to your neighbor, they’ll have a consistent reminder that yes, they have your tool, and yes, you would like it back at some point, please. You can also divide tools between perhaps you and your teenager’s beginner toolbox as you teach them DIY. Never discount the value of a good toolbox label.
Portable Tool Bag with Multiple Pockets
A toolbox doesn’t necessarily have to be a toolbox. It can be a pouch that you keep attached around your waist with a number of tools like files, screwdrivers, and whatever else you can wear without weighing you down.
This way, you can move with the logic of a tradesman or even a classic blacksmith, although treating your house a little more delicately than an iron forge is probably a good idea. A belt-mounted tool pouch can even be good for your health because it prevents you from lugging a heavy toolbox from place to place or bending over dozens of times to grab what you need.
Bluetooth Speakers
It might not seem like part of your tool inventory, but what is a contractor without his working morale, and what is a DIY aficionado without his music taste?
A good, robust speaker with a long connectivity range, an in-built battery, and access to all the FM radio stations or device pairing functionalities you would want is ideal. Moreover, you can even purchase thicker speakers from brands like DeWalt that can easily deal with construction dust and other pressured environments and still deliver you a great number of banging tunes, as the kids say.
