ELI5: how to organize tens of boxes of stuff
June 24, 2018 11:08 PM Subscribe
For various reasons, I used to move every few months, and therefore thought I was a natural minimalist. Now that my living situation is more stable, I've discovered that (1) I'm actually quite the pack rat and (2) I have no idea how to organize more than a few boxes' worth of stuff. Help?
This is a problem in a few ways: (1) I have trouble finding things when I need them, because there's too much stuff for me to naturally remember where I put it, and too many boxes for me to look through them all every time. (2) The untidiness makes it hard to clean. I spend a lot of time moving things around just so I can clean under them. And the moving exacerbates (1).
The one place where this hasn't been much of an issue is the kitchen, which is special in a few ways: (1) I use (or eat) everything in there every week or two, so I'm constantly reviewing where things are; (2) a lot of my kitchen stuff I have multiples of identical items, so I can chunk them together in my head; (3) there are natural constraints, like I've got the knife and cutting board between the sink and stove, and the stack of tupperware on the other side of the stove, so that food can flow naturally through the kitchen.
Elsewhere, though, I'm kind of baffled. I have a lot of different things now, at least twenty boxes' worth, and they don't organize well into tasks or categories. E.g., I have a backpack that I use weekly as a grocery bag, but also a few times a year as a hiking pack and a few times a year as a piece of carry-on luggage. There's no natural reason that my hiking poles should lean against this wall and my bike against that wall. Etc.
And yet I know this must be possible, because I know many people have more than twenty boxes of stuff. How do people do this?
This is a problem in a few ways: (1) I have trouble finding things when I need them, because there's too much stuff for me to naturally remember where I put it, and too many boxes for me to look through them all every time. (2) The untidiness makes it hard to clean. I spend a lot of time moving things around just so I can clean under them. And the moving exacerbates (1).
The one place where this hasn't been much of an issue is the kitchen, which is special in a few ways: (1) I use (or eat) everything in there every week or two, so I'm constantly reviewing where things are; (2) a lot of my kitchen stuff I have multiples of identical items, so I can chunk them together in my head; (3) there are natural constraints, like I've got the knife and cutting board between the sink and stove, and the stack of tupperware on the other side of the stove, so that food can flow naturally through the kitchen.
Elsewhere, though, I'm kind of baffled. I have a lot of different things now, at least twenty boxes' worth, and they don't organize well into tasks or categories. E.g., I have a backpack that I use weekly as a grocery bag, but also a few times a year as a hiking pack and a few times a year as a piece of carry-on luggage. There's no natural reason that my hiking poles should lean against this wall and my bike against that wall. Etc.
And yet I know this must be possible, because I know many people have more than twenty boxes of stuff. How do people do this?
Assuming that when you say you move things around a lot you're referring to the whole boxes, not to each of the boxes' contents, here's a crude solution: label each box on the side visible after storage with a unique id, take a few photos of its contents and organise them in folders by box id. Then you wouldn't need to open boxes one by one until you found the grocery bag, first waste 5 minutes looking in your dozens of picture files.
You don't have to this all at once, next time you're looking for something use the opportunity to document what boxes you inspect.
If you want to get fancy, use tagging software so you can know both what's in each box and where each individual item is. Now instead of exhaustively browsing your pics, narrow things dow by searching for bag or grocery or luggage. But now we're getting closer to "just make a relational database of everything" which is probably overkill.
posted by Bangaioh at 2:03 AM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
You don't have to this all at once, next time you're looking for something use the opportunity to document what boxes you inspect.
If you want to get fancy, use tagging software so you can know both what's in each box and where each individual item is. Now instead of exhaustively browsing your pics, narrow things dow by searching for bag or grocery or luggage. But now we're getting closer to "just make a relational database of everything" which is probably overkill.
posted by Bangaioh at 2:03 AM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
I feel like this is a great situation to KonMari. Recent thread from someone asking about the method and experience here.
posted by like_neon at 2:03 AM on June 25, 2018
posted by like_neon at 2:03 AM on June 25, 2018
Stacked shelves with rectangular transparent plastic bins - I know a guy who has all his urgent / hiking stuff organised like this - You probably know the colours and shapes of most of your stuff so labels not so essential.
