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What’s on your bucket list? Do you dream of traveling to foreign lands? Skydiving? Learning how to surf?

Most of us have a catalog of dreams in our heads—but there is a good chance you actually have a catalog of documents and paraphernalia relating to at least some of the items on your bucket list as well. Odds are that those odds and ends—brochures from places you’ve never been, postcards from places you’ve only heard of—are scattered around pell mell right now, not organized at all.

But don’t your dreams deserve to be organized? The more attention we give something, the more time and care we dedicate to it, the more likely we are to actually stay involved with it and make it happen.

Most ideas to organize your bucket list involve keeping a notebook or a spreadsheet or some other type of document—but I have stumbled across the concept of a DIY bucket list organizer as well. The one I saw involved taking some chicken wire or a bulletin board and tacking it on the wall, and then using clothespins or thumbtacks to hang your brochures, postcards, printed photos, and so on.

I really like this idea, but it does have its limitations. It might be a good idea if your bucket list is relatively small at any given time, but that is only likely if you either are privileged enough to routinely be able to accomplish items on the list, or you are not too ambitious or imaginative.

Most of us have bigger bucket lists. That means that a little wall space really will not cover the entire list. So I have come up with an alternative idea, and that is using plastic organizing totes to organize your bucket list!

My basic idea is simple. You have two clear boxes for organizing, labeled:

• Bucket List: To Do
• Bucket List: Accomplished

Anything which pertains to items still on your bucket list goes into the “To Do” bin, while those which pertain to items you have accomplished go into the “Accomplished” bin. Over time, as you achieve more of your dreams, you will be transferring items from one bin to the other, and as you are inspired with new dreams, you add those into the “To Do” bin.

One reason that having a system for this is nice is that it can make it easier to plan when you do actually go to tackle something in your bucket list. Say for example “visit Thailand” is on your list, and you have a lot of stuff you have saved or printed out over the years relating to that dream. When you are ready to finally plan that dream vacation, all of that stuff will be there waiting for you in the “To Do” bin. You will not have to go searching for it.

A concrete organizing system for your bucket list helps your dreams stay concrete too. Who would have thought something as simple as a plastic bin could help you achieve greater self realization? But it can! Sometimes exploring the world—and yourself—starts with a little home organizing!