This viral $10 Amazon buy will change how you organize your home's storage forever

We all want a more organized home, but the reality is much easier said than done. There are plenty of stylish storage options out there to keep all of your belongings tucked away for a clutter-free space, but knowing which containers or boxes store which things can be tricky to keep track of. It almost reaches a point where a cluttered home would make life simpler... If this dilemma sounds familiar, we might have a solution, and it comes in form of a QR code sticker.

If you're confused, bear with us. QR codes - short for 'Quick Response' codes - are basically barcodes which store information as a series of pixels in a square-shaped grid and can be read by your phone. You've probably seen them round on posters or flyers, or you might best know them for their recent resurgence during the pandemic. Now we're starting to see them used on personal storage to help organize your home.

Well, there's a clever piece of kit that allows you to do just that by creating your own QR code labels for just $10. Now professional organizers are using them to label boxes and storage containers so they can easily identify what lies inside without having to take them off their shelves or rummage through. Making sense? We take a closer look at how they work, as well as some tips on where to buy them.

Storage containers of any form - be it decanters for your cereal, baskets for your clothes, or boxes for your Christmas decorations - are the most useful things when it comes to being more organized. There is one pitfall though, especially if they're not transparent, and that's that it can be tricky to know what actually lies inside.

Now imagine a world where you don't have to rummage through the various boxes in your garage to find that thing you're looking for. Instead, you can simply point your phone to scan a code that would then tell you its exact contents (that is, ensuring you haven't removed it and forgotten to return it...). Well these QR code stickers make that possible, so you can have stylish storage that's also super convenient.

All you need is a QR printing kit, which cost less that $10 from Amazon in most cases. Once you've scanned the barcode, it takes you to a visual inventory of what's inside your storage to help you save time by easily finding what you need.

Organizers are singing the praises of these sticker codes across social media as a simple solution to tidying up your home. One brand, Elephant Trax, allows you to download their free app where you can conveniently store, track and locate your belongings by uploading photos and keywords of what's inside your storage, which you can then search for within the app. 

'You could even take a picture of its location so you’re not looking at every box in storage,' explains professional organizer Samantha Dickens, owner of Get Organized by Sam . 'You can change the QR codes in the app as well so just because you set it up once, it doesn’t mean you can’t use that sticker for anything ever again.'

There are other brands available too, including QR Code Tiger who allow you to upload an image or logo into their code generator and customize your QR code design - especially useful if you want your codes to suit a craft theme!

(Image credit: Alamy)

So, how do you use the labels? 'To label your boxes, you scan the code and create a name for the box or bin that that sticker is going on,' says Sam. 'You can tag keywords in the description on the app - so for example, you can tag #grandmasblanket #bluebox - and then later, when you want to find it, you can search that in the app and it will tell you where it is.'

Professional organizer Andrea Dechtman praises them for helping her artist client stay organized. 'She continued to buy duplicates of items because she didn’t know what she owned,' she explains. 'We used QR codes to catalogue her jewellery supplies first by color, then size, and by fabrication/material.'

Sam recommends using them for large bins that spend a lot of time in storage, such as holiday decor, but you can use them for anything, from food items to files or even for your boxes when moving house. 'You can use them for switching out winter/summer clothes, in your bathroom bins to find specific products, or even in a small business to do inventory,' Sam notes. 'The stickers are really big so to use them in daily life I would suggest cutting out the QR code and putting that on the bins you’re using.' If there was ever an organizing gadget we needed, it's this one. It's top of our Christmas wishlist! 

@julianna_claire

♬ original sound - Julianna Christensen