I recently took this picture of the unbelievable stacks of containers at Target. They were located right inside the entrance and people were snapping them up like their lives depended upon them. As a professional organizer I secretly hoped those individuals already knew what they planned to store in them and where the containers themselves were going to be stored. I sort of doubt it though, because so often I go into a client’s home and find stacks of containers that went unused because what the client had hoped to store in them didn’t fit, or the containers themselves didn’t fit on the shelves, or in the closet, etc.
So, before you purchase your next plastic bin, tote or container, take the time to figure out exactly what you plan to store and exactly where you will be storing it. Next, measure the volume of what you’ll be storing and the space the container will be stored in and buy the container that meets these criteria. A little bit of effort before you head to the store will result in storage containers that get used, as opposed to storage containers that will just become clutter.