I Tried the “Don’t Know” Storage Hack, and Now I’ll Keep Using It

I’m a busy working mom with three children, and it’s hard to keep my house clean and organized at all times — which is why I’m always looking for new and inventive ways to stay on track. So when I heard about this concept by YouTuber Maurice Moves about having a “don’t know” bin to keep track of items, I was intrigued.

Essentially, a “don’t know” bin serves as a spot where you stick random things that look important, such as a screw you found lying around your house. In theory, this allows you to know exactly where to turn to when you suddenly realize that the random item you found was not-so-random after all and is actually something essential.

As someone who’s very guilty of putting things in a “safe” place and then forgetting where that safe place is, this was right up my alley and I was eager to try it. Here’s how it went.

I placed it somewhere accessible.

One of the first choices I had to make was where to put this bin. I have three young children, so I knew it had to be somewhere out of reach because I assumed they would be eager to get into it and see what treasures I was stashing away. Because of this, I put it on top of my hutch where only my husband and I could access it. Unfortunately, that meant that the bin quickly became a home to a ton of other seemingly random items that he and I wanted to keep away from the kids but didn’t exactly know where to put.

Batteries and random tools ended up filling the bin.

The bin quickly took on a life of its own, becoming home to the half-used box of drywall screws we found in the junk drawer years after remodeling part of our home, and the batteries that we wanted to keep far away from our children. After a while, the bin kind of became the destination for any item that was important but never made it back to where it was supposed to go.

It ultimately worked.

That’s not to say that the bin didn’t do its job. Among the batteries, screwdrivers, and random drill attachments were some truly “I don’t know what this is but it looks important” items, including a silver pipe and a black fish cloth sleeve. And when I actually needed them, I knew exactly where to find them!

First, the silver pipe turned out to be an extra piece to a new shower head I had installed. I didn’t need the part when I was swapping out my old one for the new one, so I had put it aside to toss it out later. But once later came, it ended up getting put into the bin with the tools I had used for the install, going “out of sight, out of mind.”

Not long after installing the new shower head I realized that I didn’t like it and preferred the old one. Because we had used the new item, I couldn’t return it — so I offered it up to a friend instead. When she asked about the missing piece I instantly remembered the bin and was able to retrieve it for her.

As for the sleeve, that one ended up being the most important save of all because it was part of my 9-year-old’s Halloween costume. We’d spent a month getting all of the parts of her costume together, and the piece had somehow gotten separated from the rest of her costume. I’d tossed it in the bin one day when I was cleaning up, assuming it was something from one of her toys. 

Instead, it ended up being the netting that was supposed to go under her wig, which she was frantically hunting for just hours before we headed out to a costume party. As soon as she started explaining what she was looking for I recalled the piece in the bin, and ran to get it off the shelf.

It makes a great addition to your home.

Our family will be keeping the bin for the foreseeable future. Even though it’s become more of a catch-all for so many other things, it has become the place I know I can turn to when I need to find those little things that so often go missing when they get tossed into the junk drawer or toy box.

Further Reading

We Tested (and Rated!) All the Sofas at Ashley — Here Are the Best to Suit Your Style and Space

Everything You’ve Ever Wanted To Know About Article’s DTC Furniture

See How a Stager Used Paint to Transform a 1950s Living Room