You want to be organized?
I’ve boiled it down to the basics for you.
Two rules to live by:
Store it where you use it.
Put it away when you are done.
Take it from me, an organizer who has literally seen it all, and organized it all!
What kind of stuff do you really need in your home? Think about it for a minute. A lot of things take up space, but they are not really pulling their weight or getting used.
My organizing philosophy: if you don’t use it or love it; out it goes.
Love it or leave it!
Purging that unnecessary stuff is crucial to having an orderly home.
And having a safe “home” for the possessions you use and love is just as important.
One thing I’d like to define here is “prime real estate,” a term I use in the tips. Prime real estate means a central area crucial to production. For example, in the kitchen, prime real estate are the easily-reached areas where frequently-used items need to be stored, like the frying pan and spatula you use daily.
What about all the stuff that doesn’t fit? Kitchen gadgets and utensils come in all shapes and sizes, and we can’t keep it all on our counters!
These adhesive hooks are available in hardware stores.
3. Knives: Anytime you need space, look up. The walls are a great resource. Try a wooden knife block or use a magnetic strip installed near the area your cutting boards are stored. This is a Culina knife magnet.
4. For frequently-used large items like a blender or toaster, store on the counter top.
5. For infrequently-used large items that are not too heavy for you to transport, (like a crock pot) store them on the lowest shelf of pantry or in a lower cabinet. Don’t use “prime real estate” for these items. (See introduction)
6. Another option for large items: a deep corner of the countertop can be turned into an “appliance garage” with a built-in door to hide appliances.
7. Put bananas in a banana stand with a hook, install a banana hammock under your upper cabinets, or use a basket on the counter. Remember Chiquita Banana singing: ‘Because bananas never go in the re-frig-erator!’
8. Water bottles often start to overflow their area and I find it’s difficult to find a lower cabinet shelf with tall enough clearance to stand them upright. Solution: I lie them on their sides and stack them on top of each other. I resist the urge to buy water bottles taller than 10 in. If you must have larger ones, try storing on an upper shelf instead of prime real estate.
9. Plastic lids: these are a problem for everybody! Regularly matching lids up with food-storing containers to make sure you don’t have too many is a must. Some people assign a whole drawer for lids, which works. Others put lids and containers in the same cabinet. To save space, my kids just discovered you can click the lids together (wow!) and store them in a clear bin that only takes up part of a deep drawer.
10. Spices: Spices can be organized so many ways. One clever idea I like for small-space apartments or homes with little cabinet space: Use these nifty magnetic containers for spices. Make sure and label them!
Available at the Dollar store.
11. Install spice shelves inside your cabinet doors.
12. Use a step-device so you can see all the spices in your cabinet. Available at The Container
13. Teas: Many women (and some men) like tea, and sometimes they start overflowing from the cabinet. Here’s what I do: Purchase a containter like the one on the right, which fits 12 to 16 types of tea inside! Then put the boxes with the remaining tea on a high shelf (not prime real estate). Available at The Container
14. Vases: Big ones, little ones, oh my! The vase collection needs to be purged periodically. Keep what’s left either under the kitchen sink (doesn’t matter if they get wet!), on a high shelf in a cabinet, or at the back of a deep cabinet.
15. Under the sink is a good place for cleaning supplies, trash bags and dishwasher
16. Try an under-sink organization system. I use 4 different products here, but you can buy one to fit your space. Measure before buying! Try a local hardware store, or these options:
Over door organizer (holding pink gloves): https://amzn.to/3poPy66
Whole under-sink system: https://amzn.to/32TTv9b
17. I like to have a towel nearby, but don’t want toput holes in my wooden cabinets, so I got a metal over-door towel holder for this area. I found it at a hardware store.
18. Lids: Stand em up! There are wooden lid stands as well through Ikea or other stores. https://amzn.to/3noMANe
19. Stand mixer, blender, toaster, wheat grinder, etc. can get stored in a lower cabinet or on the counter if you use it
20. Save space while air-drying dishes. (See picture of plate rack below.) The one in the picture below was installed instead of a cabinet above the
21. Vitamins, medications: As a visual reminder, we keep them on the (this is the only way we remember!) I use a clear box like the one in tip 9 above.
22. Dog treats: a clear container with a lid works, or a baggie in a cabinet. Definitely store them securely so the pet cannot binge on them!
