Random Product Review! Something a little different... MTM 38/357 Cal 100 Round Flip-Top Ammo Box

By Unknown

Purchased

Today I thought I'd share a review of something a little different--not an indie product, but something I've found very helpful in storing and cataloguing my perfume sample collection: an ammo box. The MTM 38/357 Cal 100 Round Flip-Top Ammo Box (labeled Case-Gard 100 P-100-38), currently selling for $3.59 on Amazon.

At a certain point in my indie perfume addiction, I found that I was getting frustrated with trying to locate particular samples when my organization system consisted of throwing all my samples loose into a box and then sorting through every. single. one of them when I was looking for a scent I wanted to wear. I found a suggestion somewhere to use an ammo box to store samples, so I ordered one from Amazon and found it to be perfect!

It's important to protect perfumes from light if you want to keep them from deteriorating, so I chose the opaque green plastic option. Not gonna lie, it's pretty hideous, but it's functional. The lid closes with a secure click, the plastic is thick and opaque. It measures 4.5" square on the outside.

Any standard-sized 1 mL perfume samples, like those from BPAL, Solstice Scents, or Haus of Gloi, will fit into one of the slots with the label rolled up around it. Different-sized samples like the ones from Darling Clandestine, Sixteen92, or Smelly Yeti will not.

The box has 100 slots in a 10 x 10 square. To help myself stay organized, I organized my samples by group depending on how I mentally categorize them ("vanilla scents," "leather scents," "rose scents," etc.), made a 10x10 chart in Excel in which I typed up abbreviations of each perfume, and color-coded each scent group so I could see at a glance which areas hold which types of scents. I adjusted the Print Preview in Excel so I knew the printout would fit in the lid, then printed it out and placed it in the lid using double-sided Scotch tape. I've had to cross out and hand-write replacements when I've destashed--I should probably reorganize, purge samples I'm not using from my collection, and make new labels.



One thing about using these ammo boxes for organization is that it makes it VERY easy to tell how out of control your collection is. I currently have three of these ammo boxes that are all full, which I know immediately means I have 300 perfume samples at the very least. But there are more! The unfortunate thing is that instead of accepting that I need more storage, or getting rid of some of my collection, I have just started putting loose samples into a pile again with the thought that "oh, I'll review this and then sell it..." so I'm sort of back to the same disorganized place where I started. Maybe I should just bite the bullet (YOU SEE WHAT I DID THERE?) and buy another box or two and get a true handle on how many damn perfume samples are lying around in my house.

Do you use ammo boxes to organize your perfume? Do you have other creative suggestions for ways to stay organized with a large indie beauty collection?