As an alternative to the milk crates mentioned here, what about the Samla boxes sold by Ikea? They're see-through, reasonably priced, stackable, come in a variety of sizes, and can be tightly closed with a lid and clip-locks. We store all our stuff in them, including things like photo albums, to prevent critters from getting to it.
You can't access the boxes when they're stacked though, but in spite of that we absolutely love them.them.
Oh, and while I don't know about the really long term, we've had a few of these for several years now, and they remain sturdy and not prone to cracking.