As for those who are grossed out by the “human remains” boxes, bear in mind that Hollinger typically serves museums, archaeologists, and scientists…these ain’t boxes for Aunt Edna.

In this wonderful age of the internet, it is simple to find free printable labels in all sizes, colors and designs. I have so many different labels, sometimes it’s hard to choose just one!

We built a large shelf in our garage over the electric garage door (otherwise, wasted space). To label these large Rubbermaid totes, I find clip art on microsoft.com and print out a huge pic on an 81/2 X 11″ piece of paper and tape it to two sides of the tote. A cute turkey for Thanksgiving, a black cat for Halloween, a wreath or an elf or Santa for Christmas …. you get the idea.

My storage was looking really nice because my husband was able to bring home empty paper boxes from work. They were the plain white ones with handles. Now the office supply company changed the paper and the new boxes are Le Suck.

I swear by my Rubbermaid boxes. I store stuff in them in the attic, garage, closets, etc. Nothing gets wet or buggy. They are all labeled and they stack nicely.

I’ve used the Ikea Kassette boxes but they don’t quite cut it after a while.

Tiff: I agree, there is no other way.

I use Rubbermaid totes of varying sizes in the exterior compartments for tools, sports equipment, and out of season clothing.

In the wardrobe, I use clear plastic containers for underwear, socks and tights, scarves and other accessories.

In the overhead compartments in the study, I have some Ikea ‘kasette’ boxes to store office supplies, the few tools I like to keep on hand, candles, and assorted other small items. In these same compartments, I also have seagrass baskets to hold printing paper, DVD cases with sleeves to hold my hundreds of DVDs in only about a square foot of space, and cotton bags to hold clothing that can be wrinkled as well as linens.

In the overhead compartments in the lounge, I use makeup cases (the hard kind with lots of compartments) for art supplies on one side and open plastic baskets and appropriate plastic containers for pantry items.

In the cubby under the wardrobe I keep shoes in a plastic basket on one side and laundry supplies in a tote on the other.

I’d say that the only real ‘storage’ space I have in the rig right now is under one of the dinette benches where I packed away old journals and papers, but they’ll be getting moved to more accessible seagrass baskets in the study soon since I’ll be removing the dinette. The other bench hides seagrass baskets holding small kitchen appliances I use occasionally. Otherwise, everything else that’s hidden out of view is used for daily living.

Containerizing is definitely important. I started off by piling stuff into the overhead cabinets and couldn’t find anything, plus it all moved around whenever I drove anywhere! I sometimes have to take out four boxes to get the one I want, but it’s still easier than not using containers. I do want to get rid of the Ikea boxes and replace them with stackable clear totes like I have in the wardrobe, or at least something where the lid latches on tightly. I only used the Ikea boxes because I had them on hand at the time I moved in.

I do label a little bit, but it’s not all that necessary except in the case of the exterior compartments where I have several of the same totes packed in three or four deep. That said, I’m toying with the idea of using chalkboard paint on my cabinet doors and writing the contents on them for the novelty factor, with very basic category labels (‘food’, ‘entertainment’, ‘linens’, etc.). Not sure yet if I’d end up regretting that.

Your children are lucky. I choked up. My mom, otherwise pretty great, made me clear everything out and haul it with me when I left to go 1000 miles away to my first, stressful professional job. I moved a lot in my 20s and couldn’t store much well, and most was lost, stolen, damaged or jettisoned. Now, I’m no packrat and never was, but I have virtually nothing from my youth. My parents still live in the same house I grew up in, with a very sparsely stocked attic that could easily have held those few boxes.

Oh well. Sic transit gloria mundi. It’s only stuff.

Everything else lives inside my apartment, organized so that it’s easily accessible. I have a small wooden box for all my digital camera stuff, and I have some of those paper-covered DVD boxes with other electronics and software. These sit on a shelf in my spare walk-in closet (which is turned into a small craft area since I don’t have enough clothing to fill 1 walk-in closet let alone 2.) I also have a rolling metal cart with several cloth bins in the closet for storing scrapbook and craft materials right by my crafting space.

I keep my household tools in a small toolchest on the floor of my entry closet (along with my outerwear, my spare air mattress, and my vacuum cleaner).

I keep a medium wicker box in my bathroom cabinet with my supply of OTC cold goodies.

My printer is sitting on a large wooden file cabinet, where I store all my files in one drawer and printer supplies in another drawer.

All my shoes fit into an over-the-door cloth organizer that holds up to 12 pairs of shoes. I use the top row of pockets to tuck other things away since I never have more than 9 pairs of shoes total (except outdoor footwear, which doesn’t fit in this thing — they are lined up on my closet floor). There’s a row of built-in shelfs in my bedroom walk-in closet where I keep all my bath and bed linens on open shelving.

Otherwise everything lives either in a drawer or a kitchen cabinet, or on a bookshelf. I have one chest of drawers in my bedroom. My night table also has drawers but I have nothing to put in them so they are empty.

The 13 file boxes of paper in the boiler room gets a no, no, no. That is my current project. I’ve freedom filer labeled my filing cabinet drawers and set up a computer folder system that exactly matches the files in the drawers. My process involves taking a 6″ stack of paper to the computer desk. I read then pick: trash, scan then trash, or scan then file. When finished with that stack, I get a new stack. It will take me weeks, but when the paper is gone, wahoo! I’ll then have space to put up shelves for the empty mason jars.

RE: Human remains.
I used to work for the USPS. I was surprised the first time I had to process some cremated remains. Death certificate on the outside of the box and everything. One of the more odd moments. Not quite as hair raising as the time we got the package leaking blood addressed to a prison inmate. Turned out to be moose meat. How the sender thought mailing it parcel post from rural Alaska would be fine escapes me.

Erin, I completely agree that “very little of what you own should be stored out of sight in your home.” How many people have storage sheds or storage units that they haven’t even seen the inside of in years? Is the stuff in storage really improving their lives?