That first night after our fateful lunch, when we were texting instead of making sure our children were somewhat bathed, we racked our brains to come up with the perfect name for our business. We tried several combinations, but once we landed on “The Home Edit,” there was no turning back. We wanted our name to articulate the core of our organizing philosophy Edit everything. Or, more specifically, always start the organizing process by paring down your items to the ones that are most used, most loved, and most important. It’s an idea that’s summed up by our logo, a clean, simple monogram nestled between a set of laurels—just the essentials, streamlined and contained in a beautiful way.
It doesn’t matter if we’re organizing a closet, playroom, or refrigerator; our process always begins with a proper edit. So that’s exactly what we’re going to start before discussing the needs of specific spaces. Editing is a crucial part of the methodology that helps you fully assess your space and all the items it needs to accommodate. And the only way to understand the contents—and how best to organize them—is to make sure that anything you’re about to make look really, really good is worth your time and energy.
Here’s how the process looks at a glance:
TAKE EVERYTHING OUT of the space you’re organizing (and we mean everything).
CREATE GROUPINGS by placing like items together so you can see what you’re dealing with.
PARE DOWN your belongings, getting rid of anything you no longer use or just don’t like.
We know The Edit isn’t everyone’s favorite part. But, like going to the gym or eating your veggies, the process is good for you, even though it might suck at times and you might experience a range of emotions while going through your stuff. Editing is the foundation of a sustainable organized system. If you skip this piece because you’re too excited about your trip to The Container Store or Target (we promise it won’t be long before you get to push a cart down those aisles), you’ll be doing yourself a disservice. By going through this process, you’ll make room for the things you use and love and get rid of the things that have been holding you back from a perfectly organized home.
Embracing the LOW-BAR LIFESTYLE
The Low-Bar Lifestyle is a credo we came up with to describe just barely managing to make it through the day yet still feeling like you achieved something. It’s something you can pat yourself on the back for and think, Look at ME! right before you pour yourself a drink and collapse on the couch. We apply the Low-Bar Lifestyle to all aspects of our life. If we give the kids a bath, then we get a gold star in parenting. If we microwave leftover pizza, another gold star. If we shower instead of putting our hair up in a bun, A-PLUS.
It’s all about setting the bar just low enough that you can accomplish all kinds of bite-size victories, because life is too short for feeling residual guilt about not wearing real pants or making it to the gym every day.
The same goes for organizing. Huge, daunting tasks are far too intimidating. Baby steps over a low, low, low bar will motivate you to keep on going. And since organizing is pretty much the only area in our lives where we set the bar very high, the good news is that we’ve done all the hard work for you. We’re setting an easier standard for you so your project is accessible, attainable, and doable. Be patient with yourself and don’t be afraid to give yourself plenty of gold stars for tackling smaller steps of a larger project.
One of the biggest pitfalls in organizing is choosing a project that’s way too involved, starting it an hour before you have to pick your kids up from school, making an enormous mess of your house, and scrambling to stuff everything back where it came from. You’ll find yourself swearing that you’ll never ever do it again. If you follow our advice, we promise that won’t happen.
It’s all about staying motivated. Start with a smaller project, then take the confidence and knowledge you gain from that and apply it to a slightly larger project. We know you’re fantasizing about all your dry goods in pretty jars—and they’ll get there!—but first, be realistic about your time, experience, and abilities. There’s no shame in starting small. In fact, the place we recommend beginning is with a single drawer.
That’s right: Start with a drawer. It’s pretty much the ideal space for getting your organizing feet wet. You follow the same exact steps of The Edit as you would for any other space, just in a bite-size way. Completely emptying out a drawer is a lot less daunting than emptying out a closet; you’ll be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel much more quickly, and sorting through the contents will most likely be straightforward and uneventful. Then you can just tuck everything back in again and head to The Assembly on this page to see how best to organize the remaining items.
