The Art of Organization: Hoarding Tips for Don't Starve Together Players

As we all know, Don't Starve Together is a game with a high degree of freedom, allowing players to choose their own playstyle in a variety of ways. Personally, I prefer a more vanilla approach to gameplay. However, even among players who aim for a pure experience, there are many who find it hard to play without "essential" mods like Show Me, Finder, and Tips. One major reason for this is the difficulty of organizing items in your inventory and chests without these mods, especially for those players who want to collect everything they see and can't bear to throw anything away—the so-called hoarders.

This blog aims to share some tips on how to use container skins to label your supplies and offer suggestions for organizing resources to create a more systematic storage solution for your base.

Some people often say that skins are just for looks and have no practical use. But that’s not entirely true. The skin system in Don't Starve Together can actually help us categorize resources more intuitively. This is especially useful in the early game when black feathers are scarce. Trying to find a specific resource among a bunch of identical chests can be frustrating and can seriously slow down your progress.

Whether in real life or in the game, developing good habits for organization and storage is crucial. It can significantly enhance your quality of life and your gaming experience.

This blog will be divided into three parts:

1. Organizing resources inside chests
2. Organizing with different turf types
3. Organizing miscellaneous items and trash

PART ONE: Categorizing Resources in Chests

Let's start with the early game. At this stage, the variety of resources is limited, so they can be roughly divided into four categories:

1. Animal Resources
2. Plant Resources
3. Mineral Resources
4. Equipment/Miscellaneous Items

This is where the classic set of four chest skins comes into play:

Spider webs and hound teeth are the most common animal resources, both of which are white, so I choose a white chest for animal resources. Grass, twigs, and other plant materials are mainly yellowish, so I opt for a yellow chest (you can also use the brown default chest skin as an alternative). The black chest looks sturdier, matching the texture of stones and minerals, so I use a black chest for mineral resources. The purple chest has a rounder shape and stands out more compared to the other three, making it a good choice for storing miscellaneous items (you can also use the default chest skin here).

Using the commonly used 3x3 grid as an example, it is evident that the efficiency of searching for resources varies significantly under three conditions: without labels, with partial labels, and with color labels.

In the early game, when black feathers are scarce, using the color of chests and signposts to differentiate between areas can effectively extend the use of feather pens. Therefore, by utilizing different chest and signpost skins to categorize resources in the early game, you can save a significant amount of time, improve efficiency, and beautify your base.

Subcategorizing Animal Resources

As the game progresses to the mid-game, the variety and quantity of resources increase, but the number of container skins and feather pens remains limited. Therefore, it becomes necessary to further subcategorize resources.

I've categorized the commonly used animal resources into five groups:

1. Fur and Shells
2. Feathers
3. Bones, Spikes, and Horns
4. Spider Items (this category is unique because spiders drop a wide variety of items, each of which is very important)
5. Secretions

Many players, once they’ve amassed wealth in the late game, tend to dedicate a single chest to each type of resource. Sometimes, even a single Cat Tail gets its own chest. Over time, this can lead to a sprawling base full of chests, which, while impressive, can hinder your efficiency when searching for resources.

Although the Fur and Shells category has a variety of items, most of these resources are not abundant. Items like Bearger Fur, Steel Wool, and Ewecus Fur are typically so rare that you might not even collect two full stacks by the end of a playthrough unless you specifically farm for them. As such, a single chest can suffice for all these rare furs, without the need for dedicated chests.

On the other hand, items like Pig Skins, Beefalo Wool, and Bunny Puffs, which are produced and consumed in larger quantities, can each have their own dedicated chest once you’re well-established. However, compared to resources like stone or grass, these are still not as plentiful, so it's okay to store them with other Fur and Shells items in the same chest during the early game.

For the Bones, Spikes, and Horns category, it's important to note that the four types of horns (Beefalo Horn, Narwhal Horn, Deer Antler, and Rhino Horn) cannot be stacked, so extra care is needed when storing them. You might consider using Bundling Wrap to save space or storing them outside of the animal chests altogether, placing them instead in commonly used areas (for example, Beefalo Horns near the farms, Deer Antlers at the Klaus battle site, and Narwhal and Rhino Horns don't really need storage since they’re usually turned into tools immediately after being obtained).

