I live in a small home with two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a spacious open-plan ground floor – perfect for me and my partner. However, the layout doesn’t lend itself to tidiness, especially with minimal built-in storage. As it's a rental, I can’t add any extra storage solutions, either.
Over time, I’ve relied on what storage furniture I could fit in to help manage our clutter. However, after a year of trying to stick to conventional organizing methods, I gave up and turned to more unconventional approaches – and they have helped me to find calm in the clutter chaos.
Here’s why I approach home organizing ideas a little differently and why you might want to embrace a bit of chaotic calm in your own space.
Unconventional organizing methods that work in my small home
One of the most valuable decluttering lessons I have learned from talking to expert organizers every day is that there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution to clutter and organizing, especially when organizing small, storage-less homes.
While there are some standard daily tasks professional organizers swear by, how you organize your home and the systems you settle on will differ depending on your home layout, routine, and habits.
When organizing a small house with no storage, I have to make the most of what I have – which means I have broken quite a few of the home organizing golden rules, but my home is all the tidier for it. Think of my home a little like a swan on the water – tidy on the surface, but messy and hard-working beneath.
1. I don't keep like with like
Keeping clutter to a minimum in the entryway stops you feeling overwhelmed when you first step into your home.
Keeping like with like, otherwise known as the co-worker/cousin, organizing hack, can be a great way to find permanent homes for those weirder items, such as keeping shoe laces near your shoes. However, in a home where each room has limited, tiny storage, it sometimes makes things more difficult.
In my home, for example, coats are stored across three spots, and I have two cabinets that are filled with miscellaneous items that bear little resemblance to one another, such as board games being kept with my household tools and outerwear, namely hats and scarves. It is far from the most aesthetic organizing trick, but it works to keep these items hidden away, rather than them ending up cluttering up surfaces.
Luckily, professional home organizer Frances Greene, founder of Grit & Honey Home Organizing, has forgiven me for this one, saying, ‘I do not believe that "like with like" is always the best solution. Sometimes efficiency is more important. Micro-allowances for function over form will streamline your life and leave you with one less annoyance to process, even subconsciously.’
20 lbs capacity
I use over-the-door hooks in my bedroom and home office to keep extra coats and dressing gowns hidden but easy to access. They instantly create extra vertical storage in my small, storage-less home.
Two sizes
Baskets are the best go-to for creating drop zones. Be they in your entryway, living room, or hallway, they can quickly corral clutter making it easier to put away at the end of the week.
Under-bed storage is a great way to expand limited household storage. These bags on wheels makes them easy to pull out quickly and access as needed.
2. Some items don't have a proper home
The closest thing our laptops have to a set 'home' in our house is a spot under the living room sofa.
One of the best home organizing systems that keeps me sane is having a few items that do not have a designated ‘home’. I.e., they do not have a spot to return to after use.
This may be an organizing ick professional home organizers hate, but keeping items that we use almost every day, such as our laptops, notebooks, and gaming consoles and devices, free means we don’t constantly feel guilty or frustrated that we do not lug them back up to a drawer or cabinet in our home office ideas every night before bed.
Alecia Taylor, designer at CabinetNow agrees that this approach is manageable, but suggests caution before using it for every item in your home. She explains, ‘As for things without a home, it's a question of balance. Laptops or everyday items don't always require a specific place if they're being used all the time, but a casual system – a charging station or tray – prevents them from being deposited everywhere. The trick is ensuring that "flexible storage" doesn't become "stuff everywhere.’
Charges four devices
This handy charging port can charge four devices at once to limit plugs and keep all your items together.
For intentional grouping
Even something as simple as a small woven tray can help to make items on flat surfaces look more intentional, preventing overwhelming clutter piles all over your home.
Available in two colors, these extra-large storage baskets are perfect for corralling larger items neatly when they do not have another logical home, or you use them every day, such as some tech products, blankets, or children's toys.
3. Clearing visual clutter, even if it means moving items further away
My cookbooks help to brighten up my shelving units.
I would love to be able to organize a kitchen perfectly, organizing cookbooks neatly next to my baking supplies, but my tiny kitchen simply doesn't allow for it. As a result, my cookbooks are stashed on my dining room bookshelves with many of our other books. Yes, it means I have to walk across the house to get a recipe, but it reduces visual clutter in the kitchen for an easier-to-use workspace.
