About two weeks ago I spent the entire weekend moving into a new apartment (and haven’t stopped talking about it since). After hours of stressful furniture building and closet cleaning, packing and unpacking, I arrived at the mecca of organization, The Container Store. As I walked in, I breathed a sigh of relief knowing that in just a short while my new digs would be worthy of their own page in Martha Stewart Living. With aisle after aisle of highly-specific products each screaming “you can’t live without me!” it’s easy to imagine your life being fundamentally improved by owning absolutely everything The Container Store has to offer. A mere two hours later, I was home with an embarrassing number of “space-savers”, but finding things to fill my color-coded folders and swanky-looking boxes was more difficult than I expected. I had been caught up in a buying frenzy, and failed to consider how my arsenal of mobile devices had changed the very nature of my belongings.

With my laptop, iPhone, iPad, and Kindle neatly stacked on the couch, I realized that these four little devices have efficiently replaced the need for a bookcase, picture box, filing cabinet, junk drawer, DVD/CD rack, and a desk all together. Talk about space-savers! As our lives shift toward mobile, all-in-one technology, our living spaces are becoming more minimalist, making the myriad of boxes, baskets, and binders the real sources of clutter. But, luckily for all my fellow Container Store enthusiasts, digital technology has made little progress in simplifying the black holes of closets and kitchens. We can still buy belt hangers, shower caddies, and pantry shelves to our hearts’ content. Plus, who can say no to the “Charger Caddy?”

photo credit: Antianki and cbgrfx123

 

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