Organizing Tupperware Containers

Does your collection of food storage look a little rough? Can you just never find what you need? And you have no matching lids, but plenty of lids in the cabinet? I found a solution! Or, at least one that helps me out. And you don't have to spend a dime to buy a new system or matching containers.

Start by pulling out ALL of your containers.

 Next, match what you can. I just created different piles of lids and containers. Don't try to match the lid to the container yet, just get all like pieces together.

Once you have everything sorted, match lids to containers. It will be much easier now that you can see everything at once and you won't try the same container 5 times. 

Once you have everything matched up, set aside anything odd pieces and leftovers. Now, taking one pile at a time, label matching containers and lids. I used the alphabet, but you could number them too. All my bowls of this size got marked with an "A" on the bottom, and the matching lids got "A" on the top. I just used a permanent marker, and it hasn't come off in the dishwasher yet!

 Every container and matching lid got a letter.

 

Once everything was labeled, they all stacked neatly and nested within each other.

Which made my cabinet look a lot better.

 

 Once they were all nested, they became much easier to store. I put my small containers for leftovers in the kitchen drawers, my medium containers for individual meals in one of the cabinets, and my large containers for freezer meals I moved out of the kitchen entirely- they are stacked on a shelf next to the deep freezer in the garage. This has saved me a ton of kitchen space, but also a ton of time. With the containers and matching lids all labeled, there's no longer a fight to find what I need. You could even store all your lids in a bin standing up, and just thumb through the corners to find the letter you need. There are several possibilities, so just find a system that works for you.

Toy Storage

If your kids are anything like mine, toy storage is a never ending problem. You want to keep things organized, the kids don't really care. You want them to put away their own toys, they just want to play and have fun.

I needed a toy storage system that would work for all three of my children. It had to hold dolls and cars and an abundance of Legos. My very anal son and I like for everything to be labeled. My oldest son just needs direct orders as where to put things. And my daughter....well, she's determined to ruin any system I try.

I decided on a combination of baskets and buckets to utilize space  but also sort the toys. As usual, the hardest part was picking out exactly what I wanted at a price I could afford.

I decided big buckets were best for large and odd shaped toys. All blocks, large cars, and stuffed animals went into these large black tubs. I would have used their specific colors, but I could only find black.

Next I needed medium-sized storage bins for toy categories. Dress up, baby dolls and accessories, and play kitchen items went in these white stackable containers. They are sturdy enough when stacked that they are not likely to get tipped over or fall apart, and the kids can easily pull stuff out and shove stuff back in without knocking them down.

With three different ages, the toy selection can vary greatly. I need smaller containers to hold the numerous sets of smaller items. Matchbox cars, army men, Little People, bey blades, and action figures fit perfectly in these stackable bins. Because the front piece and small and the back is hard to see, these bins were labeled on the bottom inside each one.

And finally, the Lego collection. We have our collection split up in several ways. We have boxes downstairs housing completed display sets, generally the 500-1,000 piece sets of buildings, vehicles, or other special projects. We have a display case to sort all the Lego people, and all the Duplo blocks go in the big tub with the other blocks. I needed a place to store the everyday building Legos, mainly bricks and basic building elements. I wanted it to be short and wide, so the kids could easily see inside without dumping the whole tub. This large snapping tote was just the right fit!

All of them fit in the closet nicely, with ample room to move around and clean up. Please ignore the wall art, my little graffiti demon has left hardly a space untouched by her creativity.

This project was a bit more expensive than most of my others, but each bin can also be rearranged or repurposed later as our needs change.

Large Black Tubs: $4 each.....$12
Medium Stacking Bins: $5.....$15
Small Stacking Bins: 3/$5......$10
Labels I Already Had: $0........$0
Total Cost................................$37

Now the kids have no excuse for a dirty room- they know where everything goes and everything has a specific place!