We keep all of our containers and lids in a large basket on top of the fridge - it's easy to find things and it's okay to put them away if they're not completely dry. Plus there's no hideous, scary overflowing mess of a cupboard!

in our kitchen we have a deep drawer that we stack the larger containers in then in a regular drawer we stack the smaller or regular sized ones. then in a third drawer we store all the lids. this seems to work best because then all the lids aren't spilling everywhere when you open a cupboard or something.

We keep all the lids in one drawer, and all the containers in another.

I have a limited selection of tupperware (only nine pieces), but what I do have I keep track of with an accounting system on a whiteboard on the fridge. Perhaps it's a little over the top, but I am pretty religious about noting where each piece is (husband's lunch, cupboard, dishwasher, in the fridge with a notation about the contents). Works for me!

i second @many11985 's suggestion! we keep our tupperware in a drawer so it's easier to keep organized and you never have to cover your head when you open the cupboard for fear of falling plastic containers! we just organized them the best we could and have made an effort to keep them in that same order.

excuse me: @mandy11985. whoops!

I have no extra drawer space at all, so my method fills one base cabinet. On the top shelf, I have all my regular containers (glass pyrex for most our storage), stacked according to shape. They only get a few items high, but that keeps it easy for getting the nested mixing bowls out of the back of that cabinet.

On one side of the the lower shelf I keep all the saved yogurt etc containers that get re-used 1-2 times in the freezer. On the other side of that shelf I have a narrow, open box that extends all the way back. That box holds all the lids, and essentially functions as a drawer since I always pull it out to see inside. Also, we ended up saving loads of time by putting all the identical round 'disposable' lids from the yogurt/cottage cheese/etc tubs into a large ziploc inside that box. Used clean ziplocs go into another ziploc inside that same box. Just above that cabinet is the drawer where all the new ziplocs/saran/foil/parchment go.

This just keeps everything in one place and easy to get to. By keeping the identical yogurt containers on the bottom, they stack really well and I never have to crawl into the back to get a random piece that's fallen off the stack.

I am in the process of reducing the different types of containers I have - lots of small and medium ones that take the same lids for storing leftovers, dry pantry items and freezing meal-size portions, plus maybe a dozen larger ones for when I have a big batch of leftovers to store or for storing bulk items like flour. The larger ones are of several different sizes and brands, but I plan to consolidate these as well.

I look for storage containers that are compact, stackable, and nestable. I find that square containers take up less space than round ones for the equivalent volume.

I don't bother keeping yogurt containers - anything in an opaque container is pretty much doomed in my house.

Ditto Bobolink for buying containers (square, not round) - and I keep them in a basket, nested inside each other, because I have no drawer space or cabinet space to spare! I've also started switching over to the Frigoverre system for stuff I know I'll eat within a week or two (it's just me, though), since the glass containers don't stain with tomato sauces or oily foods, and you can buy replacement lids when they get worn out. They stack inside each other, and go from freezer/fridge to microwave to table and then into the dishwasher.

I'm totally against tupperware and it's plastic connotation. Tupperware was the symbol of a "party" purchase and screamed "tacky" when I was younger. In the kitchen, I prefer to reuse cottage cheese pint containers and yogurt quart containers for freezing sauces. They stack well in the freezer and nest into neat stacks when not in use. If too many accumulate, it's easy to recycle the yogurt or cottage cheese containers. If you have too many tupperware tubs, try recycling them, especially the ones stained with tomato juices.

In our last kitchen we didn't have many drawers, so we used plastic tubs/bins to separate the lids from the bottoms, and kept the bins on two shelves of a narrow low cupboard. That way we could slide the tubs out like drawers. In our current place, we have lots of drawers, so we keep all lids in one and all bottoms in another. This system has worked amazingly well for us.

I use a combination of Zip-loc containers in a variety of sizes and shapes and empty yogurt containers and the like. I stack the containers and keep the lids on end in a plastic drawer organizer component thing (shallow open box). I do a purge every couple of months to be sure all the components have mates, and anything flying solo gets recycled.

As for pots and pans, I keep all mine in the drawer below my oven. I invert the lids atop their pots (handle inside, flat surface to support another pot), and arrange pots in stacks so they're easy to get at and there's no separate pot lid chaos to manage.

I hope this is applicable since it's not quite tupperware. I switched to glass Pyrex style round and square containers a while ago. They don't warp or retain stains like most plastic. They don't stack too well but I find that I'm more likely to use them than the old plastic ones since they were more expensive and I won't want to throw it out if something goes bad inside it.

1. Take out all tupperware you own
2. Sort containers by size
3. Sort tops by size
4. Match containers to tops
5. Go through each size of container/top combination, getting rid of anything in bad condition: PLUS, only keep as many tops as you have containers, and vice versa.
6. Stack each size container with the tops on top...and then use a rubber band to keep each set together. The rubber bands from Whole Foods work great.

The rubber bands are kind of simple, but keeps containers and tops together to be easily found.

I also keep the lids in a separate drawer and the containers in a bottom cabinet-seems to work well for our household.

We only use three sizes of gladware containers. (not to worry, we don't reheat in them! We both have a corning ware dish the same size as our entree size Gladware that we keep at work for reheating and eating.) But with a diebetic hubby and my weird work shifts, batch cooking and reheating is the only way to go for us to eat safe and homemade food at every meal and gladware offer the right size containers for a meal at a price we can afford multiples of.

We use the flat square entree size for meals and salads.
The mini rounds for dressings and sauces
And the rectangular snack size for, well, snacks! Yoghurt, sliced veggies/fruits, a side dish, applesauce, etc.
They stack neatly in one cupboard shelf, the lids snap together and if we destroy a lid or bottom we have lots of others they can match to. This method got us through a 6 month kitchen remodel with less eating out than I'd thought we'd resort to!

I think the trick is to limit the number of unique types of tupperware, and recycle or reuse the non-matching ones (like, say, for sending leftovers home with guests; probably the same way YOU got it in the first place).

Then it just comes down to diligence; to remember to take the time to put that piece away with all the others like it. We don't have a fancy system or the kind that are designed to lock and store together, but its just common sense. Store the round with the round and the square likewise :)

I keep all my tupperware lids on a shelf which I made which sits right above the kitchen door frame. They stand upright and are easily seen.