6 Amazing Secrets for Creating an Organized Home From the Professionals
Everyone who juggles the demands of life, work and everything in between knows well that keeping an organized home is challenging. In this blog, I share 6 secrets for creating an organized home.
6 Secrets for Creating an Organized Home
According to professional experts, you should give up on perfection and focus on practical systems for your space and lifestyle instead. If your messy home is your biggest headache, try these six expert-trusted secrets to turn your space into an organized home.
1. Stop Buying Storage Containers
Buying pretty bins and baskets might feel productive, but don’t fall for the hype — especially before you’ve started decluttering.
“I would never buy new storage until I’d done a declutter,” says Vicky Silverthorn, personal assistant and professional organizer. You don’t know what you need until you’ve gone through your things, and buying containers “just in case” only encourages you to hold onto more stuff.
Once you know what you’re keeping, you can clean the space and find the right containers based on type, size, and purpose. Cleaning the space is important since dust may have spread as you’ve shuffled items around. Follow tried-and-true methods when cleaning up certain types of messes. For instance, if you’re dealing with grease, let an absorbent material — like cat litter or sawdust — sit on it for at least 24 hours. Once the space is clean, you can add in your new storage solutions to support a more organized home.
2. Let Your Space Dictate What You Own
Everyone dreams of walk-in closets and perfectly organized pantries, but most homes don’t have unlimited storage. Rather than cramming things into every available corner, try flipping your mindset — let your home tell you how much you can keep.
For example, assign one drawer for sweaters and stick to it. If you fall in love with a new one, it’s time to donate an old one. Think of your home as a container with limits, and let those boundaries guide your decisions.
“Don’t waste premium space on stuff you don’t use all that often,” says Milwaukee-based professional organizer Abby Frank. Use accessible areas for everyday essentials, not for things you rarely use. These small boundaries can help create a more functional and organized home.
3. Embrace the One-Touch Rule
One of the simplest tricks for keeping clutter at bay is to only touch things once. That means when you pick something up — your purse, the mail, your kid’s jacket — don’t just put it down, put it away.
“Everything must have a home,” says life organizer Francesca Verri. Putting things back in their home rather than dropping them somewhere random makes it easier to find later. That pile on your coffee table started by just placing one thing for convenience. Break the cycle with this one-touch habit and enjoy a more organized home with less effort.
4. Create a Drop Zone for Chaos Control
Clutter is chaos, and 55% of Americans get stressed out by visible mess. The solution is a drop zone at the entryway.
Take note of your family’s habits. Where do backpacks get dumped? Where do keys disappear? Set up a designated drop zone near your front door with hooks, baskets or a small table for daily essentials like bags, keys and mail.
Jakia from Sole Organizer calls the drop zone a stoplight that helps you pause before chaos creeps in. A drop zone doesn’t just save you time — it prevents the daily tornado from wrecking the rest of your space, helping you maintain an organized home from the moment you walk in.
5. Tidy by Category, Not by Room
Decluttering room by room might seem logical, but organizing icon Marie Kondo suggests tackling your stuff by category instead. This is because you’re more likely to catch duplicates and excess when you see everything individually.
Think of how many towels you have scattered across bathrooms, the kitchen or the laundry room. Pulling them all together makes it easier to see what you need and what’s just taking up space. It’s a quick win on your way to building a truly organized home.
6. Stop Fighting the Junk Drawer
If you’re itching to clean your junk drawer, stop trying to eliminate it and make it functional instead.
Professional organizer Laura Cattano suggests cleaning your junk drawer often. Just because it’s called a “junk drawer” doesn’t mean it should be filled with broken pens and mystery cords.
Keep only useful items inside, like working pens, sticky notes, scissors, batteries and a working lighter. Embrace the drawer, but clean it up. Organized chaos can still contribute to an organized home when approached intentionally.
