Privacy is also important here, as recovering a stolen item will look like another act of theft, so be careful here. Stashing away your stolen goods is an important habit for light fingered Dovakin.
(Personally, I like the dresser between the male & female wings of the the Companions' barracks.) Let's face it, your carrying capacity is a valuable commodity. While this is slightly tedious, it's no more tedious than any of the other normal inventory management tasks I undertake whenever I return to my home or, early in the game, the container I use for temporary storage. When looking through your inventory, stolen items or stacks that contain stolen items will, when selected, display the word 'stolen' in red.