I’ve come up with a rule when I used to play paintball that I still follow today which I call the ‘One Bin Rule’.

The rule is simple; You have one bin that you store all of your airsoft/paintball stuff in. If you’re looking at buying some shiny new product, you must fit it into your bin. If you cannot fit the new product in your bin, you must either sell/throw away something else or you cannot buy the new thing. Of course I make exceptions for rifles/markers as they’re not things that usually fit in square bins, but this exception shouldn’t be abused to end up with a closet full of guns.

Can you fit all of your airsoft stuff into this bin?

Imposing this limit on the things I can buy offers several benefits. It makes preparing for a day of airsoft simple: throw the bin in the trunk of your car and you’re ready to go. The rule also reduces the chances of losing things or having things stolen. You can’t lose much if everything is contained in a single bin.

In addition, having a space limitation forces you to think about whether you will use the thing you’re buying. You will think twice before dropping $40 on a “grenade” that doesn’t do anything if it requires you to throw away something else. With all of this time and money you save by not buying and hauling dead weight around, you get more time and money to play airsoft! (and that’s the important part)

I’ve recently modified the rule to change from a bin to a backpack, but the spirit of the rule remains. Rather than having a bin to fit things into, I have to fix all of my airsoft stuff into a backpack. The space constraints are even tighter but the benefits are magnified even more; Now you don’t even have to lift a bin, just put on your pack and go.

Using a pack like this, I can store everything in one place and carry it all into the field at once.

Sell some of the stuff you don’t use and give the one bin rule a try. You’ll find that airsoft becomes less stressful and more fun if you do.