Ellen Madere’s organizing article got me thinking about MY favorite kind of storage: baskets. I’ve got ’em everywhere: by the couch for magazines, by the bed for magazines, in the potty for magazines. (Yes, I have hoarding tendencies when it comes to magazines. They’re almost extinct, after all). Back to baskets: they’re so much lovelier than unsightly plastic storage. My best organizing tip? No more plastic storage boxes. If you simply must store your junk in these boxes, empty one out you’ve already got, give the contents away, and refill if you must.

Some favorite baskets:

1. Brooks Farm General Store wire basket, $35.  2. Terrain Aurorog Basket $118.95.  3. Shaker Workshops large laundry basket, $97.  4. Kauffman Mercantile Adirondack Pack Basket (my dad used to pop my little sister in one of these for hikes in the White Mountains!) $104. 5. West Elm Oversized Storage Basket $71.  6. Crate & Barrel handwoven bike basket  $69.95  7. L.L. Bean Peterboro Ash Basket  $25 – 64.