Feeling good? Move on to another space in your house and give it the same THE love!
Here’s our guide to figuring out which projects tend to be easier and which generally take more time and effort:
EASY
A DRAWER
Choose any drawer! But start with just one. A single drawer is the best jumping-off point because it’s small and manageable and will give you your first big win. We’ve included plenty of drawers in The Assembly section of the book, so take your pick! Personally, we are fans of the kitchen “junk” drawer since it gets used so often!
UNDER THE SINK
The dreaded under-the-sink area sounds (and might look) challenging, but it’s actually very simple. And much like a drawer, it’s contained and just takes the right inserts and configuration.
MEDIUM
THE BATHROOM
We still suggest biting off small sections at a time, but the bathroom presents pretty simple choices in a small space. Do you use the items? Are they empty or old? Just go through the motions of purging and containing, and you will get through this space with flying colors.
PLAY SPACES
Toys can feel like a big problem, but they don’t have to be. If you consistently clear out the ones that aren’t in regular use, have missing pieces, or have seen a better day, you will eliminate most of your workload. The bonus? You can donate the purged toys to a local shelter. The extra bonus? Cleaning up after your kids is the best cardio on the planet—the Low-Bar Lifestyle at its finest!
HARD
THE CLOSET
Tackling your closet can sometimes feel like climbing a mountain. And not just because it’s physically challenging, but because it can be emotionally draining and complicated. Thoughts of Will I ever fit into that dress again? and But what if I decide to have another child? drift in and out of your head as you sift through the hangers. And that’s okay. Refer to our “Rules for Getting Rid of Stuff” (this page) to determine whether you should keep certain items, and give yourself a pass if you just aren’t sure. Remember, we’re setting the bar low. Just make it to the other side and raise it higher on another day.
THE KITCHEN AND PANTRY
In many ways, the pantry is the opposite of a clothing closet. There’s nothing emotional about almond flour and cashews, so decision-making should come easily. The hard part about a pantry is that it’s an enormous Rubik’s Cube, and once it’s pulled apart, it can be tedious to reassemble. The same can be true for a kitchen. So make sure to take stock of your space and have a plan of attack before you empty each shelf and drawer. There are a lot of kitchen and pantry examples in The Assembly; all you have to do is pick a space that most resembles your own and implement accordingly.
STEP 1:
TAKE IT ALL OUT
This is where you take the leap of faith. Are things about to get a little messy? Yes. Will you unearth items that give you minor twinges of chest pain? Quite possibly. Do you have to touch every single thing that lives in your drawer/cabinet/closet, pick it up, move it, and arrange it somewhere else? One hundred percent YES. This means that the space you’re organizing should be completely empty by the time you’re done. It’s the only way you’re going to find the dusty purses that have been shoved in the corner of the closet or the expired food in the back of your pantry.
If you leave anything inside the space, you’re saying, “I basically eat all that food” or “I basically wear all those clothes,” but we’re here to tell you that that’s the kind of thinking that got you into this mess in the first place. If you don’t get in there and pull out every single item, then you’re just kicking the can of beans down the road, not to mention building a faulty foundation with your organizing project. It’s a lot more difficult to come up with an efficient and beautiful system if you have to accommodate items you don’t care that much about. The purging part of the process comes later, but you can’t effectively pare down if you don’t know exactly what you have. Assessing each and every item, on the other hand, will help you figure out exactly what you still need/use/love, so you can get rid of the rest.
So clear off some space on your kitchen counter, bed, or bathroom floor, and strip those shelves and drawers until they are bare. And don’t forget to wipe them down once they’re empty…there’s bound to be some dust and debris.
STEP 2:
CREATE GROUPINGS
As you’re taking things out of your space, or after everything’s already out, group your items into general categories: gym clothes, T-shirts, and jeans; or eye makeup, lipstick, and face wash. You don’t need to worry about the organizing piece yet, just pair like items. For example, if you’re cleaning out your fridge, group all the drinks together. You don’t have to worry about whether the milk should be hanging out with the juice or sparkling water. Just stick with drinks.
