We realized the kitchen junk drawer isn't messy, it's actually a genius strategy for keeping your counters clutter free. We can apply that same methodology to your whole house by using something called chaotic storage, also known in logistics industry as dynamic slotting. It takes the pressure off of you to think. Don't worry about where your junk belongs or how it should be categorized. Just scan it with our app, drop it in a box, and move on with your day. It's not lazy, it's efficient. Huge companies like Amazon have used dynamic slotting for years. Now Things of Mabob™ is bringing it to your home.
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Have your mess and clean it too.
The dream is to clear your clutter quickly without thinking about it, but in a way that doesn't cause you pain later when you're trying to find your stuff.
It's actually possible, and big logistics companies like Amazon use this exact strategy. But you have to follow the rules of the system or it doesn't work!
1. Store irregular shapes inside shapes with flat surfaces.
In other words, your stuff needs to go in a box or a bin or a drawer or a shelf or a kayak -- some kind of trackable container. In the app we call this a "Box" because cardboard is the most common storage medium, but there's nothing stopping you from using kayaks, trunks of cars, under your bed, or any other creative container you want. It's all "boxes" to us.
2. Your container has to have a name or number
This is so you can find it later! This means every container needs to be numbered or named! If it's a box, write the box number on multiple sides of the box and the top with a permanent marker. If it's something you don't want to write on, put some blue painters tape on it and write on that, or use a labelmaker. If it's something that you can't label, then describe the container sufficiently: "the red kayak" or "the bottom shelf"
3. Your container has to have a location
Good luck finding Box 45 if you don't know whether it's in the garage, the shed, the crawl space, the attic or the closet! Create a location for every room where stuff is stored, and connect it to your box!
Take a picture of your item before you put it in the box
We’ll analyze your picture and automatically generate a title, description, and keywords. These will come in handy later when searching. They won’t always be completely accurate and they won’t understand your personal context–that’s ok. We’re just generating some baseline info that lets us categorize. You provide the most important information with the recording.
4. Don’t skip recording a note
Technically, you can skip this. But the recording is how we know that your teddy bear is named “Miss Snuggles” or that these scissors are “mom’s sewing scissors.” The note is your chance to describe what this is in the way you think about it. That’s important because it is more likely to match when you search for it later. Your recording should answer the question: “How would I describe this if I was asking someone in my house if they knew where it was?”
We’ll transcribe it and save it.
5. Find your Junk
Time has passed. Where’s Miss Snuggles the teddy bear? Open the app and type your search query. If you’re getting too many results, keep typing, the more you type, the narrower your results will be. We’ll tell you exactly which room and which box your item is in.
Grab it and go.
Don’t bother with marking it as “out and about.” Who’s got time for that? The next time Miss Snuggles gets tidied, the Things of Mabob app will notice that it’s the same item you already scanned in before, and it will update the location to whatever box you put it in.