9 Tips to Organize Your Home Like a Minimalist
In the minimalist community, we can often tend to focus on decluttering, simplifying possessions, and getting rid of things… rather than organizing what we own. Which I understand, however, I think that as we simplify our lives we eventually get to a place where we are happy with the items we have, the next step becomes: how do I actually organize them? So today I want to walk through nine tips that will help you organize your home in a logical but simple way.
1. Organize by Kind
This one might sound like a no-brainer but it is amazing to me how often we organize our possessions in a way that doesn’t actually make sense. Maybe it’s that you store some shoes by the door, others in the coat closet, and more in your actual closet. Or perhaps you store utensils in multiple different locations throughout your kitchen. Organizing by kind helps you know where everything is and can save you a lot of time trying to remember where a specific item is (By the door? In the closet? Which closet?). Grouping like items together makes it a lot easier to find what you are looking for because you know where those items are and can simply pick out what you need.
2. Keep Cords Under Control
Cords may be essential to our lives today, but more often than not I find them a distraction and an annoyance. Because of that, I like to hide cords wherever possible or arrange them in such a way that they don’t turn into a tangled mess. One of my solutions is to take cords that aren’t used as frequently and spiral them up using a binder clip or hair clip to keep it in place. Then, for cords that I use on a regular basis, I usually just try to hide the cord as best I can, tucking it behind the couch or storing it in a nightstand. While it might not involve any true organizing, it helps my home appear more visually organized and less cluttered.
3. Make Your Most-used Items Easily Accessible
The good thing about this one is that we often do actually organize our possessions based on use, with our most loved and used items being most easily accessible. But this isn’t always the case. Ask yourself if there may be an area of your life where you’ve wondered why the space doesn’t feel more practical or more organized and consider if there may be a more useful way to organize based on how much you’re going to use those items.
4. Make It Visible
What we can see, we pay attention to and will actually use. A couple of areas this one is particularly important is in closets and kitchens. Often our clothes are stacked vertically into dresser drawers that pull out horizontally, which means we can only see the clothing that’s on top of the pile. Kitchens are the opposite: items are stored horizontally but we see them vertically when we open cupboards. There are a lot of ways you can get creative and store your items in a way that you can see them. You can use the Konmari method of folding for clothes or get shelves for kitchen storage. There are many ways to do it but the key is to just make sure that you can SEE the items you own. When we can’t see items, we don’t end up using them and they create extra clutter for us.
5. Use Boxes and Bags Liberally
Let me be clear, you don’t need to go crazy with this one. If you just have two or three like items, you probably don’t need to store them in a bag or box. But if you have a lot of any given item that you want to keep in one place, a bag or box can be helpful. For example, putting all of your socks and underwear neatly into a series of boxes or bins can really help you store things in a way that’s going to keep it neat and tidy and allow you to grab exactly what you’re looking for instead of rummaging through things. Additionally, I also like using them to organize things like office or art supplies.
6. Keep Everything in One Place
This one ties into some of the other ideas we’ve talked about, whether that’s organizing by kind or keeping things visible. But making sure that every like item that you have is stored in one place is ultimately just going to make it easier for you to find things when you need them. So, your shoes should all go in one place. The same goes for cleaning supplies. The same goes for toiletries.
7. Repurpose Boxes and Jars
I love this one for so many reasons. It’s great for sustainability, for saving money, for simplicity… Sometimes I feel like we can fall into a mindset of thinking we need to go out and buy storage solutions, but in reality, everyday items that are coming into and leaving our homes can make for fantastic storage options. To get started with this one, simply try repurposing jars from old food containers or using shoeboxes to organize products. You’ll be amazed at how versatile these items can be! And if you’re looking for some ideas, Pinterest has thousands of ideas of how to use everyday items as unique storage solutions.
8. Give Every Item a Home
I think this is a tip that we’ve all heard before but often don’t fully implement. Do you put your keys in the same place every time you return home? What about your mail? Do you put it in the same place each time so you can sort through it? What about headphones? Do those go in the same place every time? Having a designated space in your home where every item that you own belongs can be a great way to not only stay organized and know where everything is but can also save you minutes (or hours) of time searching for a lost item that you misplaced. Think about how nice it would be to always know where you left your keys or the TV remote!
9. Use Your Available Space
Far too often we’ll go out and buy a chest of drawers or a new bookshelf or other containers that we think we need to store our things. In reality, however, oftentimes there’s space in your home that is going unused. Under your bed or couch, or even corners of closets, can be used as efficient storage space! Now, let’s be clear, this isn’t a license to hide clutter in hard-to-reach spaces but it can be a great way to visually declutter items that aren’t actually clutter. For example, I like to keep my yoga mat under my bed where I can easily access it, so it is not visually cluttering up my space during the day!
And there you have it! Those are some of my favorite minimalist home organization tips. I hope it inspires you to organize your home in a way that enables you to get full use out of the items that you own. By implementing just a few of these tips, you can go a long way towards making your home more user-friendly so that you know where things are and don’t need to waste time looking for things! Now I want to know, what some of your favorite minimalist home organization tips? Make sure to comment below!
