The One $7 IKEA Storage Item I’ve Kept After Multiple Moves

I’ve had my fair share of IKEA items over the years. There was a KARLSTAD sofa in my first apartment (which I sold to a friend), a BESTA wall cabinet that got left behind when I moved from Boston, and countless little items I’ve bought then used up or purged along the way. Few things, however, have stuck around over time and made it through multiple moves over the years. But there’s one thing that I bought perhaps 15 years ago (maybe?) that I still use absolutely every single day. In fact, you can find one in pretty much every room in my house and, at this rate, you’ll have to pry them out of my cold dead hands.

Here’s the bad news. IKEA’s old KOMPLEMENT storage bins (the ones I own and am talking about) are no longer available, from what I can see on their website. But here’s the good news: there’s something that looks almost identical. The SKUBB boxes (pictured above) are also made of the same sturdy yet flexible fabric, and when not in use, you can unzip the bottoms so they’ll fold flat. They are just so simple, so smart, and so handy in myriad ways. They come in a set of six different sizes, and sell for $6.99. There are also other colors, like black and teal, if that’s your thing. If you don’t have an IKEA nearby, you can buy a set of 12 off Amazon for a premium.

Please forgive the crappy photos, but I wanted to show you that I really truly use these guys, and they aren’t just styled for a photoshoot. Try not to get too excited about this glimpse into my very glamorous, very intriguing private life.

I have a drawer that’s half junk, half important financial stuff in my kitchen —where I stick random office supplies, friends’ house keys, and temporarily store financial docs. (It made an appearance here on Apartment Therapy once before, when I was doing the January Cure a number of years ago.) I keep a couple of these storage bins in there. One is for random tidbits, like rubber bands and lip balm, and another houses canceled checks, my passport, and things like gift certificates and store credits — stuff I don’t want to lose but don’t have a better place for.

Like many other people on this planet, I hoard extra hotel shampoo and conditioner bottles, which I then put out for my guests to use in the bathroom. (Hey, it feels a little spa-like and special.) After they leave my suitcase, and until they are ready for prime time, all those little containers live in this extra bin in my bathroom cabinet.

I have a number of small socks and peds that, left to their own devices, would migrate to every corner of the drawer, never to be found again. I like being able to throw them all in this little bin and only do minimal rummaging in order to find a matching pair. More organized people probably also use these for their folded underwear, but that’s not me.

I own a lot of materials and supplies (occupational hazard) and I do have a space dedicated to all my crafty loot. Each type of supply has its own bin. Here you can see I keep my dyes and some glues in one bin, and some sewing supplies in another.

I think the IKEA ones are a pretty good deal, but there are other options out there, including these guys: