Why You Should Think Twice Before Using Bags To Declutter Your Home

When you're swimming in stuff and want to declutter your home, you might want to rethink using bags for your "keep" items in the process. It can be handy to just reach for a roll of plastic garbage bags or a tote bag to store your belongings, but it comes with some drawbacks. If you're looking for the best container for items to keep, putting them in bags can actually lead to an appearance of more clutter as bags can sag and have a bulky appearance while also taking up more space. You should look for boxes and bins with lids instead. It can be easier to label the former than the latter, so it might be harder to determine the bags' contents. 

Collecting your "keeps" in a bag can add to your clutter, because instead of a pile of random items, you now have a pile of bags that each hold an assortment of things. The resulting pile can affect you psychologically, as it still creates a feeling of clutter, which may make you anxious and stressed and could hurt your morale. Having order is important, especially as a 2011 study in the Journal of Neuroscience demonstrates visual clutter can affect our ability to think clearly and reduce focus. As you plan your next declutter project, consider these reasons when choosing a "keep" container.

While you may want to avoid creating too many doom boxes, using boxes and bins to declutter your items can be much more effective than using bags. While not suggested for holding items indefinitely, a storage box or bin is handy because it's easier to stack them. Stacking boxes and bins can help create the appearance of order, especially if you have all of your items tucked neatly within. Bags can be hard to stack, and they often fall. And since boxes and bins are so easy to label, as previously noted, it's easier to determine their contents.

Bags, depending on the brand and material, can also be less durable than a box or bin. You might continually stuff items into a bag only to have it break, but it can be easy to stack items into containers like boxes because they don't change shape unless heavily packed. Bins with lids can also offer more reusability so you can repurpose them to hold other items when needed. Likewise, it's easier to go through these containers, pulling out items one by one, while bags usually require you to just dump the contents out. You may even be tempted to throw the bags into your closet or other storage space, allowing you to relocate your clutter before putting it "out of sight, out of mind."

Once you decide to forgo bags for boxes or bins in your declutter session, you should follow good practices to make the process easier. Label the boxes and bins with items you plan to keep accordingly. Evaluate each item and consider the six-month decluttering rule, which means determining whether or not you will use them in six months. If the answer is "no," then let it go. Find the right home for all of the kept items within those six months, and don't just store them for the sake of "someday use."

As you declutter, use the space you already have and let that be your limit for storage — in other words, make sure you're following the container concept. By using this strategy, you avoid falling into the pattern of having to buy storage to house the items you have. If you buy new boxes or bins to store your stuff, you're just expanding the space you can fill. Instead, limit the items you're keeping to your existing storage options. Plus, as you reduce your items to fit the allotted space, you're being more selective with what you keep.