Scouted: The Power of The Humble Box Is Making Tidying Up an Art Form
Marie Kondo is taking to Netflix to teach people how to be accountable for their stuff and everyone has starting to ask if their belongings truly spark joy. It's a valiant effort to teaching us to be tidy, one full of tips for folding jeans, storing Christmas decorations, and appreciating what we have. But there's one through-line that shows up in every episode that really deserves our attention: boxes.
Marie has had homeowners put boxes in their drawers, in their garage space, in their bathroom. It may seem counterintuitive to add more things to an already cluttered space, but when things have their own places, we tend to actually put them back. Boxes can bring order to chaos (which we could all use right now), and as someone who struggles with letting things go, I can tell you that they have changed how I think about what I own.
My first foray into boxes that stored and organized was these stackable ones from the Container Store. I used to work in the beauty industry and had amassed quite the collection of products. Even with a vast ocean of options, I usually stick to only a handful of products on a daily basis. There was no reason for me to beautifully arrange all my eyeshadows or lipsticks in a crystal clear drawer-filled monument to makeup. These minimal boxes allowed me to easily access the products I used regularly and keep what I only used occasionally hidden, but easily-accessed by sliding.