23. Phone charging station. I really like either a clear phone charging station, with a port for the cords to get channeled through, or an attractive wooden one.
24. How to hide ugly phone charging cables? Try a spiral cord-combining apparatus. It looks like the old-style stretchy spiral telephone cords. Or use a hole in your desk and plug them in underneath the desk, snaking the cords underneath. See picture in Living Room section below. https://amzn.to/2UDGWKw
One client had a contractor make her a drawer with electrical outlets installed inside the drawer to hide the phones and the cords. Brilliant!
25. Try this nifty knife holder with wooden slots that slides into a shallow drawer and keeps your fingers from getting nicked. Whoever invented this deserves a medal. https://tinyurl.com/ynwux2c9
2. Chips are a messy part of the pantry. I love the idea of the dog clamps (available in office supply stores) at top of chip bags. Usually I see them suspended by a rope under a pantry
3. Use a wire shelf rack & double-stack cans. This has many other uses. Available at the Container Store and other
4. Plastic bags to re-use: I use a craft-fair one made out of a towel formed into a tube with elastic at both
5. Here’s another idea: Use an Ikea plastic bag container. I pinned a picture of it on my Organized Wrapping board. https://www.pinterest.com/jennyrossomorin/organized-wrapping/
6. Food storage that won’t fit in pantry: This is the “food archive” area, and it’s usually a garage or basement. Designate one area for this if you have the space. That makes it easier to see what you have and find your food storage.
Figure 1: Photo by Ashley Rapplyea
We want to make the living room a comfortable place to be, but also need to get it tidy in a jiffy if we’re having guests. It’s a balancing act.
For living rooms without storage, try these tricks:
3. Cord keeper for all the cords. Super easy! https://amzn.to/2UDGWKw
4. Solution for games or movies, CD’s, etc. They tend to take over! I looked all over for a sturdy storage bench and ended up getting one at Costco. The lid flips over to make a tray. Very handy!
5. Teapot Collection: Collections are fun when they are displayed! (Consider purging if you have too many to display.) I like this idea I got from a client. If you have upper kitchen cabinets that don’t go all the way to the ceiling, display the teapots up top. But sometimes crown molding hides the top of the cabinets, so the teapots get hidden. Buy some 3-inch thick foam insulation from a craft or hardware store, and cut it to fit the spaces atop your cabinets. That way you can see the pretty teapots all in a row!
Usually we have one bathroom that gets seen by the ‘public,’ anyone that comes to visit our home. And we want it to look nice, but still need it to hold the things we’d need on a daily basis. Here are some ideas to keep it looking nice and still be functional. None of my bathrooms have medicine cabinets, a fact I lament. So, I’ve had to come up with some creative solutions to ‘hide’ the things we need. Since our home has just 1 bathroom on the first floor, we need to keep first aid, lotion, soap and other supplies there.
2. If under the sink doesn’t provide enough space, look up. The walls are a great place to install shelves, a bookshelf or a cabinet with doors.
If your only choice is open storage, use coordinated baskets to ‘hide’ items in plain sight. I use these Sterilite bins. https://amzn.to/32ILTGK
3. Magazines: upright is usually the way to go. A magazine stand is a great solution. Try a wall mounted rack if you’re short on space. The one pictured is available at abcoffice.com.
4. Cluttered counters: if clutter regularly accumulates on your counters, try putting an attractive plastic basket there. Containerize!
5. Make sure to keep your bathroom a safe place for little children and pets. Keep bleach and other dangerous chemicals out of reach or behind a child-locked cabinet door.
The master bedroom, ideally, is a calm retreat from the rest of the home. In order to fulfil this role, most items need to be tucked away out of sight, with the surfaces clear. A great benefit of clear surfaces: they are much easier to dust!
