Need to store all that clutter? Check online

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Jan 11, 2004 | by Michelle Slatalla, New York Times

The approach of a new year brought dread on two fronts.

I have too much stuff. And I was supposed to send the finished manuscript of my book to my editor about six months ago.

I'm the one with the "coat closet" full of old cameras, dusty purses, mismatched gloves, 30-pound bags of dog food, threadbare beach towels, decommissioned umbrellas, mystery flip-flops and some framed Japanese prints that just didn't look right on the dining room walls.

I'm the one whose husband subsequently caught her taping up a notice that said: "Danger. Do Not Open."

"At least you're writing something," he said. "But that sign will do nothing to limit your homeowner's liability if an unsuspecting houseguest gets crushed by sand toys."

The situation clearly called for a New Year's resolution. Not to get rid of any of my stuff, of course, or seriously re-examine the motives for my frenetic consumerism -- my country needs me to shop.

No, my brainstorm was this: storage.

I figured I could best combat the closet problem and all the other filthy piles lurking under beds, inside drawers and in the attic by going online to purchase the right storage containers to tame the clutter. After all, what could make me feel better about myself as I stood on the precipice of 2004 than organizing my life?

A little voice in my head said, "Well, possibly finishing your overdue book and sending it to your publisher."

Clearly Voice was in cahoots with my husband. But common sense suggested that if the rain boots were lined up logically with the aid of a galvanized steel boot tray ($29 at www.marthastewart.com, then the recalcitrant unwritten Chapter 10 soon would follow suit.

The possibilities were exciting. On the Internet, I could browse at sites like organize-everything.com (for Overdoor Specialty Racks like a $20 valet to tame clothes and shoes), easyclosets.com (to design a custom closet system) and stacksandstacks.com (for the Hamper With Wheels Chrome Laundry Sorter, which at $70 is one of the site's top-selling items).

Buying stuff in which to store other stuff has graduated from the status of fad to national obsession in recent years.

While an earlier generation of Americans those who lived through the Depression, say, and who remember how to make soap bars from fatty scraps might dismiss today's high-storage lifestyle as the frivolous byproduct of having too much, the rest of have accepted the fact that we own plenty of things that we barely use.

Hence, the many subcategories of storage. From vinyl china protectors ($20 at www.bedbathandbeyond.com to coin sorters that organize unused pennies ($30 for the Ultra Sorter at sharperimage.com) to underbed containers that ingeniously hide off- season sweaters (a Jumbo Roll About Organizer was $25 at www.lnt.com, I could get lost quickly.

I surfaced from a vision of a fantasy garage in which the hockey sticks, tennis rackets and soccer balls were all ingeniously contained in an Elfa Garage Sports Equipment Solution ($249 at containerstore.com), only to realize that I don't even have a garage. Or hockey sticks.

I needed guidance. So I phoned Mel Ronck, the president of Stacks and Stacks, which sells more than 7,000 storage-related items. Ronck's advice was to learn a new language.

The vocabulary of storage, he pointed out, was very specific. Whereas a novice like myself might look hopelessly at a messy pile of unpaid bills, keys and stamps on the kitchen counter, a professional like Ronck might sum up the situation like this: "You need wall pockets."

Coaching me with vocabulary terms like "undercabinet organizers," "shallow wall cabinets" and "collector's display cases," Ronck talked me through keyword searches at the company's site that opened a new world to me.

Next, he said, I needed to focus on a single, manageable storage subcategory.

"You mean, clean up one rat's nest at a time?" I asked.

"That's one way to put it," he said.

This time of year, my post-holiday storage needs loomed largest.

A quick search for "holiday storage" at the Stacks and Stacks Web site turned up the Holiday Light Storage Box ("Reel in your lights and garland") for $17.

Solutions like that led me to consider the Wing-Lid Ornament Storage Box at The Container Store ($12), and from there it was a short leap to the site's Customized Gift Wrap Center ($21.45, stores ribbons, tags, tape, scissors and pens!).

Then I would have no room for a disassembled crib, a pair of gilded lamps and 16 boxes of my daughters' old schoolwork with labels like Nursery School 1993-4: Macaroni/Glitter Art.>

.

So I tiptoed to the coat closet. I eased open the door.Ronck's words echoed in my mind: focus.

This thankfully drowned out Voice, who was hissing, Go write.

I gingerly slid a measuring tape into the vast darkness, confirming that a certain flat-top metal waste can at Marthastewart.com (marked down from $59 to $39) would be simultaneously small enough to fit in the existing space and large to hold a big bag of dog food.

I ordered it, and for about five minutes felt really good about how I was on the verge of turning my life around in 2004.

Then I started to wonder if Ronck might have any helpful suggestions for Chapter 10.