This step helps with a couple of very important things. First, it keeps the project from devolving into a chaotic mess that makes you wish you never bought this book. Second, it will help you tremendously with the most difficult step: getting rid of anything you don’t wear, use, or want. Instead of going through every item one by one, seeing things in natural groupings will give you a more holistic context for what you own. It will help you see where you have unnecessary duplicates (i.e., thirteen white T-shirts) and decide which items are worthy of keeping.
And we’ll say this again: Don’t be tempted to start organizing yet. We can’t tell you how many times we’ve had to slap our own hands from putting fruit snacks into a jar right off the bat. We have to remind ourselves not to get carried away, too. If you attempt organization at this stage, you risk getting overwhelmed. We don’t do it that way for a reason: It’s way too hard. For now, avoid thinking about all the labels you’re going to make and stick with this one task.
STEP 3:
PARE DOWN
Pour yourself an extra-generous glass of champagne (or if you’re Team Joanna, a cup of tea). Because it’s officially time to edit. Take a hard look at everything sitting in front of you and ask yourself, Are all these things worth my energy? That’s really what this all comes down to—deciding which items are worth your attention, time, and effort when it comes to creating (and maintaining) a gorgeous, clean, Zen-like space that makes you happy every single day. We hereby give you permission to get rid of the things you don’t use or love (or even like). So in case you need to tear this out and tape it on your fridge:
IT’S OKAY TO GET RID OF THINGS.
If you spot an item that is no longer serving you—physically or emotionally—it’s okay to let it go. It’s not doing you any favors. In fact, it’s hogging precious space in your house and in your brain. We’re willing to bet that every time you see that unused ice cream maker or fondue set (you will never have a fondue party), that unworn designer jacket your mother-in-law gave you, or that unopened bag of almond flour you bought for a recipe you never made, you feel a bit guilty. Or you had to spend some energy to plan for when you’d actually put that item to good use (which would never end up happening, leading you back to guilt—but maybe that’s just us because we’re two Jewish women raised by Jewish mothers, and guilt was the cornerstone of our upbringing).
Bottom line: It’s FINE to get rid of things that are taking up space. No one will ask to see the scarf they gave you for Christmas or wonder where the dish towels with the Audrey Hepburn quotes are, or question why you never use the martini glasses you received for your wedding fifteen years ago. And if you bought yourself an item you never use, remember that we all make mistakes. Don’t double down on the mistake by keeping it.
Here are our tips for low-stress, tears-free purging:
1.Have bags on hand. Buy a box of large black garbage bags. Designate some bags for trash, some for donations, and some for friends and family. It’s essential to bag up your items as you’re purging—the progress will help you stay motivated. Plus, it feels so satisfying to clear things off the floor or counter and into the bags rather than just moving them from pile to pile.
2.Have a plan for what items you’ll donate or give away. Whether it’s scheduling an appointment for a Salvation Army pickup or making a list of the people you want to give certain items to, knowing the exit strategy for these things strongly decreases the likelihood that your giveaway bags will still be sitting in your trunk a year from now. Be realistic when coming up with your plan—are you really going to schlep fifteen unopened wedding gifts to the UPS Store so you can individually ship them? And that bag of clothes you plan on selling online…are you really going to sell them or just let them sit in a garbage bag graveyard until you forget they exist anyway? If you think you might need some hand-holding in this department, enlist a friend to help!
3.Have a small (small!) project pile. A watch with a missing link, an iPad with a cracked screen, a jacket that needs to be altered—these things can go in their own “special attention” pile. Fix them (sooner rather than later) and then move them back into their newly renovated home.
4.Consider the storing or archiving option. For some items, a binary choice—keep or throw out—isn’t appropriate. These are things you still want in your house but don’t need to look at all the time or have within arm’s reach. Your tax returns don’t need to sit on your desk, but they should be filed away safely in an appropriate place. Sentimental items can be packed away in the attic or basement instead of taking up valuable real estate in a living-room cabinet. Heavy winter clothes don’t need to be front and center in your closet in the summertime, so maybe they go in a seasonal bin on a shelf that you need a step stool to reach.
5.Just keep moving. Once you get into an editing groove, don’t give up and say you’ll come back to it another time. Stopping and restarting is a big reason people tend to lose interest and confidence when tackling an organizing project. Think of it like running (not that we know much about running, but this seems like a good metaphor): If you’re training for a 5K but you let two weeks go by between each run, it’s like you’re starting from scratch every time. We can’t urge you enough to take advantage of the motivation to make a change in your home, harness that momentum, and hang on for dear life. What will go a long way is making sure you give yourself plenty of time for The Edit. You can always come back later for the organizing piece, but make sure you can get through The Edit in one session. This comes back to not biting off more than you can chew, an essential rule for pain-free organizing and one that we’ll help you navigate later in this chapter.
6.Take one more pass. Before moving on to the next steps, take another look at all the items you have left. Make sure every single thing is worth the time and energy it’ll take to physically put it back in your space. If you feel great, then fantastic! You’ve officially completed the editing process. Pat yourself on the back and take a breath. The rest of our methodology is way more fun.
THE RULES for Getting Rid of Stuff
As you go through your things, ask yourself these questions. If it helps to visualize us hovering over you, that’s totally fine and not weird at all.
1.Do I need it? Some things are just a part of life and will stay with us for better or worse. We don’t really love our toaster ovens, but we aren’t going to get rid of them. So if you need it, it can stay.
2.Do I ever use it? EVER? Even once a year? A good example would be a roasting pan. You might use it only on Thanksgiving, but at least you can confirm that you do use it, even if infrequently.
3.Do I ever WANT to use it? This question usually applies to things like ice cream makers, fondue sets, and workout equipment. We all have good intentions, but we also have a limited amount of space. So try to picture yourself making ice cream before just buying a pint at the grocery store instead. Yeah, we didn’t think so.
4.Do I like it? Answer honestly. If you do honestly like it, then keep it. You get a full pass for things that make you happy. If you don’t like it, answer question number 2 before getting rid of it.
5.Is it sentimental? If the answer is yes, consider just how sentimental it is. Is it your-child made-you-a-piece-of-pottery-at-someone’s-birthday-party type of sentimental, or is it your-grandmother’s-china-that-you-don’t-like-but-you’re-going-to-give-it-to-your-daughter-one-day-so-it-becomes-her-problem type of sentimental? (If you’re reading this, Roberta, Clea LOVES Grandma Nancy’s china and, um, can’t wait for Stella to inherit it.) Depending on whether you deem the item worthy of sentimental attachment, you can make the decision about whether it should be donated or properly stored. It’s okay to hold on to something you care about EVEN if you don’t really like it, as long as it’s not taking up valuable real estate in your home. Utilize the top shelves in your closet; the attic, basement, or garage; or even a storage unit, if needed. Just don’t let these items take up your everyday living space, since they don’t serve your everyday needs.
Shopping THE Way
We can’t stress enough to ALWAYS take stock of your space before you start organizing. This will help you account for all of your items and better understand the parameters of the space itself. During this process, make sure to take photos of your space so you can refer back to them at the store. If you try to make a mental note of everything you have, and how many shelves you need to fill, you will be making multiple shopping trips for everything you missed. Here are some tried-and-true tips:
Measure your space: the height, width, length, and depth. To source the right product, you need to know your dimensions down to the quarter inch. Be sure to write down detailed information, such as the shelf depth, height between shelves, and drawer depth and height.