3. Bedside tables: hopefully you have one drawer to keep lotion, earplugs, or other sundries you use in your room. Otherwise, a basket will work to make it look
4. Socks/slippers sometimes get left around the room, just tuck the slippers under the bed and put a basket where the socks usually get
5. For clothes left on the floor, I would place a laundry basket or an attractive medium-sized basket in that
6. Stuff from the last trip that didn’t get put away: you may have to do this yourself. This is a habit that needs to get established. (I talk at length about establishing good habits in my book, Get Organized Quick. Try unpacking together, and have a small “put-away box” by the door of the room for items that need to get put away elsewhere. Then put those items away. Link to ebook: https://amzn.to/3kRwJ84
7. Closet: one of the most useful things in my closet is the shelves. To improve the look of the closet, I use shelf dividers to keep my stacks of sweaters neat. https://amzn.to/32EeNYr
8. Another cool item is the scarf organizer: many of them have 12-20 loops for
9. Neckties? No problem. You can get a hanger with a bunch of pegs sticking out for the ties. If you want to upgrade, the Container store sells a mechanical one where the ties scroll past. This works best if there are a large number of ties—like more than
10. Sweaters getting dusty? Try sweater boxes! They are so neat, and the clear window opens like an oven so you can access the sweater without bringing the whole box down. Available at the Container Store.
11. Purses: For one client with a large number of purses to display, a bookshelf worked great. We just stood them up like books. Put something heavy in the purse at the edge to keep from sliding off.
12. 2nd purse idea; I like lightweight cloth bins, or try lidded clear bins that don’t overhang your shelves, enough for 3-4 purses. Make sure they are tall enough for your tallest bag!
13. Keep a giveaway bag (I use paper bags because they stand up on their own) tucked under one of the banks of hanging clothes, and constantly be purging what you don’t wear.
14. Seasonal clothes: I don’t keep all of my clothes out all the time. There’s dust, and the wear of being on a hanger if it’s a heavy winter item. Instead, I box up seasonal items in clear or labeled ‘totes’ then put them on the top shelf or floor of the closet, tucked under a closet rod. Basement/ attic/ garage works, too.
For the life of me, I don’t know why any architect or builder would think a simple shallow linen closet would be enough to house the linens for a 4-bedroom house. Initially, this was a frustration for me, but I found a solution.
For ideas about toy organization, I’ll refer you to my Pinterest page. One of my favorite methods to organize small toys is the colored bins on a shelf. For kids that cannot read yet, draw or print a picture of what goes in the bin. You can’t start training kids too early to put away their toys!
https://www.pinterest.com/jennyrossomorin/childrens-toy-organizing-ideas/
2. Stuffed animals: Some special ones have to stay in the kids’ beds, but the extras can be corralled in to a basket or a small hammock attached to the wall or bedframe. https://amzn.to/2IFofnK
3. As kids grow up and stop playing with toys, try this. Repurpose any solid toy shelf or bookshelf for clothes. This worked great when my oldest son came home for just 2 months. I purchased these bins for small items and his clothes. It’s less expensive than purchasing a dresser!
Sterilite large bins: https://amzn.to/3lE9waB
This is where we generally throw the crap, pardon my language, but it really is…. I’ve been working on a room with a client and we have found all kind of random stuff as we unpack the mish-mosh that is her moving boxes.
Here is what we found;
3. Keys: Definitely keep them on hooks by the door or in your purse or jacket. The key is to be consistent! https://amzn.to/33npijl
4. Magnets: How many magnets do you need? Pick a number and “stick” with it.
a. I prefer to use a baggie and group them in a bin with other small items in a drawer or
b. Or store with office supplies in a file drawer or cabinet in your home
5. Thumbtacks: once again, pick a number, or save 1 box of them, donate the rest. A small square or rectangular box with a lid will work if they are loose. Generally, keep them close to your cork board or with office supplies in a closet.
6. Stuff from grandma… leather gloves and doilies: an acid free box like a photo box works great. Old letters and fabric need special care; they must be kept dry and flat in an acid-free container. I strongly suggest using a camera or phone to take pictures of treasured old letters or family history to preserve
7. Books: Definitely a bookshelf. Arrange alphabetically by author, or genre, then alphabetically by title, or if you want, by color of the book cover! Did you know you can easily make a bookshelf out of a few boards and cinder-blocks? Yep, give it a try. I probably would put it in a home without babies or toddlers, for safety, though.
8. Blank cards to send someday: Hmm. If you have too many cards, keep only the ones you know you’ll use. Then place them in a clear container or small, labeled box, like a photo box.
As a general rule, when in doubt, throw it out.
