One of the facts of modern life is that we all accumulate a lot of "stuff" over the years. Nearly every house has a garage, shed, basement or attic that's brimming with miscellaneous items. At the very least, there's always a closet that you're afraid to open for fear of being caught in an avalanche of board games, old coats and Christmas decorations.

For organizing the clutter in your life, storage boxes are an invaluable resource.

They come in a variety of shapes and sizes and are made from many different materials to accommodate your needs. Some are airtight (good for delicate old photos, documents or valuable comic books), while others are just sturdy cardboard or plastic (for more rugged items like blankets and sports equipment).

Before undertaking a plan to organize a closet or garage, you should first get the storage boxes you'll need. Consider what type of clutter you're dealing with. If there are a lot of documents, papers and certificates, a simple file box may suffice. Other items may need larger, sturdier containers, so consider whether the container should be transparent or whether simply marking the outside with a description of its contents will be enough.

If your clutter will require many boxes to organize, try to get storage containers that are modular -- that is, they can be easily stacked and organized. If you wind up with several different-shaped containers that don't fit together well, you're no better off than when you started.

Something else to take into account is whether the things being stored are things you'll need access to on a regular basis. You can buy stackable bins that are open at one end, making it easy to get things when you need them. Put the things you won't need very often together and put those storage boxes under the other ones.

In fact, if it's something you NEVER need, you might consider getting rid of it altogether. Sometimes that's the best way to deal with unorganized clutter.