If I was highly mobile again I'd do the same - when I was (sniff) highly mobile my whole life fitted into a large backpack.
posted by unearthed at 3:36 AM on June 25, 2018
If I was highly mobile again I'd do the same - when I was (sniff) highly mobile my whole life fitted into a large backpack.
posted by unearthed at 3:36 AM on June 25, 2018
Response by poster: Sorry, to be clear, the problem is that I no longer have a few neat boxes. I have a pile of loose stuff, and no idea how to divide them into boxes in any memorable, convenient fashion. I'm just referring to boxes to give you an idea of the scale; I haven't moved in a year, and don't even have enough boxes to contain all my stuff any more.
posted by meaty shoe puppet at 5:25 AM on June 25, 2018
posted by meaty shoe puppet at 5:25 AM on June 25, 2018
Categorize items, Kondo-like, into boxes. No category is too small or arcane.
posted by jgirl at 5:41 AM on June 25, 2018
posted by jgirl at 5:41 AM on June 25, 2018
What's your aim here? Are you literally trying to get your stuff back into moving boxes so you can be ready to move at a moment's notice, or are you trying to organize a settled domicile? How much of this stuff is stuff that you expect to use in your ordinary patterns of living, and how much is keepsakes and legal documents that you don't need easy access to?
I think boxes are typically good for storage and transport because they protect things while making them portable and stackable. They're bad for regular access because their contents tend not to be immediately visible, they have to be unstacked (which in turn contributes to disarray), and they get moved around enough to make the current location of any given thing uncertain.
The sink-cutting/knife-stove-tupperware sort of thinking is applicable outside the kitchen, even when not dealing with such linear processes. Keep things close to where you'll usually be when you need them, i.e. hang the backpack with your coats by the door. Prioritize ease of access; things used every day get first pick of the places. Things used annually or less get relegated to your storage area in the basement.
posted by jon1270 at 6:29 AM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
I think boxes are typically good for storage and transport because they protect things while making them portable and stackable. They're bad for regular access because their contents tend not to be immediately visible, they have to be unstacked (which in turn contributes to disarray), and they get moved around enough to make the current location of any given thing uncertain.
The sink-cutting/knife-stove-tupperware sort of thinking is applicable outside the kitchen, even when not dealing with such linear processes. Keep things close to where you'll usually be when you need them, i.e. hang the backpack with your coats by the door. Prioritize ease of access; things used every day get first pick of the places. Things used annually or less get relegated to your storage area in the basement.
posted by jon1270 at 6:29 AM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
I think part of this is accessibility - your backpack isn't going to be stored with your hiking poles because you use it regularly but the poles only come out a few times are year. We have a couple of "outdoor" category spots - a drawer with smaller things like boating licenses, dry cases, and sunscreen, then a big tote in the garage with the other camping stuff.
Some of this will be trial and error - put things in a good enough spot and see if it bugs you ("ugh, I have to get the thing down from this shelf AGAIN" means maybe you switch it with something that's in higher value real estate that doesn't get used as much).
Some of this is also having "homes" for things. We added some storage cabinets to our living room and it's SO NICE because things we use in the living room but don't want sitting out have a home now. For example, furniture cleaner, fertilizer for the house plants, and decorative things we cycle in and out. Those aren't categorized by function so much as location.
I try to keep my craft stuff reined in to a couple of totes, with smaller organizational containers within each. My hand sewing things are in a smaller box, my polymer clay stuff is in its own small tote, knitting patterns in a folder, etc.
posted by brilliantine at 6:40 AM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
Some of this will be trial and error - put things in a good enough spot and see if it bugs you ("ugh, I have to get the thing down from this shelf AGAIN" means maybe you switch it with something that's in higher value real estate that doesn't get used as much).
Some of this is also having "homes" for things. We added some storage cabinets to our living room and it's SO NICE because things we use in the living room but don't want sitting out have a home now. For example, furniture cleaner, fertilizer for the house plants, and decorative things we cycle in and out. Those aren't categorized by function so much as location.
I try to keep my craft stuff reined in to a couple of totes, with smaller organizational containers within each. My hand sewing things are in a smaller box, my polymer clay stuff is in its own small tote, knitting patterns in a folder, etc.
posted by brilliantine at 6:40 AM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
if the situation is that you're keeping your stuff in boxes, then the first thing is to not do that. Boxes are terrible for finding things. Anything you can't easily see is useless.
