The Home Edit

If you've been following my blog,  you know we recently bought a house. We haven't finished unpacking yet; mostly the upstairs is what's left, the spaces we don't use multiple times a day. I've spoken about wanting to “Pinterest the hell out of this house” and absolutely wanting to reduce clutter. When we moved yearly in the military, we were pretty good at not having excess clutter. After living in the last house for four years, we'd definitely acquired a good bit. So the move actually helped a lot; we got rid of a lot of unnecessary items. But we won't be moving again for a good long time, and I want to prevent that build up. So. Everything should have a place. I was hoping this book could help with some of my more problematic spaces. (I have a laundry closet with no room for ANY storage - the detergent and bleach live next door in the bathroom!) While the book did actually give me a possible solution for that SPECIFIC problem, I don't feel that there was much in this book I couldn't have gotten from Pinterest or watching more episodes of Marie Kondo on Netflix. (I love that show!)

The first chapter is spent on their philosophy; like Marie, they recommend you pull everything out of a space and look at it and keep only what you really like/need/use. Getting rid of excess stuff is always the first step. They stress getting containers to fit the space; they talk a lot about The Container Store. At the moment, that advice is a little useless, as I don't have the surplus funds to just go buy a ton of containers!

After that chapter, the book is split up by rooms/spaces, with several photographs and explanations of different examples. So they start with the entryway, and have a few different entryways with tips for each. An entry that is really a mudroom, with benches and individual hooks/cubbies, then an entry that is just a table by the front door for mail and keys, then a coat closet. Same with laundry; a small laundry room, a laundry closet with a little bit of shelving, a large laundry room, and tips for each. I was disappointed they didn't have my laundry setup; a closet with room for the stacked machines and NOTHING else. I feel like that's common enough they should have included it! The solution I did find, somewhere in the book, was an over the door shelving unit. I -think- I can push the machines far enough back in the closet space that I'll have the clearance for shallow shelves/cubbies on the back of the door for things like detergent, spot cleaner, bleach, tub cleaner, dryer balls, etc. I'll have to stop buying my detergent at Costco, or decant it into a smaller bottle, but now that it's just my husband and I, and no roommates, I don't think I need the giant container of detergent anyway!

They don't cover all the spaces in a house; it's Entry, Laundry, Bathroom, Home Office, Play Spaces, Closets, Kitchens, and Pantries. No bedrooms, living rooms, dining rooms, or guest rooms. Just the problem areas, really, which makes sense.

It's an alright book. It's very pretty, and has some fantastically organized spaces, but I can find the same things on Pinterest, with the same how-tos and tips from Marie Kondo. So I'd give it a pass, really.

You can find all my reviews and more at Goddess in the Stacks.

Some people have it, and some people don't: Organization. Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin have it, and they show those who don't how to do it. And they can laugh. And, good grief, that's important, too.

My takeaways:
(1) Organize your fridge with clear plastic containers. Never thought about organizing my refrigerator.
(2) Lazy Susans are useful everywhere. Medicines. Laundry items.
(3) Organize the backs of your doors. Yes.
(4) Rainbow colors for many things. Pretty. Memorable. Fun for kids.