{"id":28395,"date":"2017-02-24T02:00:25","date_gmt":"2017-02-24T09:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=28395"},"modified":"2017-02-21T18:14:42","modified_gmt":"2017-02-22T01:14:42","slug":"divided-meal-tray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/divided-meal-tray\/","title":{"rendered":"Divided Meal Tray"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am not the handiest person: the skill level for IKEA furniture assembly, though, I can generally handle. Even so, I have a tendency to drop tiny pieces into unreachable recesses or into the great unknown (sometimes they get rediscovered by the washing machine), or to confuse similar looking screws or bolts. <\/p>\n

For a long time, I’d dump all those screws and widgets into a little pile on the floor, where it seems they would walk away or burrow into the carpet. Then I dumped them on piece of cardboard (too easy to spill), then a shoebox (easy to reach into, but not enough organization), then a tacklebox insert meant to hold things like fishhooks and weights (good organization, but not finger-friendly). <\/p>\n

The best antidote I’ve found for these headaches, though, is a divided enamel-on-metal tray of the kind used in some cafeterias for food service, and a mindset shift. (I have one blue tray that probably came from a yard sale, and another in orange.) Now, when I start a flat-pack furniture assembly job, I snip open the bag of fasteners, disposable wrenches, and doohickeys, and sort the contents into the sections of a tray, and count them. It’s oddly satisfying to see them all lined up, too — a tiny organizational sculpture. The rounded slides of each compartment make them easy to grab bits as needed. I like that the trays I have are in bright colors; I’d otherwise like a nice stainless steel, but the orange and blue finishes have better contrast when looking for a tiny washer or screw. <\/p>\n

I consider this system to have two small debits. One: unlike some more specialized divider trays, this one isn’t magnetic, anti-scratch, or equipped with non-slip feet. If I was building flat-pack furniture or sorting beads for a living, I’d want an even more specialized system. Two: these trays aren’t made for securely covering or storage, in the way of a tackle box or a multi-day pill box. (Bonus points if you can tell what I’m about to assemble here.)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Furniture assembly aid<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28395"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28395"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28398,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28395\/revisions\/28398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}