In terms of how you store things, think workflow. For example that backpack, your standard workflow with it is that you use it frequently. So this means it needs to be accessible easily. If you used it daily, you'd want it on a hook near the door. If you use it weekly, maybe a hook inside the closet is enough. It doesn't matter why you're using it: the point is to that if you use it often it should be in a space that's easily accessible and intuitive for a thing that's in frequent use.
Same for clothes. The clothes you use every day should be hung up or in drawers at the front of the closet. Your old prom dress shouldn't take up space in this heavily-accessed area. They aren't in the same workflow category even if they're both technically clothing.
Think about ways to keep things visible while neat. Clear plastic shoe back-of-door organizers are wonderful not just for shoes but also for things like small tools, art supplies, &c.; and they can be hung up on walls, not just doors.
posted by fingersandtoes at 7:48 AM on June 25, 2018
In terms of how you store things, think workflow. For example that backpack, your standard workflow with it is that you use it frequently. So this means it needs to be accessible easily. If you used it daily, you'd want it on a hook near the door. If you use it weekly, maybe a hook inside the closet is enough. It doesn't matter why you're using it: the point is to that if you use it often it should be in a space that's easily accessible and intuitive for a thing that's in frequent use.
Same for clothes. The clothes you use every day should be hung up or in drawers at the front of the closet. Your old prom dress shouldn't take up space in this heavily-accessed area. They aren't in the same workflow category even if they're both technically clothing.
Think about ways to keep things visible while neat. Clear plastic shoe back-of-door organizers are wonderful not just for shoes but also for things like small tools, art supplies, &c.; and they can be hung up on walls, not just doors.
posted by fingersandtoes at 7:48 AM on June 25, 2018
If you can't sort by activity, think of another way the sorting might work. Alphabetically, frequency, by color, material, size, etc. Seconding that you will need to label each box with a code and then keep a list of what each code holds.
posted by soelo at 9:26 AM on June 25, 2018
posted by soelo at 9:26 AM on June 25, 2018
I can't quite picture what you are describing. All your stuff except your kitchen supplies are in a pile? On the floor? Three thoughts:
1. All your stuff should have a home. Ideally, this would be on a shelf or in a drawer or other "place", not all piled on the floor.
2. For me, it is easiest to put everything in a roughly similar place to where my mom and grandma did. Towels go in a hall closet along with sheets, medicine goes in a bathroom cupboard, games go in a living room cupboard, off season clothes go in a storage chest in the bedroom. Probably these places just make sense based on proximate usage and are similar in most houses.
3. Some people seem to only be able to find stuff by looking at it meaning that everything needs to be visible. If so, keeping what you have to a minimum of what you use, keeping it in a visible place near where you use it, and putting non-daily-use items in closets/cupboards/drawers should be a good starting point. Maybe try boxing everything up with labels, as you take out what you use put the used items in a visible place leaving the non-daily use stuff in the boxes. Revisit in a month to see if you can sort the rest of the stuff into storage places in the house or get rid of it.
posted by RoadScholar at 11:40 AM on June 25, 2018
1. All your stuff should have a home. Ideally, this would be on a shelf or in a drawer or other "place", not all piled on the floor.
2. For me, it is easiest to put everything in a roughly similar place to where my mom and grandma did. Towels go in a hall closet along with sheets, medicine goes in a bathroom cupboard, games go in a living room cupboard, off season clothes go in a storage chest in the bedroom. Probably these places just make sense based on proximate usage and are similar in most houses.
3. Some people seem to only be able to find stuff by looking at it meaning that everything needs to be visible. If so, keeping what you have to a minimum of what you use, keeping it in a visible place near where you use it, and putting non-daily-use items in closets/cupboards/drawers should be a good starting point. Maybe try boxing everything up with labels, as you take out what you use put the used items in a visible place leaving the non-daily use stuff in the boxes. Revisit in a month to see if you can sort the rest of the stuff into storage places in the house or get rid of it.
posted by RoadScholar at 11:40 AM on June 25, 2018
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posted by value of information at 12:06 AM on June 25, 2018 [4 favorites]