My dad told me stacking totes by weight would save space and he was dead wrong

Last spring my dad helped me organize my garage and insisted I sort all my storage totes by weight. He said the lighter ones on top would keep the stack stable. Three weeks later the whole thing tipped over and cracked a tote full of Christmas ornaments. Turns out you need to sort by how often you use stuff not by weight. Has anyone else gotten space advice from a relative that backfired?

3 comments

3 Comments

taylor_wells7d ago

The whole sorting by weight thing probably came from moving companies who stack boxes that way for trucking. But garages aren't moving trucks. I actually learned this the hard way with my own dad's advice about stacking totes. He said to put the heaviest ones on the bottom for balance but what actually worked was putting the heavy ones on top of a sturdy shelf. The real issue is that shelves or stackable systems designed for totes work way better than trying to stack them on the floor. Once you get three totes high on concrete they start to wobble no matter how you sort them. If you can get a metal shelf unit they hold way more weight and you can see everything without moving totes around.

lisab327d ago

Yeah have you tried putting the heavy totes on top of a metal rack like @nancyramirez mentioned? Ngl, I did the floor stack thing too and gave up after the third time I lost a tote to concrete wobble.

nancyramirez7d ago

Yeah are those heavy duty plastic shelves any good for this or do they sag over time too? Ive been using metal racks from the hardware store and theyve held up way better than trying to stack anything on the floor.