Stop Losing Container Lids: This Clever Hack Keeps Them Neat And Easy To Find

Sometimes, TikTok feels like a time machine. This is never more true than when it's telling us to go to Kmart and buy a file folder organizer, whereupon many of us learn that Kmart and file folder organizers still exist. In this case, the attention of Kmart shoppers is being drawn by Tiktoker @_peachystyles_ to a file folder stand — except that they have a better use for it. The big idea here is to use the folder organizer to sort your various container lids and keep them upright, visible, and all in one place.

This particular folder organizer is tiered in steps so that the first slot is the lowest and the last is the highest. Tiktoker @_peachystyles_ accentuates this height difference by storing the smallest lids in front, but you could make an argument for the opposite — storing the smaller items in the taller slots would work, but only if you turn the organizers sideways. It's worth playing around with to determine what works best for you.

There's also a bit of bad news and good news. The bad is that only one Kmart exists in the continental United States, a convenience store-sized location in Miami, rendering the Kmart website's store locator less than useful. The brand is still popular in Australia and New Zealand. The good news is that folder organizers, and desk organizers in general, are staples of thrift stores, and they're great for organizing all manner of non-folder goods. They're usually cheap, too! Files themselves may be an outdated home office trend, according to designers, but folder organizers remain useful everywhere else.

When you're organizing a space, your goal usually isn't maximum density. Shoving 170 Gladware lids you'll never use into a cabinet is a good way to keep them out of your way, but it's neither efficient nor organized. There are lots of ways to think about the principles of organization, but you can't go wrong with an approach that values categorizing, sub-dividing the categories as needed, keeping things accessible, keeping things visible, and (as a result of the visibility) keeping things nice looking. The @_peachystyles_ hack does all of those things.

But density is at least a little important, which is why most people probably don't store containers with their lids on. It would simply take up too much space. So, as with the Dollar Tree napkin holder trick for decluttering cabinet lid storage, the bet with the folder organizer system is that we'll preserve the connection between container and like-sized lids without actually having them attached. And having places for things — in this case, for specific lid sizes — should help to ensure that we hang onto them and can find them when they're needed, so they don't end up in that weird black hole where lids and socks go to live out their quantum metaphysical futures. It probably makes sense to store the matching containers nearby to keep that connection strong.

If you're looking for an even simpler hack for organizing messy container lids in cabinets, try bookends. You'll probably find them in the same aisle at the thrift store — and maybe Kmart as well.