The Secretions category is mainly for differentiation and doesn’t have much practical use. In a typical game, this chest might be better labeled as a "Fertilizer Chest," storing high-yield items like manure and rot along with bird droppings and Glommer’s Goop near the farm. As for less useful items like Mosquito Sacks, Snurtle Slime, and Phlegm, they’re mostly kept for collection purposes.

In addition to categorizing animal resources by material, you can also sort them based on the original creature. Currently, there are two themed chest skins available: the Print Chester Chest and the Brutalist Chest. I recommend using the cheerful Hound Chest for storing drops from regular creatures, while the Monster Chest can be used for storing boss loot. Alternatively, the Dragonfly Chest is a good choice; its fierce appearance matches the fact that boss drops are diverse yet limited in quantity, making it suitable for a single chest.

Subcategorizing Plant Resources

Similarly, plant resources can be divided into four main categories based on their use:

1. The Basic Trio
2. Relatively Rare Plant Materials
3. Portable Plant Roots
4. Seeds (Marble Seeds are included just for the count)

The Basic Trio needs no introduction—they are essential for survival throughout the game. Even in the early stages, I recommend dedicating a chest specifically for them. While grass and wood are used in large quantities, it's actually the ropes and boards that are consumed in bulk. By processing a certain amount of these resources, you can significantly improve space efficiency. For example, with Bundling Wrap, a 9-slot chest can hold up to 2160 pieces of grass, compared to just 360 pieces normally, increasing capacity by five times.

Relatively rare plant materials include not only truly rare items like Tentacles and Mandrakes but also items like Living Logs, Reeds, and Charcoal. In the late game, these will definitely need dedicated chests, but in the early stages, their production is not very high, so they can be stored together in one chest.

Plant seeds and roots can be grouped together. These resources are particularly useful to me as I frequently use them for fuel, so it’s a good idea to place this chest near your farm or fire pits.

Subcategorizing Mineral Resources

As usual, let’s continue with the categorization:

1. The Reliable Trio of Minerals
2. Useful but Limited Second-tier Minerals
3. Rare Minerals
4. Gems

The Reliable Trio of Minerals, like the Basic Trio of plants, should ideally have their own dedicated chests. However, compared to basic plant resources, mineral resources take longer to accumulate in large quantities. Therefore, in the early game, they can be stored together in one or two chests. A special mention goes to flint—I personally like to stockpile flint, but considering that many players hardly use it in the late game, it can be demoted and placed in the next category.

Marble and nitre are important resources that also take time to accumulate. In the early to mid-game, they can be stored together, but in the late game, you might want to give them their own chests, possibly alongside flint.

As for rare minerals, there isn’t much to say—similar to boss drops from animals, they are diverse but limited in quantity, so a single chest can hold them for quite a while. I’ve included gears in this category because moles will eat them—don’t ask me where I put charcoal (haha).

Gems are worth mentioning. In the early game, gem production is minimal, and there are only red and blue gems, so they can be stored together with rare minerals and moon rocks. As more types of gems become available in the mid to late game, you might consider giving them their own chest as part of your "magic" resources (since the original Don’t Starve game actually had a separate tech category for gems). Pairing them with the themed and visually distinct Ancient Chest will ensure efficiency when accessing them.

Of course, even among gems, their uses and locations can vary greatly. If you’re a hoarder, you can store them as usual, as mentioned earlier. However, since the last three types of gems are mostly used in the Ancient Ruins, you might choose to store them at your underground atrium base, using the visually distinct Ancient Chest as a marker and reminder.

Categorizing Food with Ice Box Skins

Hoarding food is always a satisfying achievement, and many players even use the Always Fresh mod to indulge in this pleasure. However, in older versions of the game, many of us have experienced the frustration of teammates hogging the icebox while they struggle to find ingredients. Therefore, organizing food is an important task.

Since Salt Boxes have limited skins and are obtained later in the game, we’ll focus on categorizing food using Ice Box skins. There are currently five Ice Box skin sets, so we'll divide the food into five categories:

1. Meat: The core of most recipes, represented by the Secure Chest as a symbol of culinary essentials.
2. Vegetables: Including farm crops and transplantable plants, which can be further subdivided later on. The versatile default Ice Box skin is used for this category.
3. Ice: Including Ice and Thermal Stones. The Crystal Ice Box is the perfect choice to represent this category.
4. "Odd" Items: Paired with the quirky Coffin Ice Box skin for easy recognition (essentially, this category includes anything that doesn’t fit into the other four categories).
5. Seeds: The last Ice Box has a unique design, making it a good choice for storing seeds. After all, seeds aren't typically considered "food" in the traditional sense.

