Five things I learnt from Get Organised with The Home Edit

It’s barely a week since Netflix launched Get Organised with The Home Edit and I have already devoured the whole series. Not only have I watched every episode from start to finish, I’m recommending it to everyone, and have launched a full scale plan to re-organise our house.

Those of you who have been reading here for a while will know that I am a pretty organised person. I own a minimal amount of stuff, and if you walked into our house right now you could be forgiven for saying ‘what needs organising?’ However, behind the clear surfaces and closed cupboards things are a little bit out of control. We’re not talking debilitating levels of disorganisation, but upon discovering Clea and Joanna’s tv show, Instagram account and process, I quickly realised I could take organising our things to another level.

Judging by their 2.2 million Instagram followers I am not the only one who’s obsessed. It’s no wonder, with our overstuffed homes and busy lives, that we are seeking a way to keep things ordered, especially after a year where most of us have spent a much greater amount of time at home. I started thinking about what was so appealing for me about this colourful grid of rainbow organisation, and I realised it boils down to this; I know I don’t have control over what happens in the world, but I can have control over my pantry.

No matter if you are a type A organiser or a tidying newbie sometimes there is nothing better than bringing a little more order into your life and home. With that in mind I thought I’d share 5 things I learned from The Home Edit:

Create a ‘backstock’ area

A month ago if you’d have used the word backstock I would have looked quizzically at you, but now I’m all about it. This is Clea and Joanna’s word for extra household items you have bought but aren’t yet using. Think pasta, loo roll, toothpaste, or in our case copious amounts of jam. Until watching Get Organised with The Home Edit I would have stored these thing with their open counterparts resulting in stuffed cupboards and a waste of prime storage space. I’ve now dedicated a whole section of our pantry cupboard to all kitchen backstock items, so the jams are living with the flours and the tomato puree but at least now I know where to go when something runs out. I am 100% converted.

Boxes within cupboards/shelves/drawers

Sure I was already on board with canisters for dry goods but, The Home Edit’s storage within storage method is pretty genius as far as I can see. By storing like items in smaller containers there is no more rooting through cupboards knocking things over. I’m now looking into Lazy Susans to store our oils and spreads and I’m more than a little bit excited. I love the way that Clea and Joanna will even put smaller containers in other containers to keep things super neat and easy to find.

Organising by colour

To be fair there isn’t a huge amount of colour in our home, unless you’re talking about a spectrum of white, beige and grey so I’ve often overlooked this concept. The spaces that do contain a lot more colour are our kids rooms. I love the way Clea and Joanna arrange toys, games and especially books by colour for kids. When they explained that even kids who can’t read will recognise where their books are by colour it was a lightbulb moment for me. My daughter frequently tells me the colour of the spine of a book she is looking for and knows these things off by heart, so to me it is a perfect way to helps your kids have independence with their things

Clear storage containers

Traditionally I would always lean towards the ‘hide things in pretty storage’ route but in certain spaces such as the kitchen, bathroom and kids rooms I’m now realising there is a lot to be said for being able to see things at a glance. Clea and Joanna talk a lot about out of sight out of mind and with consumable items this is definitely an easy situation to end up in. As I’ve been reorganising I’m now considering a lot more see-through containers than I would have before.

Fridge storage

I like to think of myself as a organised person (read: neat freak) but in all honestly I had never before considered storage containers for my fridge. Sure, I use the drawers and the door cubbies, but watching The Home Edit include produce storage boxes and drawers kind of blew my mind. The episode in which they organise Jordana Brewster’s fridge really opened my eyes. Who knew a fridge could look that amazing and function so smoothly? I’ve yet to overhaul my fridge but having seen what can be achieved, it’s really only a matter of time.

I’d love to know if you guys have watched the series. What was your favourite episode? Any life changing tips that you have already implemented in your own home?

Image credit The Home Edit