purple_stars wrote:
another thought that comes to mind because i've been focused on it a
lot lately is simply buying containers for things....

I think there were two really important points listed in this thread:
containers and inventories.

The first point, which I've come to call my "Container Theory of Life
Possessions" is simple: don't own something unless you can first
purchase the appropriate container for it.

In my life I've noticed that I tended to buy things, say a really cool
bicycle, but would just stick it in my garage. Eventually something
would fall on it, or it would get dirty or damaged from something else
it came in contact with. The item would invariably become damaged,
unusable or lost long before its expected lifetime - and I had to
replace items more often, thereby spending more money than was really
necessary.

What I realized was that buying the item (in this case the bike) was not
enough. What I needed was an appropriate container for it. For this
item it happened to be a protective case that the bike could be placed
inside, which would keep it out of harms way and reduce rusting and
corrosion from the elements.

I think you can extend this philosophy to almost anything. Don't have a
car unless you have a garage and/or a car cover. Make sure everything
you own has a protective case, that the case is kept in a consistent
location and when not in use, the item is returned to it.

The second point is that everything you own should be inventoried,
photographed and recorded in an easy to use database. Create a map of
you space, assign labels to each area and then record the storage
location of every item you own. When you need to find something, being
able to go to the database and look up its location can save hours.
Also, if there is more than one person involved, any changes of location
and/or status of item can be noted, and immediately discovered by the
next person.

By doing this I found that I spent less money replacing items that I
couldn't find (only to discover them later) and items that had a self
life tended to be used up before expiring.

These two approaches have greatly improved my life aboard boats. Hope
this helps.

Cheers,

Robb