Wednesday, January 27, 2016 Day 80
I know it is tempting. You see those pretty baskets and colorful bins and they promise to contain your stuff in all new efficient and pretty ways. Some marketing tactics even try to convince you to use the color to your organizational benefit by imploring a strategy of color coding.
An organized person myself, even I have been lured at times to use the fancy boxes and the color-coding systems. My years of trial and error, however have taught me this reality:
Anything other than clear storage containers simply DO NOT WORK for easy, simple, long-term storage solutions. And I, for myself, have finally sworn off using anything but clear storage containers. If you are wanting to live a more organized life, I highly recommend you do the same.
Some may argue that colored or decorated storage containers are okay because you can label their contents on the outside, making it easier to know what is inside. Also, from a decorating perspective, some may argue that clear containers aren't as attractive and won't give a room that decorated "show room" look.
I argue, however, that function in life is far more important than form. Furthermore, not wanting to "see" your stuff should make you really question the importance of what you are storing. Is it so ugly or unused that you really need to be storing it at all? Maybe it is time to pass it on to someone who can get more life out of it than you are.
Plain and simple: clear storage bins allow for easy knowledge of its contents, far more than can ever be detailed on one, or even several labels affixed to the outside.
I guess I always knew this, but it was just this past holiday season when I finally made my clear-container oath. Part of my holiday decorations were stored in colored tubs, while the rest were not. I couldn't remember what I had in the colored tubs, and it frustrated me when it came time to decorate the house because I wasn't sure if I needed it brought in the house (I did a light decorating this year). "That's it!" I declared. "Only clear storage from now on."
Now all of my holiday decorations are in clear bins so I can easily see what is inside of each. I won't need to remove them from the shelves, or even open them, to know what is inside. It feels so good to have all of my holiday decorations organized once and for all, and to know that when it comes to next Christmas, decorating will be so much easier.