The Home Edit Inspo: "Make it Make Sense" (Part 2/3)

Hello everyone!
Welcome back to The Home Edit Inspo blog which is based around the book, “The Home Edit Life: The No-Guilt Guide to Owning What You Want and Organizing Everything”, written by Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin.
In Part 1/3, we went over how and where to start on your organizing journey. Now that you have gotten started, Part 2/3 is to help you progress through your editing and organizing and make your space make sense! Let’s begin!

Square two: Make it make sense!

1. The Golden 80/20 Rule (the BEST rule that you never knew you needed!)
   “Keep your home no more than 80% full, and reserve at least 20% for breathing room. Using all the available space in your home is a bit like eating until you are overly full. It's as uncomfortable for your belt buckle as it is for your closets. And what if you want dessert? Or an extra pair of shoes? When you have no breathing room you have no options and that’s just no way to live”.

 Just because you have a lot of space, doesn’t mean you should use ALL of it.
 Let’s admit it… I am sure, just like myself, you have crammed things into drawers, or let a category of items (such as clothes, paperwork, crafting supplies, etc.) leak over into another room, drawer or space where it does NOT belong.
I also wouldn’t doubt that maybe you even AVOID those spaces because you ARE totally aware that it’s too messy or “all over the place” (out of sight, out of mind, right?). Try tackling the 80/20 rule and watch it transform your space!

“One of our core beliefs is that you get the item, or you get the space, but you don't get both. Everything you own takes up a certain amount of physical space and eventually even the largest home will run out of square footage”.

2. Create Zones!
   “When considering smart systems, it's helpful to think in terms of zones, the boundaries that will contain your different kinds of stuff. They can be large zones you set up in a pantry (such as cooking staples, food, and storage items). These thematic boundaries are both healthy and helpful. They not only give the items a designated space, but they also hold you accountable for not exceeding that space. And if you follow our zone principles, we promise you will set yourself up for success”.
   An example of zones would be, handbags, shoes, pants, shirts etc. in your closet.
   Or, produce, condiments, meat, beverages etc. in your fridge.

Creating zones by compartmentalizing areas is pleasing to look at and great for keeping track of items.

3. Contain the entire category.
   “You risk losing the items or buying the items again because you can't take stock of everything at a glance. We like to say that all friends belong together, and no one gets left behind!”

Just as you wouldn’t have your spoons in a different drawer from your forks, you shouldn’t do this with other items in your house either!
Often times we end up overbuying or purchasing double for items in our home due to not containing categories and having then items scattered around the home in different areas.

To contain an entire category means that when you organize everything, keep all like items TOGETHER. Keep it contained to one space. That way you aren’t looking through multiple drawers and cupboards for one type of item.

4. Create a flow that makes logical sense.

“The food zone would have a day-to-night flow, from breakfast items to dinner items, and snacks can flow into the sweets. The cooking zone would have oils and vinegars next to the condiments and be adjacent to baking supplies (these are all building blocks of cooking)”.

You want an order to your belongings that is intuitive to YOU. A couple of examples, my tea/ coffee station is organized by the order that I make my beverage. The clothes in my closet are organized from left-right of what I wear throughout the week.

5. Consider who is using this space.

“Where and how you position your zones is key to successful maintenance. Do you need to keep items on low shelves for your kids to reach by themselves, or on a high shelf out of their reach? Is the station by the front door easily accessible for every member of the household?”

When we organize our space, we want to keep it organized for as long as we can. By organizing things by use and accessibility, it will prevent a mess. If you are like me and are a shorter adult, it wouldn’t be the best idea to put items you use daily on a higher shelf either. You want the most used items, and the items kids are meant to have in an accessible area. You want the least used items and the items you DON’T want kids to access in a higher area.

Well, that concludes Part 2/3 of our Home Edit Inspo blog! I hope you found this as helpful as I did!

Now that you have an understanding of how to organize and edit your space to its functional and makes sense!  Be sure to check out Part 3/3 to complete your Home Editing journey with some helpful finishing touches.