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If you are going to be purchasing plastic storage bins for your home or business, it pays to do a bit of thinking first. If you just run to the store and purchase what you think you need, you will probably buy more plastic bins for storage than you actually need—in which case, they will simply add to your clutter. Here are some questions you should ask yourself before you make your purchases at the store.

1. How Much Storage Do I Need?
Before you purchase plastic containers for storage, you should organize as much as you can with what you have. And that means you need to complete your decluttering first. Only after you have donated what you do not need and sorted as much as you can of the rest will you know just how many plastic storage totes you are likely to need—and where you can put them.

2. What Size and Shape Do I Need?
As a general pointer, avoid oval or round storage containers. They may have a cute design, but they are hard to stack, and the rounded edges do not make the most efficient use of space. Always stick with containers with square corners if you need a lot of them. Look at the space you have and take measurements with a tape measure. Actually write down the dimensions that will fit.

Do not forget to consider the dimensions of the items you want to store too! You need to pick a bin size that will fit your objects and your space. There may be situations where a few smaller bins might work to spill a certain space, and others where a couple of large bins would make more sense.

3. What About Weight?
Here is something that many people forget when they are shopping for plastic bins! You may have thought about length, width and depth, but what about weight? If you are storing very heavy objects, you can quickly overburden a plastic storage container.

In situations where you have a lot of heavy objects, consider trading in one large plastic tote for a number of small ones. That way you will not put too much stress on any bins, and you will be able to carry them by hand if necessary. This is particularly important to keep in mind if you are going to be using your bins as moving boxes. Yes, it means you will be going back and forth more, but you will find that this is still a lot easier, and your boxes won’t deform over time from the strain.

Now you know a few of the most important questions you can ask yourself before you ever head to the store to shop for plastic storage bins. These are not the only key questions however. Read on to What to Know Before Shopping for Plastic Bins, Part 2 to learn even more important considerations that you need to review before you make your purchase!