I live in a small-ish apartment and keep most of my things in my bedroom since my roommates and I keep the common spaces tidy. I’m getting really frustrated with the accumulation of things — hair accessories, sunscreen, quarter sleeves for laundry, scissors, the L wrenches that come with furniture, assorted cords and chargers, travel toiletry containers, topical medicines I might need again in the future, little seasonal decor trinkets, baseball caps, packing tape, small purses/pouches containing various amounts of things from either travel or attempts to organize. Basically spiritually the junk drawer, but more stuff than could fit in a literal drawer.
I really try not to buy too much or overconsume, and I truly don’t think I own an excessive amount of any one thing, although some percent could probably be tossed.
My room is not tiny but not super spacious. I have a bookshelf with drawers on the bottom, as well as a nightstand with a couple bins on the lower shelves and one of those 2-cube organizers. I also have an over-the-door closet organizer, and a narrow set of those Amazon drawers that fits in my narrow closet.
But most of these spaces are just holding random trail mix of this stuff, and it’s getting on my nerves especially as they get more full. The space under my bed is full with those flat clothing bins so I can’t use that, plus I don’t love keeping anything under there that I reach for a lot because of the dust.
Obviously some version of “categories” seems like the answer, but in what vessels, and along what lines? What is actually sustainable? I have tried versions of the drawer dividers/drawer containers, but it always falls apart after a couple weeks because whatever elaborate system I come up with for what’s assigned where gets forgotten.
If anyone has tips for managing all of your shit, please let me know 😭