Taming the Tupperware Tiger

by Sarah Buckwalter

in General

28 Feb 2019

Taming the Tupperware Tiger

No matter how you stack them, Tupperware, plastic or even glass storage containers may be great for storing things, but they are not so easy to store! The good news is; there are some simple and creative solutions out there to help you with taming the Tupperware tiger.

I recently wrote a blog post for our friends at Maid Brigade. Here are tips to help you with taming the Tupperware tiger.

First things first: cull your collection down to essential and matching pieces. If you need to, go around the house and collect your containers and get them all into one place. Match all of the tops with bottoms and see what you have left over. Recycle all of the lonely pieces. Then, look at what you have and determine if you really need and use all of them. If not, donate the extras to a local school or daycare center. They always need containers! If you are feeling really adventurous, get rid of all of your old pieces and get yourself a nice new set of all matching containers. There is nothing worse than having to put a lid of three different containers before you find the one that fits! Having a set of matching containers will save you time because they are mix and match and all of the tops will fit all of the bottoms.

Now that you have culled your containers, it’s time to organize them. The first step in organizing is to designate a place for your containers. Choose just one spot – a drawer, cabinet, or shelf – for all of your plastic storage containers. Keeping them in one place will make them easy to find, and easy to put away. Also, limiting them to a small space may keep you from keeping too many. Remember: the less you have, the easier it is to keep them organized.

Stack containers by size and sort the lids by size. Containers do pretty well simply stacked. I have found that it is the lids that get out of control. To organize your lids, try “filing” them. By filing, I mean stacking them vertically by size. You can do this in a drawer, in a cabinet, or on a shelf. Try one of the many vertical lid organizers out there, or you can try one of these creative solutions:

Attach a magazine rack to the back of a cabinet door
Add a pegboard on the bottom of a drawer to keep containers separate
Separate lids and containers with drawer dividers in a drawer
Use tension rods in a drawer to keep lids in place
Stack lids vertically in a plate rack
Use small bins to sort lids by size
File lids in a small dish drying rack
Use an under the shelf storage basket for lids

I am always a fan of clear storage bins, so you can easily see what you have. For a while I was using one my larger storage containers to hold my lids, but the system fell apart when I needed to use the larger container. So, go with something that is not a part of your storage container collection.

Bonus: If you have kids and those containers go off to school or sports, make sure you write your last name or initials on both the tops and bottoms with sharpie markers.

With your Tupperware tiger tame, you will no longer waste time hunting for just the right lid, now you will have them neat, organized and at your fingertips. Ready to store!