If, like us, you’re obsessed with “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo," you’ve probably been inspired to sort through mountains of your clothes, books, and papers, and fill countless trash bags with everything that doesn’t “spark joy.”
But getting rid of unwanted things is only half the job. Now you have to figure out how to tidy what you keep.
Professional organizer Beth Penn of Bneato Bar, author of "The Little Book of Tidying: Declutter Your Home and Your Life,” said, “Organizing isn’t something that you arrive at, it’s something that is an ongoing process, something that you are constantly working on.” Here are some of the best tips we gleaned from Ms. Kondo’s show, with expert advice to help you stay neat after you’ve purged.
Give everything its own home
Once you’ve whittled your belongings down to a manageable amount, give each item a place to live. On her show, Ms. Kondo teaches clients to put items in drawers in a single layer — food storage containers are stacked on their sides with their lids on, while clothing gets folded into tall, triangular soldiers, ready to be deployed. Ms. Kondo also likes to sort items by size and compartmentalize them in small boxes so everything can be stored and found easily.
Ms. Penn recommends placing the things you use all the time in easy-to-reach places. “Everything needs to be seen, otherwise you’re going to forget that you have it,” she said. Instead of overstuffing drawers, give your belongings space to breathe.
While Ms. Kondo relies on found boxes like empty jewelry boxes or shoe boxes for organizing small items, at Wirecutter we’ve found that the right tool for the job works even better to maximize space and keep tidbits organized. Remember, only shop for organizers after you’ve finished your purge so you know exactly what you have left to store. In our tests, we found the adjustable Dial Dream Drawer Organizers were best for subdividing drawers and separating smaller items like socks and underwear.
We also tested organizing containers and loved the clear, acrylic Linus Medicine Cabinet Organizer, which has skinny compartments for keeping tubes and miscellaneous tools upright and easy to grab. For drawers, we prefer Tetris-able modular sets, with a mix of smaller cubes and longer rectangles, like the InterDesign Kitchen Drawer Organizer.
To keep things in a single layer in tall lower cabinets, we love The Container Store Silver 2-Drawer Mesh Organizer, a pullout track drawer system that allows you to double the amount of storage space under the sink while still keeping everything visible and accessible.
In the kitchen we recommend the Organize It All Cabinet Door Lid Rack, which can be wall-mounted to keep cookware lids visible and handy. For tall items like cutting boards and baking sheets, we find the YouCopia Storemore Adjustable Bakeware Rack handy.
Get the kids involved
Ms. Kondo strongly encourages parents to include children in the task of folding laundry. “Like reading a book, it’s a habit to fold clothes with my children,” she said. Children mimic their parents’ tidying tasks, and even when their work needs to be redone neatly, they enjoy being involved.
Getting children involved also means respecting what belongings make them happy.
If your kids balk at your attempts to declutter their belongings, you can still keep those things neat and accessible with affordable, collapsible bags and bins like the ones we recommend in our guide to toy storage.
Erin Boyle, author of “Simple Matters: Living with Less and Ending Up with More” and founder of the lifestyle blog Reading My Tea Leaves, lives in a one-bedroom apartment with her husband and two small children. Ms. Boyle encourages her 2-year-old and 4-year-old to participate in tidying by giving them straightforward, visible storage like wooden crates that live under the bed, a kid-level bookshelf, and low-hanging hooks for their coats. When artwork from school starts to pile up, she asks her children to help decide which pieces are ready for the recycle bin. “I have one little cardboard box that we keep for their favorite drawings,” she said.
Ms. Penn and her 22-month-old daughter sing a song and turn toy tidying into a game. “I find that when you can empower kids, they want to help out,” she said.
Decorate with sentimental items
Belongings that have meaning can’t spark joy when they’re boxed up in the garage. Instead, Ms. Kondo encourages her clients to decorate with their photos and sentimental items so they can enjoy them every day.
With physical photos, she recommends applying the same level of intention as with every other category in the home. When looking at similar photos taken at the same sitting, she says, choose the photo that sparks the most joy and toss the others. Ms. Kondo encourages her clients to put photos into an album that can be displayed and enjoyed.
If most of your family photos are digital, declutter your photo files and create a photo book for the coffee table with the best of them. We recommend Shutterfly Photo Books, which offer high-quality photos and customization options at a good price.
Avoid the urge to refill the space
Ms. Penn said that it’s easy to get overwhelmed with clutter now that shopping has become so convenient. “You can order something and have it be on your doorstep within an hour,” she said.
To avoid filling your space (and emptying your wallet) she recommended getting specific and goal-oriented with your purchases, and using a budgeting app like You Need a Budget (which we also think is the best budgeting app) to become disciplined about spending.
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A version of this article appears at Wirecutter.com.
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