Like a Kid in a Candy Store

Earlier this year, I was one of several volunteers from my local chapter of NAPO (National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals) who greeted customers at The Container Store and offered free organizing guidance. This was happening at The Container Store all over the country on that same day.

Spending hours at The Container Store is dangerous for me. I wanted to buy almost everything! I’m sure many of my colleagues felt the same way.

The Container Store is jam-packed with fun and interesting gadgets. It’s hard not to see something new and say, “I could really use that.” But could I really? I’ve been alive long enough to know that I have already figured out how to do most of the things that I do on a regular basis, using the tools I already have.

There have certainly been times when I went in search of something that would make my life easier, sometimes not even knowing what that something would be until I found it. But I always had specific requirements in mind that eventually led me to the right product. A good example is the napkin holder that I wrote about in When You Don’t Know What Product You Need. I bought it not to hold napkins but to keep a food scale upright in my cabinet.

If you sign up for my mailing list, you’ll receive my article “The Ten Biggest Organizing Mistakes…and How to Avoid Them”. One of those mistakes is “Buying organizing products first”. Some people think that an organizing project starts when you bring home a lot of empty containers. But you shouldn’t buy containers until you know what you want to contain and where it is going to go.

Walking around The Container Store that day, I had to keep reminding myself that the bins and boxes were very cool but it made no sense for me to buy them unless I had a plan for them already. However, I did have one problem in mind that I wanted to solve: how to store my dark chocolate candy bars in my deep snack drawer so that they didn’t get lost at the bottom. I was using a clear plastic bin that was purchased for another purpose but ultimately decommissioned. I thought I could make it work in that drawer, but it was longer than necessary and it made everything else in the drawer too crowded.

With that in mind, I spotted the perfect size bin for my candy bars. I was so happy that I managed to think of something that I could really use. I would have hated to come home empty-handed.

I am pleased that I resisted the siren call of all of those products. Next time I set foot in The Container Store, it will be with a well-defined list of items needed by me or one of my clients.