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It’s okay if you’ve been slacking on your KonMari skills over the summer or if you, a disorganized mess, have never humored trying to organize in the first place. (My kitchen counter is covered in headphones, breadcrumbs, and shame.) But if you’re trying to straighten up your entire living space, you couldn’t have picked a better moment. The temperature is about to drop, leaving many of us relatively housebound, and Marie Kondo just dropped a course on KonMari organization.
The course, aptly named the “KonMari Method Fundamentals of Tidying,” is cheaper than a MasterClass at $40, and offers 10 lessons on the art of organization. Clothes and books! The sentimental items collecting dust under your bed! Papers! I could use an entire course on getting rid of papers alone. I keep a collection of postcards from the ’80s, and there’s literally no reason for that. But anyway…
No one has a fondness for clutter like me, but we all reach a breaking point where tidying is the best move for our mental health. Research tends to support that a clean home is a happy home. For example, a 2016 study published in the Journal of Environmental Study connected clutter in home as negative for your overall psychological wellbeing, particularly if said clutter has any significant associations attached to them. Another 2013 study from Psychological Science showed that working in an orderly environment tends to promote better decision-making.
Whatever, if you hate cleaning, please think of Future You, stuck at home with nothing but Netflix and the pajamas you’ve been rocking for four days. Best to get ahead of the curve. And if you want to start throwing things out, we have a few Kondo-vetted organizational tools to bring in their place (and yes, sure, spark joy).
1. Stacking Storage Box With 9 Compartments, $32
Absolute perfection for all the things that end up in the top or bottom drawers of your wardrobe. Your underwear, your socks (yes, both of them), anything that can be stuffed into a little pocket. And even if you decide to use them for other little knick-knacks, they’re stackable!
Shop Now: Stacking Storage Box With 9 Compartments, $32
2. Joyful Metal Storage Sowden Tins, $36
These are joyful, they remind me of a little European village—Positano, perhaps? Grab them to keep all your dried foods safe and well-contained, because you don’t need to have opened bags of rice spilling about your pantry (guilty as charged).
Shop Now: Joyful Metal Storage Sowden Tins, $36
3. Digital Tidying Box for Cords, Powerstrips & Cables – White, $38
This is probably the most “add to cart” item on *my* list, but maybe you can relate. For anyone who has a jumble of cords and cables, this tidying box can streamline in minutes.
Shop Now: Digital Tidying Box for Cords, Powerstrips & Cables – White, $38
4. The Very Important Papers Vault, $50
For the aforementioned very important papers! What I love about this is not only the lockable aspect, but all the little compartments. There’s room for birth certificates, lease agreements, the passports we’ll all eventually use one day (I hope) and even some writing utensils to help you cross the Ts and dot the Is.
Shop Now: The Very Important Papers Vault, $50
5. Bamboo & Leather Organizing Tray / Basket in Black, $29
This finely crafted, classic basket serves at least two main purposes: It can be a clean place to place your desk clutter or you can use it to pick up clutter when you’re cleaning off your desk!
Shop Now: Bamboo & Leather Organizing Tray / Basket in Black, $29
6. Tidying Festival Storage or Organizing Basket With Handles, $55
Finally, if sartorial clutter is an issue for you, this wire basket can provide a happy little place for your clothes to live. Clean, dirty, or “this smells fine, I think.” You will never let yourself have an overflow of laundry again.
…you will almost never let yourself have an overflow of laundry. Let’s be realistic.
Shop Now: Tidying Festival Storage or Organizing Basket With Handles, $55
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