Maximize your usable space by selecting products that will take the best advantage of each shelf. Once you understand which pieces fit the best, you can look at your options and determine the aesthetic you prefer.
Consider the negative space options as well. For instance, do you want to use the floor to create extra storage or keep it clean and open? Do you want to take advantage of door space or leave it open?
Don’t be afraid to shop the entire store for any given space. You might find the perfect item for your kitchen in the bathroom section (hello, toilet paper holder).
ALWAYS buy containers in a variety of sizes. We routinely leave the store with twenty-eight shopping bags in tow, but we swear there is a method to the madness. You have to give yourself options while organizing because, inevitably, the product that you thought would be perfect doesn’t always work as well as you hoped. Not a problem! Just keep trying your backup product until you find the one that works best.
Buy in bulk! You will always need a larger quantity than you think, so purchase extra containers and return the overage.
Consider your lifestyle. When shopping for organizational products you have to realistically consider your day-to-day routine and who lives in your household. Are you someone who has the time or energy to come home from the grocery store and empty each cereal box into a canister, or is a big bin for cereal boxes an easier and more sustainable solution? Do you have a system in place for finding all of the little items you tuck in to storage boxes lined up on your bookshelves so you don’t lose track? There is no wrong way to get organized as long as you can commit to the long-term maintenance.
STORAGE ITEMS We Can’t Live Without
Keep a lookout for these items at your local home goods store:
SHOE BOXES: Not the cardboard boxes from your shopping trip. The ones we like are plastic with snap-on lids to keep items dust-free. You can use them for shoes, but they have other great uses as well. Also, the see-through plastic is ideal for storing seasonal items (so you can remember what you’ve stored).
LAZY SUSANS: Not just for spice cabinets—you can also use these for crafts, toiletries, laundry supplies, and under the kitchen sink. Just to name a few!
STORAGE INSERTS: Go for the unlidded kind for easy access and fast pickup like in kids’ playrooms where you need to organize things quickly and neatly. Or use them on closet shelves for organizing small accessories and sunglasses. These can tip over (and they’re not lidded) so make sure they’re lined up safely and on a stable surface, like on a shelf with a lip.
NONSLIP HANGERS: No wire hangers! JK, but seriously, why bother hanging things up if they just slip off and fall on the floor? Velvety hangers are a godsend—they’ll hold anything.
DOOR RACKS: The inside of every closet or pantry should have a door rack, and a quick search online shows so many different uses: for organizing shoes, gift wrap, the tops of pots and pans. If you haven’t shopped for a door rack lately, you’re missing out.
MAGAZINE FILES: We almost never use magazine files for their intended purpose. Instead, we put them to use separating handbags, clutches, notebooks, stationery, board games, and boxed puzzles.
STORAGE BASKETS WITH HANDLES: Handled baskets are one of our most frequently used items. They serve the critical purpose of containment and allow for easy-to-reach access on upper shelves.
CLEAR PANTRY BINS: Nothing goes in our refrigerator or freezer without first being stashed in a clear bin. They’re great for avoiding spills and organizing types of food.
LINED STORAGE BINS: Don’t put delicate items in bins that will snag. Look for lined baskets. Also, they add a softer touch for the bedroom.
STORAGE TIERS: Make your pantry shelves work a little harder with these tiered shelves, which help you reach the back of the cabinet more easily.
Our SIGNATURE LOOK
Here’s the good news: After you edit everything down and go shopping, the hard part is over, and the actual organizing can now commence. Because, as the saying goes, good things come to those who group and categorize appropriately and don’t just skip to the end. Here is the method behind our madness.
FORM AND FUNCTION Are Equals
One of the reasons we strive to make spaces as aesthetically pleasing as possible is because we know how powerful a motivator that can be for a client to keep it looking that way. The truth is, people are more willing to commit to something if it feels good and it looks good. It’s like how when you finally get in shape, you’re motivated to keep it up. You just need to remind yourself, Hey, you already did all the hard work; you already made a system for making this change—now you just have to maintain it. Except instead of early-morning cardio and eating nothing but yogurt, the only thing you have to commit to is putting the cereal in the Breakfast bin. So much easier! Regardless of whether it’s toned-up arms or a meticulously organized playroom, it would be sad to see all that hard work go to waste.
