4 min readMost home organizing rules are grounded in common sense. Declutter. Keep similar items together. Label storage bins. But there are other organizing rules that, while effective, simply don’t work for everyone. And many pro organizers will likely give you their blessing to break those rules and find a better solution.
“Systems have to work in real life, not just on paper,” says Amber Taggard, founder of The Organizer Chicks. “If something looks organized but is hard to maintain, it’s not actually organized.”
A good professional organizer won’t try to impose their particular system on you, so if you already have a methodology that’s keeping your space in order—even if it doesn’t look Pinterest-perfect—then you’re already organized.
Brenda Prinzavalli, owner of Balanced Organizing Solutions, says she’s turned away potential clients by asking two questions: Can you find whatever it is you’re looking for? And do you lose things? If the answer is “yes” to the first and “no” to the second, she’ll let them know that her services might not be needed after all.
“If you can be successful, and if you can get done what you need to get done, it's not about what other people's impression is of what your life should be,” she explains. Ultimately, the best organizing system is the one that works for you and your space.
Here are some of the rules pro organizers will encourage you to skip so you can get organized and stay that way.
Skip Buying More Organizing Products
Ever bought a cute storage bin and thought, “This will change my life!” only to find that nothing changed? You’re not alone. “You don't need to go buy stuff,” says Jessi Acuña, founder of The Tidy Armadillo. “You need to declutter first, and once you declutter, then you can decide what you actually need to contain.”
Don’t Rush to Declutter
The keep/discard/donate/sell method of decluttering may need tweaking for some clients, says Acuña, especially when there’s an emotional connection to certain items. She recommends that clients put those things in a “purgatory space” (a bag will do) and return a bit later for a final decision. Spoiler alert: Those items often get decluttered anyway, but it’s done with less stress.
Drawers Don’t Have to Look Perfect
Sometimes, it’s all you can do to get your stuff back in drawers and bins, and that’s OK, especially if you have kids, according to Prinzavalli. Snack bins are a good example. “If [your kids] know, ‘Go in there, you’re going to find a snack,’ that’s good enough,” she says.
The same applies to toys. “If they just have one big bin and all their toys go in there, it doesn’t have to be that the Legos are separated from this one and then the squishy ones are over here,” Prinzavalli explains. “Because with kids, it’s just not going to happen. You’re going to make yourself crazy.”
You Don’t Have to Master Folding
If you’ve been folding your T-shirts the way Marie Kondo taught us, you’re welcome to continue—but you really don’t have to. Acuña says folding can be “a friction point” for some clients, and if it threatens to upend their laundry routine, she encourages them to skip it. “Done is always better than perfect,” she says.
Wendy Trunz, partner at Jane's Addiction Organization, agrees. “A system can't be maintained if someone doesn't like the way their clothing is folded or placed in a drawer.” That doesn’t mean balling up t-shirts and shoving them in a drawer, of course. “Drawers can be just as organized by folding items flat,” she adds.
Closets Don’t Need a Rigid System
It’s your closet, your organizing rules, according to Trunz. Clothes can be sorted by outfit, by sleeve length, by items most worn, or by something else entirely. “The best rules for their closet are the organization rules they truly want to follow and enjoy,” she says.
Prinzavalli agrees. If what works for her client is simply that all the shoes are picked up off the floor and put on a shoe rack, so be it. Another thing? You can keep the wire hangers, says Trunz. If clients find it tiresome to switch dry cleaning back to regular hangers, they don’t have to. “You can still create an organized closet with items on wire hangers,” she says.
You Can Ditch Decanting
Decanting your soaps or beautiful products into uniform bottles is “more of a preference than a rule,” says Acuña. If you enjoy doing it, great; otherwise, it’s fine to keep items in their original containers. “You want your organized home to reduce added work in your life; you don’t want to add to it.”
Aesthetics Aren’t All That Important
You might love the look of items arranged on a high shelf, but if it’s not conducive to how you use them in your daily routine, you need to regroup. “The body comes first, not the container,” says Taggard, adding that she designs systems around her client’s height, reach, mobility, and even dominant hand. “Frequently used items should live where the body naturally reaches, not where it looks symmetrical or ‘correct.’”
Counters Don’t Need to Be Clear
Acuña says it’s fine to keep frequently used items out in the open for easy access. However, she will work with clients to find an alternative containment system to keep items neat, such as bathroom toiletries. “We want to reduce the visual clutter as much as possible,” she says. “But if it works, [then] that’s right for you.”
