Basement Storage Strategy

We have owned a large selection of Rubbermaid storage tubs in a variety of sizes for many years. After checking out how they stack up in our basement storage compartment, we settled on  a matched size set of 6 tubs to use.

Last fall we sorted what would be stored in the barn rafters and what would be travelling with us. As we packed I casually labeled what was in each tub, but wasn't very thorough. I did use the largest capital letters so DH won't need his readers.

Finally in March we started our journey and I quickly became frustrated digging through the tubs because I hadn't labeled 100% of the items in them.

So, while at one of our now many stops I pulled out all the boxes and I re-labeled them 100%. I also repacked as some boxes were way too heavy. For instance we had all coats in on box making it very light and all canned goods in another. I split the cans into three bins and split the coats on top of the cans in two of them. Evenly distributing the weight makes a huge difference for me. I have to be very careful with my back after three back surgeries.

Heavy items in one row on the bottom:

Light Items on top:

I also added a visual key to note when something is no longer in the box. I pulled out some washi tape. Washi tape is for crafting but it is a paper based tape that is re-usable. It is also transparent so you can read the item that is missing from the tub. I have extra strips of the tape on the boxes to use to mark something as used up making it easy to restock.

When we are busy it is easy to skip the labelling part of the process so now another couple of months down the road I've had to pull everything out, re-pack and update the labels. I know it is a bit overkill but I like to stay organized.

Speaking of labels I have a funny story to tell. I lived in my mom's pasture for nine months and thus spent a ton of time with her. The last time I spent this much time at her home I was 19, ack, that was 30 years ago now! I was totally surprised to find out that she and her husband do not own a labeler. What? I label everything! So does my DH. Since we had three labelers, I gifted her my small one. It was so cute to watch her labeling her craft storage.

I find labelling my space very soothing. It encourages me to put things back in the same place to ensure I can find what I need when I need it. Over the years I have had a variety of hobbies that require storage of hundreds of teeny-tiny things that need to be catalogued and organized at all times. I have become dependent on my labeler as part of my organization of everything.