Top Tips for Home Organization
These midcentury/MCM bookcases can be found here.
When I bought my home a few years ago, I was adamant about decorating my space in a way that’s functional — by design. Until I started a cleaning business, I used to believe that form (AKA, design) had to be sacrificed, in order to have a functional home.
I’ve been on the inside of thousands of homes. I’ve seen MANY examples of how people live. I’ve seen it all: from the super messy and cluttered, to the always-tidy-everything-is-in-its-place folks. In my personal observation, I’ve noticed that it’s most common for people to live somewhere in between the place of super messy and spick and span.
One thing that I’ve come to learn is that there are specific ways to decorate a home that can support a more clean and tidy space. You CAN make a home more functional, by design. Some of these are very small and subtle home hacks, but they can make a huge difference in the way that you interact with your space. Let’s dive in! Here’s my short list:
Hooks vs. Towel Bars
In the bathroom, unfolded towel(s) over a towel bar can make a space look untidy to the subconcious visual eye. The only reason a towel bar exists is for keeping a dry towel. Strategically spaced hooks will give you this SAME function, without the mess. Hooks keep things SO much more neat and tidy.
Wall Shelves
During the pandemic, I went a little wild with installing wall shelving. Shelves of all kinds are great, but adding pieces of furniture to your house can also minimize open space at home. This is why I love wall shelves — because you can still decorate, but maximize your space by keeping things up and off of the floor. I have wall shelves in my kitchen, living room, bathroom, and meditation room.
For these shelves pictured above: I built them. I found wood at my local hardware store, got it cut to size, and stained the wood this dark chocolate color. From there, I paired it with a white bracket to match my white wall. This gives it a ‘floating shelf’ look without actually having floating shelves.
Pro tip: if you’re going to stain or paint your wood shelves, almost any low cost wood will do! No need to go fancy here — the wood won’t really show.
Spice Tracks
Did you read that right? Yes, spice tracks. I had my eye on these spice tracks by Vertical Spice for years before I invested in them. I can tell you, it was WELL worth it! It can be a pricey investment, but if you own your home or plan on being in your rental for a while: GET THESE NOW. It makes cooking so much more fun when you can easily find your spices.
I also invested in these short and wide mason spice jars and printed labels with my labelmaker.
Containers for Essentials
I like to have an easy-access storage system for bathroom essentials. This might include q-tips, floss sticks, hand soap, toothpaste, and more! Bathroom storage systems can range from trays to various storage containers. Ideally, these are wide open mouth containers, making them easier to clean. Containers with tiny compartments and tight corners can take extra time to clean.
A good containment system utilizes a main ‘hub’ area where you keep a back stock of household items. You can store things in bulk in a utility closet, basement, or garage. From there, keep smaller containers where you can refill them on a rolling basis, as needed.
The Tidy People Cleaning System
An observation I’ve had over the years in cleaning people’s homes is that most have a closetful of cleaning supplies, but those supplies never get used! Reason being, there are too many cleaning supplies to choose from, many having the same or a similar function. When things get really cluttered, it can make the cleaning process overwhelming from the start.
I created The Tidy People sustainable cleaning system to make cleaning more fun and more TIDY. Instead of having a closetful of products, we pair this down to a caddy-full of products.
