Storage habits get passed down almost like family recipes, except not all of them deserve to survive the transfer. Boomers came of age during eras of real scarcity and later real abundance, and their storage instincts often reflect a mix of both: save everything, just in case, but also, somehow, buy more.

Gen Z, working with smaller homes and a different relationship to stuff in general, has started quietly opting out of several of these inherited habits. Here are seven that are not making the cut.

The Drawer or Cabinet Dedicated Entirely to Plastic Bags

Nearly every Boomer kitchen has one: a drawer, a cabinet, or a bag stuffed inside another bag, all dedicated to saving plastic grocery bags for reuse as trash liners or lunch sacks. It made sense as a frugal habit when bags were sturdier and reuse was genuinely practical. Gen Z, shopping in an era of reusable totes, paper bags, and bag fees in many cities, often just does not generate enough plastic bags to justify a dedicated storage zone anymore. The habit has not disappeared entirely, but the volume has shrunk dramatically, and most younger homeowners would rather use that drawer space for something with a clearer daily purpose than an ever-growing bag collection nobody is fully working through.

Saving Every Glass Jar Indefinitely

Pickle jars, jam jars, mayonnaise jars: in a lot of Boomer kitchens, these got washed out and stacked in a cabinet or basement shelf on the theory that a jar might be useful someday for canning, storing leftovers, or organizing screws in the garage. Sometimes that day came. Often it did not, and the collection just grew. Gen Z tends to keep a small, curated set of jars for specific uses, like meal prep or pantry organization, rather than accumulating every jar that passes through the kitchen. The aesthetic-forward approach to jar storage that is popular online, matching containers and labeled contents, has replaced the old approach of quantity over curation.

A Junk Drawer With No Actual Organization

Every house has a junk drawer, but the Boomer version often functioned as a genuine black hole: rubber bands, expired coupons, random keys, a single chopstick, and at least one item nobody in the house can identify. It grew for decades without ever being sorted. Gen Z, influenced heavily by organizing content that treats even small drawers as worth dividing into labeled sections, tends to at least attempt some structure, using cheap drawer dividers to separate batteries from tape from actual useful odds and ends. The drawer still exists, since some level of miscellaneous storage is inevitable in any home, but the total chaos version is being phased out in favor of something at least partially navigable.

Stockpiling Takeout Containers as Tupperware

Washing out margarine tubs and takeout containers to reuse as food storage was standard practice in a lot of Boomer households, resulting in mismatched cabinets full of containers with no matching lids and lids with no matching containers. It stretched a household budget in a genuinely resourceful way. Gen Z tends to invest instead in a smaller set of matching, stackable containers, partly for the aesthetic of an organized pantry or fridge and partly because mismatched lid chaos is a specific, recognizable frustration this generation has decided is simply not worth the savings, especially with affordable matching sets widely available now at nearly every price point.

A Basement or Garage Reserved for Boxes Nobody Opens

Boomer basements and garages frequently accumulate decades of boxes: old holiday decorations, kids’ school projects, furniture waiting for a repair that never happens, and paperwork that could probably be shredded. The space becomes storage by default rather than by design. Gen Z, often working with much smaller homes or no basement or garage at all, simply does not have the square footage to let storage grow unchecked this way. Even those with more space tend to approach it with a use-it-or-lose-it mentality, periodically clearing out boxes rather than letting them settle in permanently as a kind of household sediment layer nobody wants to deal with.

Keeping Every Owner’s Manual Ever Received

A drawer or binder full of owner’s manuals for appliances, some of which have been replaced or thrown out years ago, is a common fixture in Boomer households, kept on the theory that the information might be needed someday. Gen Z tends to rely on the fact that nearly every manual is available as a PDF online within seconds, making a physical archive feel unnecessary. Manuals for current appliances sometimes get kept briefly, but the multi-decade collection spanning several address changes and long-gone products is one of the first things to go during a decluttering pass, freed up largely by the simple reality that search engines have replaced the filing cabinet.

A Closet Reserved for Gift Wrap and Bows Bought Years Ago

An entire closet shelf, or sometimes an entire closet, dedicated to gift wrap, ribbon, bows, and gift bags accumulated over many holiday seasons is a familiar Boomer storage habit, often including paper patterns that have not been in style for years. Gen Z tends to keep a much smaller, more current rotation, favoring reusable gift bags or simple kraft paper that works for any occasion rather than a sprawling archive of seasonal specific paper. The shift reflects both a smaller living footprint and a general preference for streamlined systems over holding onto supplies that only ever partially get used before being replaced by newer patterns anyway.