Categorizing by Use Case

Let’s take one example: items like plant roots, manure, spoiled food, pine cones, and beefalo wool. While these don’t belong to the same category, they all share a common purpose—they are popular fuel materials. So, it's a good idea to take the excess of these items and store them in a chest near your fire pit for easy access to fuel. (Though in reality, simply dropping them on the ground is more efficient—organizing them just makes things look tidier.)

Tips: Make good use of Bundling Wrap! It can greatly enhance your storage efficiency.

PART TWO: Organizing Different Turf Types

For many players, especially those who enjoy base-building, managing large amounts of turf can be a real headache. If you're a base-building perfectionist with resource-preservation OCD (yes, I'm talking about myself), the challenge is even greater. Even in today’s world where turf is renewable, the habit of preserving every piece of turf has become deeply ingrained in this type of player’s DNA. Moreover, even if it's not just about preserving resources, anyone planning a large-scale base build will need a substantial stockpile of turf. However, simply dropping large amounts of turf on the ground can be a heavy burden on your computer. Therefore, you'll need various methods to store it efficiently. Here are three methods I recommend:

Method 1: Backpacks

If you use chests to store turf, the stack limit might make you question your life choices, especially after chopping a bunch of wood just to store this stuff. Plus, large areas filled with chests can take up a lot of space. Is there a more suitable, low-cost container? The answer is backpacks. Backpacks are storage wonders, mainly because they have an impressive 26 skins, covering nearly every color. Currently, there are only 24 types of turf, so using inexpensive backpacks to store different turfs is a great solution.

I suggest two methods for matching backpacks with turf:

1. Color Matching

This is the simplest approach—matching the most commonly used turf with backpack colors. The market offers 8 cheap non-animal backpacks, plus the default backpack, making 9 colors in total, which is enough to cover most turf storage needs (not every turf is abundant, after all). If you have all backpack skins, further categorization becomes even easier. Below is my personal color categorization, but feel free to swap and match based on your own color perception and preferences in the game.

2. Matching with Biome or Material Origin

This method involves pairing the turf with the corresponding biome or material source. For example, birch forests have catcoons, the savanna has rabbits, carpets are made from beefalo wool, and scales come from the Dragonfly. This categorization method is more stable, avoiding the confusion that might occur with similar colors (e.g., both the hound and spider backpacks are black, and the beefalo backpacks are all brownish-gray).

If you have fewer backpack skins, you can use small signposts with labels to help identify them. One major advantage of using backpacks over chests is that they require much less space.

Method 2: Moles

In the late game, you can find an empty area and toss all your unused turf on the ground, letting moles take care of it. The main advantage of this method is that it saves a lot of space, allowing you to fit an almost infinite amount of turf into a small mole farm. The downside is that it's difficult to categorize, making it suitable for players who just want to store turf but don't plan to use it often.

I’ve tried forcefully categorizing turf with the mole method, as shown in the image, but the results were poor. First, it takes up a huge amount of space. Second, each mole needs a lot of room to move, and if a mole decides to dig outside its small enclosure, it won’t bother with the turf. This method still needs further development.

Method 3: Walls

This method is typically used for storing large amounts of non-stackable equipment and items, making them easily accessible to players. Combined with the Quick Drop MOD, you can neatly place a large amount of resources in a small area. The downside is that if you drop too much, it can still cause lag.

As shown in the image, this is how turf storage looks when using walls. In theory, you can store the entire world’s turf using just two rows of walls (provided you have a powerful computer).

However, I personally don’t like storing items this way because I find it visually unappealing. So, after sacrificing a bit of practicality for aesthetics, it ends up looking like this:

In reality, though, after turf crafting became a thing, some quick-thinking players did change their habits. Instead of hoarding turf, it’s often more convenient to stockpile the raw materials. Need rocky turf? Just stockpile rocks and flint instead. So, it really comes down to personal preference and what trade-offs each player is willing to make.

PART THREE: Organizing Miscellaneous Items and Trash

Miscellaneous items mainly refer to things like snacks and holiday trinkets. Winter's Feast is a festive event, but it has one major downside: the endless small snacks scattered everywhere can really get on your nerves. However, despite most people finding these snacks annoying, some players (myself included) still collect them. After all, these snacks aren't completely useless—they can be used as pig feed, for temperature control, or as decorations for the Christmas tree.

