As we begin to prepare for the coming of spring, the thought of spring cleaning and organizing comes to mind.
Since organizing goes hand in hand with cleaning, that leads one to think about storage.
Storage comes into play with organizing as the natural progression.
The definition of storage is, "the action or method of storing something for future use.
" Everything that is stored is in a container of sorts.
Your house is a container for example.
Every room is a container, and within each room, a closet is a container, as well as a dresser, and so on.
There are also portable storage containers such as totes, wallets, purses, pockets, etc.
Electronic storage comes in many varieties as well.
Your phone, either landline or cell has storage, televisions, clock radios, pc's, laptops, external hard drives, digital photo frames, the list is endless.
In order to help you with your spring cleaning and organizing, I've compiled a list of do's and don'ts that will make your storage containers and methods more effective.
Do...

• When storing items in cabinets and drawers, place the frequently used items in the front, and infrequently used items towards the back.
  
• Store backed up data from your local hard drive to either an external hard drive, or online storage service.
  
• Store pairs of women's shoes heel to toe; this method uses less space and you can see both at a glance.
  
• Go vertical for storage with media towers, book cases with 5 or more shelves, or install shelves on walls, if you have small spaces.
  
• Use post-it notes as temporary labels for storage space planning.
  
• Scan pix in old photo albums to your PC & load them into digital photo frames to free up storage space.
  

Don't...

• Store items on counter tops that you don't use every day.
  This can cause unnecessary clutter.
  
• Buy storage until you have assessed your needs for a particular organizing project.
  
• Use your email inbox as a catch-all for messages.
  This causes excessive clutter and it will be difficult to find what you're looking for.
  Instead, only store messages that you need to take action on, or that you haven't read yet.
  
• Hold on to clothes that don't fit, thinking you will lose enough weight to get back into them.
  
• Leave gift cards at home; instead, keep them in your purse or wallet so they are available when you need them.
  
• Use storage containers that you can't see inside without labeling them.