Silman:
may i ask why exactly you chose the values of resistors, caps, diodes, transistors, etc that you did? What is it about each of those values/types of components that make them better than the thousands of other choices?Also where can i buy storage containers to organize all this stuff!?
Here's an example of how I store my parts... I got a bunch of storage boxes at Home Depot, until they stopped carrying the one I use. I haven't checked Amazon, but I'm sure I can find the same one there. It's just your typical compartmentalized plastic tray where the row partitions can be removed for more room. Four trays per box, and I have six of them now. I use two trays for 1/4W resistors (each value gets its own little compartment in my boxes, but the envelope idea is also really good), one tray for 1/2W resistors, one tray for 1W, two trays for electrolytics (50v for small values, 25+50v for medium values for PCB space optimization, and 35+50v for the larger values for project cost and space savings). You get the idea..
As to how I picked the values...
For resistors, there are many applications where the exact value doesn't matter much. For example, pin protection is often 100-330R, and any value in there will work in most cases. LED current limiting depends on the source voltage, but typically a minimum of 220R (for 5v), 470R and 680R are both common, and 1K is a safe value even for 12v supplies. For audio circuits, I use a lot of 1K, 2.2K, 10K, 22K, and 100K, but things like filters (HP, LP, BP) use specific values where you either need a big inventory to pull from, or you'll need to buy values for your project. For pull-ups and pull-downs, 10K is a common choice. I use 47K when I want to optimize for lower idle power consumption. 100K is also good when a weak pull-up/down is acceptable.
For capacitors, anything related to PSUs there's a wide range of acceptable values. Some of it is a compromise between capacity for filtering / ripple reduction / smoothing, and the size, cost, and in-rush current demands. For instance, you wouldn't use 10,000uF on a USB circuit PSU filter because it would probably shut down (and maybe fry) your USB port trying to fill that large of a cap. But, a 0.1uF cap may not have enough capacity to ride through hot-plug events. So, 10 to 47uF is a good compromise. On most wall-wart powered projects, I'll go for 100 to 470uF instead. Ceramic decoupling is almost always 100nF (0.1uF). It's just a good, common value. For timing circuits (like 555s, or AC loss detectors), the value is determined by the time-constant. I use a lot of 10, 22, and 47uF for that stuff.
So as you see, the application will determine some of it, and others you can just pick a nice, commonly-available value within a large range.