Best Containers for Organizing

Spring Courtright
Jan 30, 2024
3 min read

Updated: Jan 27

What does a professional organizer recommend for containers?

There are so many container choices - how do we know which ones are best? I share here what I recommend....

But first, I highly recommend only buying containers AFTER clearing out what you don't want-need-love-use - then you don't waste time, energy, money and space.

BEFORE BUYING CONTAINERS: resist the urge to go buy a bunch of them until you know exactly what you're containing.

I've organized and coached hundreds of people in my career, and completely organized my own home, and I have very few "rules," but one of them is:

Declutter first, THEN organize.

This means before buying containers:

Find treasures and clear out what we don't need-want-use-love
Categorize what we choose to keep
See how many categories we want containers for
Make sure we don't have containers around the house we want to use
Measure the spaces we want containers for

THEN get containers that fit our needs.

From there, let yourself play!

Try different containers to see what works best for what you ACTUALLY do, not just what you WANT to do. (see my post, Organizing: Ideal vs. Real)

Contain categories together, and only what we want to keep.

My favorite type of containers:

See-through, with lids that snap on. No handles or pieces, just the lid and container.

(My specific suggestions are below)

I've seen a LOT of broken and missing handle pieces, and MANY orphan lids and containers.

I also see a lot of container clutter in my work - mismatched containers of all kinds and sizes cluttering up spaces...

For plastic tote-style containers I buy ones that:

Have snap-on lids (with no extra pieces, like the ones above)
Match so lids are interchangeable and containers are stackable
Are see-through OR colored for holidays (red for Christmas, orange for Halloween)
When they're on super sale! I don't spend a gajillion dollars on containers.

Some categories and items do best with perfectly curated containers like baskets, boxes, bamboo, etc - but many things do great in clear, inexpensive ones.

If I don't use the lid I keep the lid underneath - open tops make it easier to put things in/take things out.

In the beginning, I perused the container shelves at Goodwill periodically looking for stacks of the small containers with snap-on lids. (Yes, it was a challenge to stay focused and not bring home more clutter!)

Avoid buying "almost right" containers - they usually turn into more clutter.

I give you permission to donate any containers/baskets you buy that don't actually work for you!

My exact favorite containers

Sterilite is my favorite brand, but any with only a snap-on solid lid and tote without breakable parts makes me happy!

Here are my favorites on Amazon:

When to buy?

Container sales often happen in January, which is a great time to clear out what's no longer serving us, then get the containers to organize what we keep.

But we don't have to wait!

Decluttering can happen in bite-sized bits of time, and it doesn't have to be hard - see my post Top 10 Tips for Decluttering Success to learn the steps I take with clients and myself to clear clutter and get organized (so we can live the life we want to live!)

Please reach out if you have questions or want to bounce ideas around - I love this stuff!