Basically, in my method, whenever you “load up” (which means you got stuff back from the laundry or you just came back from grocery shopping), you put stuff at the bottom of the pile. (Move the stack, put the new items in, move the old stack back on top of the new.)

Whenever you “use” you take stuff off the top of the pile.

This way, there is a constant rotation. Otherwise you use the top few items all the time, and the lower ones rarely/never get touched.

Also, since you typically do laundry or go shopping when you’re low on stuff, you’re putting stuff on the bottom of the stack at its lowest point and so its not as difficult. Less stuff means lighter and easier to move out, put fresh bunch, and then move them back.

My mom always instilled a habit in me to rotate, coz otherwise you easily end up with some items with a lot of wear and some with very little. Except, she just made it a habit to periodically shuffle the stack.

I came up with this alternative. It requires me to consciously put stuff away, but when removing stuff I don’t think twice.

Hope this helps.

- JT

Maybe an extra fold in the middle so they are thicker? Less in one pile but you fit more piles. Not sure if that would work as I don’t know what kind of space you’e dealing with. And there might be a wrinkling issue.

I’ve found that rolling my shirt makes it more wrinkled than just folding it, so I just fold them now. I do still roll my shorts, though.

And just picking the top shirt only works if I have coordinating pants, socks and jacket clean (I wear different colors of solid knit shirts to work). Of course I could simplify my life by making my socks match my shoes, and making all my shirts coordinate with all my pants and jackets, but I’m not that good yet!

Some alternatives to stacking:
1) put shelving on your shelving: It seperates stacks so they’re shorter and it means awkward items that can’t be stacked don’t take up a section of a cabinet with a bunch of wasted space above it.
2) hooks on the inside of cabinets and doors: More wasted storage space. Small pots or lids fit nicely on the doors.
3) Metal sheets and magnets: You can install the metal sheeting anywhere. You glue the magnets to the inside of tuperware or jar lids and label them on both the sides and the under side. Or you can store batteries and other small household items.
4) Drawers instead of shelves: Store your games in a short dresser with deeper drawers. It looks a bit odd in the livingroom because of everyone’s expectations that a dresser be in a bedroom. But games can be stored on their sides, which makes them way easier to remove, and it closes for a cleaner look. The top also makes a nice little display area. You may have to look around for a dresser with deep enough drawers.

I find that things that nest in an obvious way can be stacked pretty high so long as the resulting stack is lightweight enough to deal with. I do this with pans and measuring cups, for example.

If the nest isn’t so obvious, and you often have to try more than once to find the spot where something goes, or if it’s so heavy that pulling the whole stack out and removing one of the items and putting the whole stack back is difficult, then it’s better to break it up into more stacks. My pans are light, unlike the expensive pans everyone else seems to love, so I can stack them all together.

Hmm, shirts. Well, I don’t have enough room to put only three shirts in a stack. Or at least I’d rather have too many shirts in a stack than not enough shirts. But I am thinking of folding them a new way that’s narrower and lets me fit three stacks into a drawer instead of two.

…just a little tip I picked up from the Obsessive Collectors Desk part of The Spiel podcast…

-Zach

In an area like a kitchen, accessibility is king and stacking makes me crazy. If I can’t reach the tool I need, it doesn’t matter if things are stacked 2 high or 10 high.