The Last Thing You Thought You Needed To Declutter? Your Storage Items Themselves

We've all been there: you spend an entire Saturday morning decluttering and trying to make your home more organized. You got rid of plenty of junk, but now you've got a ton of empty storage containers piled up and are wondering what to do with them. Storage items have an odd way of going unnoticed when we're cleaning, because we mentally file them away as something that might help us in the future. Keeping them feels like a good, safe choice. Really, though, these items just end up stealing your square footage and creating clutter. Simply tossing them out doesn't seem right, since they all seem good enough to keep for later storage. So what's to be done? We say organize them, repurpose them, and thin out the ones you don't need.

The most common culprits here are the "just in case" items, like plastic or paper grocery bags and empty product boxes. It feels responsible to save them, but most of them quietly take up space and never end up helping us out. They just become clutter that's meant to hold other clutter. Other notable offenders are items intended to be reused multiple times, like tote bags and dust bags, or fancy stackable plastic bins, because of the sunk-cost fallacy (you spent money on something, so you feel like you have to keep it). But when these containers start to overflow in the spots you've designated for them, they're no longer helping anyone stay organized. And more importantly, those containers have become the very problem you were trying to solve in the first place.

To get your precious space back, dedicate some time to go through the storage items you've collected to see what you need and what you don't. If you have one that's intact but a little shabby, you can DIY style a storage container to match your decor or repurpose it elsewhere. Consider adding a "one in, one out" rule to your organizer storage setup to help declutter. For example, if you upgrade to a sleek set of matching acrylic storage bins, the old mismatched tubs must go. And we're talking about the garbage, your local thrift store, or a garage sale, not just somewhere else in your home. Keeping a minimal curated set of storage items is enough for any household (like a few different sizes of boxes for returns, and a small stack of tote bags for shopping).

For the items you decide to keep, especially if there are some cool boxes you just can't let go of, focus on finding a way to nest and consolidate them to save room. Store smaller boxes inside larger ones, and tuck fabric garment bags inside your suitcases. This will stop the items from sprawling across your home. Keep in mind that a truly organized home isn't just about having a place for everything; it's about only keeping what's actually useful to your current lifestyle. By thinning out a massive collection of unused bins and bags, you can create a home that feels lighter and easier to maintain while still staying prepared for tomorrow's purchases. You might even find that the remaining space feels twice as big.