1. Mail: If you have a deep drawer by the desk or table where you pay the bills, this is optimal. For a household with many members, try this kind of idea. I labeled each pocket with 1 family member’s name. Available at the Container
2. Photos:
a. for actual pictures, an acid-free photo box worksb.
b. File them by year. Again, make sure the paper files are acid
c. If the amount of photos per year are less than about 20 photos, try a binder with clear plastic sleeves and label the sleeves with the year. 1975, 1982,
d. Old photos: Again, acid free is a must. Do NOT label them with a pen on the back!
3. Magazines: Slippery lil’ suckers, arent’ they? They don’t stand up well on a bookshelf unless it’s quite tight. I recommend magazine holders. If space is tight, consider clipping a few articles you will definitely use later, and place them in a 3-ring binder. Use clear plastic sleeves or just a triple hole-punch. They take up a LOT less room this way. Or scan the articles you want, but remember, you have to organize them on your computer too to find them later!
4. Church bulletins, etc: Toss them instead. If you are keeping due to a quote you like, type it into a note program on your phone or computer, or just snap a picture of it. Use a file labeled church in the note program.
5. Certificates for professional training: The biggies, like college, frame and put on the wall. The smaller ones can be stored in a
6. Meeting agendas: toss old meeting agendas. Current agendas with tasks? Transfer tasks to your calendar or phone and then toss.
7. Medical test results & surgeries: Good idea to keep at least a basic record of these, and keep them together in a file, one file per person in the
8. Tax records: Keep any tax records you are collecting for next tax return in an accessible file. Go ahead and box up 7 years of tax returns (to be safe) with the accompanying support documents. I prefer the white banker’s boxes for this—they are easy to label and distinguish from other boxes if, Heaven forbid, you get
9. Investment documents: You don’t have to keep everything they send you, just review the current statement and keep the year-end summary. If you’re getting inundated by paper, ask the company for an e-
10. Instruction Manuals and warrantees: It is important to keep these, and purge them once in a while. Funny story: One client’s movers accidentally grabbed the packet of appliance manuals from her old apartment and we discovered them in one of her boxes! Big oops.
See how many you have, then find a clear, lidded box a little bigger, bc you’ll probably be adding to it. A deep drawer also works.
As a friend reminded me recently, very little is truly random. But I think this stuff is random. Maybe I mean miscellaneous…?
13. Extra pet food: I keep a Christmas popcorn container in my house for the dog food, and I just discovered these nifty containers to store the rest of the bag. Hint: for multiple pets, use a different color lid for each pet. https://amzn.to/39hDv59
14. Pet accessories and toys: an open box or basket, a deep drawer near the door, or a basket in the entryway are good spots for pet toys and leashes. I like a hook to hold the leashes so they don’t get
2. See my book for more ideas to create a wrapping station that takes up very little prime real estate. Link to ebook: https://amzn.to/3kRwJ84
3. Craft supplies: beads, ribbon, bias tape, oh my: Small craft supplies like these work well in a clear plastic bin. If you don’t have a clear bin, label the small end of the box and store on a shelf.
4. Beads work well with small dividers. A tackle box or an embroidery-floss organizer will work well for small numbers of beads. For larger amounts of beads, clear canning jars are great.
5. Metal objects: like jewelry-making supplies. Keep metal together, especially small metal objects. Try a felted jewelry organizer with small compartments, or a tackle box.
6. Tools: I always like a pegboard for small tools. They are easy to install and make it easy to see what you have, and are very easy to access.
7. Glue and paints: a drawer, clear lidded container, or wall-mounted shelf works well for small bottles of acrylic paint.
8. Ribbon: see my Pinterest page for ideas. https://www.pinterest.com/jennyrossomorin/craft-sewing-room- organizing-ideas/
9. Scrapbooking Paper: See my Pinterest page on Pretty Organized for ideas (link above). The clear or opaque 12 x 12 plastic paper boxes are a great way to store paper. A scrapbooking bag with a file inside is another great way to keep different types of specialty and themed paper. I organize my paper by color.
10. Fabric: Clear plastic bins with lids work well, or you can keep it in neat stacks on shelves arranged by color or project. Fabric DOES like to breathe, so open storage is ideal. (Fold it and put it on a shelf.)
11. Batting (try those vacuum seal bags OR squish it into a container with a tight lid, a clear plastic ‘tote’ is the best. Keep up high. It takes up a lot of space but is super light. Treat it like an archive. It’s one of the last steps in your quilting or sewing project, so you don’t access it often.
