For most containers, the state of the inside is the only thing which matters. Unfortunately, full things tend to want to be closed. For example, an full open water bottle is an accident waiting to happen.
So leave the empty things open. No harm to the items inside full containers, and you can see if it's open from farther and with less effort than checking the inside. Takes zero effort too since you must have opened it to empty or check it.
You can circumvent this with clear containers, but they aren't always an option and are less clear than a binary open/closed signal. A closed pot on the stove after a meal has leftovers, an open pot is in need of cleaning. An unzipped backpack is missing at least one item, a zipped one is ready to run.
Not needing to open the container is helpful to others as well. If it's already open there's implicit permission to check it. Mundane for a pot, critical for a shared bathroom.
It also encourages tidier habits. If only empty boxes waiting to be recycled are left on the counter, then you should probably put away those snacks you ate half of three hours ago. People pick up on that kind of pattern quick, including yourself.
- Rew
Nightly Notes
I feel so scatterbrained, but I'm more here than I was. Only up from here.
This is I think one of the great losses of moving to digital. We learned to live in a world of infinite state. In digital, all the potential for implicit state is lost so we have to resort to endless tagging and organizational systems. You can't mark a folder open, you can only leave the window lying around, and only on your laptop until it reboots.
Whether that encourages better or worse habits is debatable.
I hope your brain is intact and your toilet paper is full. Nothing's worse than finding out you're out of something you thought was full.
- Rew