To be clear, though, when we talk about maintenance, we’re not saying that your space needs to be photo-ready 100 percent of the time. Even our homes aren’t that hard core! Not every one of our drawers and closets is going to be perfectly beautiful at all moments—but they are going to be really good at all times, because (a) allowing for a breakdown in the system is a very slippery slope—and when it falls off the cliff a little bit, it falls off a lot—and (b) surrounding ourselves with attractive, well-organized spaces makes us really, really happy.
RAINBOW Is BRIGHT
One of our signatures that sets our spaces apart from other organizers’ is our affinity for ROYGBIV (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet, for those who need a refresher), or sorting items by color and organizing them by the spectrum of the rainbow. This is partially a design decision—things in rainbow order are pleasing to the eye—but it’s also an organizational tool. Our brains innately recognize this pattern, making it a natural scheme for making sense of where we put things.
Whether it’s drugstore items, soft drink cans, bags of snack foods, LEGOs, or T-shirts, if you display items in rainbow order, it creates a visual flow that naturally clicks with the brain. It makes it faster to find what you’re looking for and easier for you to know where things should be put away, and it’s certainly gentler on the eyes than any other method. It’s part of what makes our systems so user-friendly—because sometimes you’re not the only one using them. For kids, this method not only helps them know exactly where to put things away, but it also inspires them creatively. Suddenly, cleanup is less a chore and more of a sorting challenge or game. So we promise you, there really is logic to the rainbow, and it perfectly sums up the marriage of aesthetic and function.
LABEL, LABEL, LABEL
The other, literal, signature that makes our work unique is our labeling. But contrary to the belief that this finishing touch is frosting on the organizational cake, we believe that this is actually the secret to long-term maintenance. The key to keeping up a system isn’t so much the containers you choose—although that’s critical—but the labeling. The labels, whether they’re handwritten, typed, needlepointed, whatever, are really a set of instructions. Just as how ROYGBIV is an intuitive blueprint (and is a type of labeling in and of itself), clearly and concretely identifying the contents that belong in a container gives you, your kids, your partner, your houseguests, and anyone else using the space straightforward directions for where items go.
When items stay where they belong, you’re successfully maintaining an organizational system. That’s why it’s so important that you get the labeling right. It has to hit the sweet spot between the general and the specific, and it should be the perfect assortment of categories so that when you put away your groceries, laundry, or newest stash of crafting supplies, you barely have to think about it. What you want is a simple road map that’s flexible enough to allow for the occasional outlier. What you don’t want are overly specific containers that lock you in, so you find yourself sticking things anywhere because it’s better than nowhere and then the system starts to fall apart and the sky opens up and all hell breaks loose and you’re left with total anarchy. We can’t have that weighing on our conscience, so here are some things to consider before you take out the paint pen.
Think about your general categories before your specific ones. The general categories will be much larger groupings: for instance, “Breakfast” in a pantry. But if you notice you have a significant amount of oatmeal, you can create a specific category just for oatmeal. Or in a bathroom, you might have a large amount of hair products in general, but also a wide selection of just dry shampoos (ahem, Low-Bar Lifestyle). In that case, you could have a general bin labeled “Hair Supplies” and another bin labeled and devoted exclusively to “Dry Shampoo.” What you want to avoid is having all specific bins, because inevitably you will buy something, bring it home, and have no idea where it goes. Our rule of thumb is to always lean toward general categories because you can’t go wrong. More granular categories should be secondary.
Here are some examples of general and specific labels for various parts of the house. There’s no right or wrong label—it’s just important that all things are accounted for!