Similarly, I would love to keep all my shoes, accessories, and coats by the front door so I can quickly grab the one I need, but given that my entryway shares space with the dining room, having them all in one spot is overwhelming, to say the least. Splitting them between my entryway hooks (for the ones we use the most), and the backs of doors in our office and bedroom (for fancier coats we only use on occasion or out-of-season coats) keeps our house looking a little tidier.
4. I’ve settled for ‘good enough’
Leaving my house at 'good enough' has given me back time and energy that I can then use for the more important things in life.
Our Head of Solved, Punteha van Terheyden, recently ditched household perfection for ‘good enough’, and I have jumped on the bandwagon.
A mix of my too-high social media usage and frequently talking to professional organizers has made perfect organizing and easy-to-clean homes feel like the norm. Through it all, I forgot one key fact – these guys are professionals. It is quite literally their job to keep spaces neat. Perhaps I should have taken Marie Kondo ‘giving up’ on tidying as a sign that it’s okay to take a step back.
Giving up on my efforts to try and follow all the rules and expert advice has drastically reduced my mental load and even helped me overcome a decluttering roadblock at a very chaotic time in my life.
Pushing for perfection led me to tidying when feeling overwhelmed. Now, so long as I do little and often, such as the 1% rule, or the no-pile rule I recently tested and fell in love with, that's good enough for me.
I still put some systems in place to keep my home organized and avoid everything falling apart. My divided laundry hamper, for instance, helps to divide laundry to make putting a wash on simple. This extra-large laundry hamper is perfect for busy households, with three removable bags for darks, lights, and brights.
Punteha says, 'The best robot vacuums can be pricey but this excellent one reduced my canister vacuum use by 90%. It's a sound investment, and the brilliant app allows for lots of scheduled cleaning options. Program it, go to bed, and let the robot do the deep vacuuming and mopping for you.' This robot vacuum not only self empties, but self-cleans and dries the mop heads too, reducing how much effort you have to put in per week.
A steam mop is one of my favorite tools for keeping my chores low-effort. I use it to clean, disinfect, and degrease all sorts of surfaces in my home, from upholstery and clothing to ovens and sinks.
Meet the experts
As a NAPO Residential Organizing Specialist, specializing in ADHD/Executive Function, Frances and her team at Grit & Honey provide expert support in decluttering, inputting systems, and creative storage solutions.
One of the few decluttering golden rules I have stuck to is letting my space determine my stuff. That means I will very rarely buy something if I cannot think of a place for it to go. I have had to sacrifice a few things for this, for example, the breadmaker I would love to make my own bread each week, but it helps to keep my home a little calmer.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
-
Bryce Dallas Howard's bedroom is the most creative, social space in her entire home – she uses 'conversational seating' to create a multifunctional 'salon'The actress's bedroom doubles as a home office thanks to its clever layout and furnishings, proving that this area is much more than a sleep space
-
7 questions to ask yourself before moving house – realtors promise answering these questions will prevent buyer's regretDon’t make your move harder, ask these questions before moving to avoid mistakes
-
7 questions to ask yourself before moving house – realtors promise answering these questions will prevent buyer's regret
Don’t make your move harder, ask these questions before moving to avoid mistakes
-
‘It leads to more headaches than it's worth’ – 4 reasons you should never store things in your oven, including fire risks and serious illnessYour oven is for cooking, and cooking only, experts urge
-
It’s a concept straight out of a fashionista's playbook, but I used the Sandwich Method to organize my kitchen shelves – it’s never looked sleekerIt transformed messy to mesmerizing in a matter of seconds
-
The value-based decluttering method changed my attitude toward the task – and turbocharged functionality in my small homeIt's proven to be transformative for my home over the last six months
-
5 low-energy and useful tasks to try instead of doom-scrolling – this brain hack will break bad habitsExperts urge you to try it for your wellbeing
-
How to store a comforter or duvet properly over the warmer months – pros say 'breathable is the buzzword'Clean, air out, fold and roll your way to a fresh and fluffy duvet
-
This tiered Joseph Joseph dish rack solved the constant sink-side traffic jam in my kitchenI wish I’d swapped to it sooner
-
‘An important tenet in staying organized’ – 6 easy habits for a more minimalist and streamlined homeWorking on these organizational habits will make your home more manageable