Similar to turf organization, it’s impractical to store these items in chests. The best solution? Use a backpack!

I recommend using the Krampus Sack, as it’s the only backpack that ties in with the winter theme (laughs in pay-to-win). But honestly, any backpack will work as long as you have your own system for organizing them.

As seen in the picture, the variety of snacks, lights, and ornaments far exceeds the number of backpack slots. Although most of these items have high stack limits (except for the lights), there are so many different types. Therefore, I suggest categorizing and storing them at specific locations. You can separate different backpack contents with boats or walls, or use different backpack skins to help you remember what’s inside each one.

Compared to the seemingly endless supply of snacks and ornaments during Winter's Feast, Halloween is much easier to manage. After countless trials, I've determined that storing a full set of Halloween toys and snacks (40 of each) requires only two and a half backpacks:

Here’s the breakdown:

• Halloween candies and Halloween bags correspond one-to-one, with 14 types in total.
• There are 15 types of regular Halloween toys.
• There are 6 types of ornament Halloween toys.

So, only three Halloween backpacks are needed to store a full set of Halloween items. As for the seven extra slots, it's worth noting that most regular toys obtained from digging graves, tumbleweeds, or Christmas trees (except the Antlion Desert Bucket) can be stored there. So if you have a habit of collecting regular toys, these seven slots, or even one or two extra Halloween backpacks, will be more than enough.

When it comes to trash, the most notorious items are hound teeth—endless hound teeth—and the once plentiful stingers. While stingers are relatively rare if you don’t provoke bees, hounds are relentless, especially if you have a gem farm. Glands and spider webs also fall into this category: they are precious in the early game but somehow overflow in the later stages, and they can’t even be burned, which is quite frustrating.

I don’t have a particularly good solution for mass-disposing of trash. Some people might have given up on dealing with the countless hound teeth, leaving them scattered all over the place. Others, with a bit of a neatness obsession, might painstakingly gather and dispose of them so the world doesn’t turn into a giant junkyard.

There are various ways to handle trash. Wrapping it in a gift wrap and tossing it into the ocean is the quickest method. However, while gift wrap is cheap, using it for trash disposal feels a bit wasteful.

Alternatively, you could use Lureplants, which is probably the most commonly used method in the base game. It’s effective and convenient, but it does have some limitations: it takes time for the plants to digest items, and without proper turf planning, a Lureplant junkyard can take up a lot of space.

Therefore, unless you’ve designed a detailed plan for a Lureplant trash bin in your base, you’ll often need to haul trash to a distant location for bulk disposal. So, how can you store trash near your base in an aesthetically pleasing and efficient way?

Throwing it on the ground? Not ideal. It looks bad, and if you don’t segregate it, it can easily get mixed up with your regular resources.

My solution is to throw it onto a boat near the base. The boat's natural zoning makes it easier to keep track of where everything is. Plus, since it’s just temporary storage for trash, you don’t need much space to get the job done.

Building on this foundation, let's refine the approach a bit—yes, we're talking about backpacks.

Since Meat Bulb farms are usually set up on boats, it would be a waste not to make the most of this space. Pairing them with the Doodoo Backpack skin (which is perfect for marking trash, by the way) can create a visually pleasing setup (yes, purely visual, as it doesn’t actually help with sorting trash).

Additionally, the previously mentioned Winter Fun Pack, Halloween Pack, and even the Turf Pack can all be placed in this infinite-space boat warehouse. This way, the boat serves a dual purpose, acting as both a Meat Bulb farm and a storage area—two birds with one stone!

If you’re really keen on sorting trash, even when it seems unnecessary, you can use the Spider Pack and Hound Pack to fulfill your desire. This way, when you go to dispose of trash, you’ll easily distinguish between the pack for hound teeth and the pack for spider webs.

As for those irresistible but space-consuming Tallbird Eggs, you can handle them similarly by wrapping them in a Tallbird Pack. If space is tight, you might want to consider using wrapping paper.

One more thing: in addition to marking trash, the Doodoo Pack is also a great way to store fertilizer for crops.

With that, we’ve covered tips on organizing resources in chests, turf organization, and sorting trash and miscellaneous items. I hope my insights are helpful to you, or at least, that my antics bring a smile to your face. Either way, it’s worth it!