How to Tidy Up After You’ve Kondo-ed Everything

If, like us, you’re obsessed with Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, you’ve probably been inspired to sort through mountains of your clothes, books, and papers, and fill countless trash bags with everything that doesn’t “spark joy.”

But getting rid of unwanted things is only half the job. Now you have to figure out how to tidy what you keep.

Professional organizer Beth Penn of Bneato Bar, author of The Little Book of Tidying: Declutter Your Home and Your Life, said, “Organizing isn’t something that you arrive at, it’s something that is an ongoing process, something that you are constantly working on.” Here are some of the best tips we gleaned from Kondo’s show, with expert advice to help you stay neat after you’ve purged.

Give everything its own home

Once you’ve whittled down your belongings to a manageable amount, give each item a place to live. On her show, Kondo teaches clients to put items in drawers in a single layer—food storage containers are stacked on their sides with their lids on, while clothing gets folded into tall, triangular soldiers, ready to be deployed. Kondo also likes to sort items by size and compartmentalize them in small boxes so everything can be stored and found easily.

Penn recommends placing the things you use all the time in easy-to-reach places. “Everything needs to be seen, otherwise you’re going to forget that you have it.” Instead of overstuffing drawers, give your belongings space to breathe, she suggested.

While Kondo relies on found boxes like empty jewelry boxes or shoeboxes for organizing small items, at Wirecutter we’ve found that the right tool for the job works even better to maximize space and keep tidbits organized. Remember, only shop for organizers after you’ve finished your purge so you know exactly what you have left to store. In our tests for a closet organizing guide, we found the adjustable Dial Dream Drawer Organizers were best for subdividing drawers and separating smaller items like socks and underwear.

We also tested organizing containers and loved the clear, acrylic Linus Medicine Cabinet Organizer, which has skinny compartments for keeping tubes and miscellaneous tools upright and easy to grab. For drawers, we prefer Tetris-able modular sets, with a mix of smaller cubes and longer rectangles, like the InterDesign Kitchen Drawer Organizer.

To keep things in a single layer in tall lower cabinets, we love The Container Store Silver 2-Drawer Mesh Organizer, a pull-out track drawer system that allows you to double the amount of storage space under the sink while still keeping everything visible and accessible.

For tall items like cutting boards and baking sheets, we find the YouCopia Storemore Adjustable Bakeware Rack handy.

Involve the kids

Kondo strongly encourages parents to include children in the task of folding laundry. “Like reading a book, it’s a habit to fold clothes with my children,” she says. The children mimic their parents’ tidying tasks, and even when their work needs to be redone neatly, they enjoy being involved.

Getting kids involved also means respecting what belongings make them happy. “I love the way she doesn’t make any of the family members feel bad about what they want to keep and what they don’t,” said one mother whose son wanted to keep an old, engraved sippy cup.

If your kids balk at your attempts to declutter their belongings, you can still keep those things neat and accessible with affordable, collapsible bags and bins like the ones we recommend in our guide to toy storage.

Erin Boyle, author of Simple Matters: Living with Less and Ending Up with More and founder of the lifestyle blog Reading My Tea Leaves, lives in a one-bedroom apartment with her husband and two small children. Boyle encourages her 2-year-old and 4-year-old to participate in tidying by giving them straightforward, visible storage like wooden crates that live under the bed, a kid-level bookshelf, and low-hanging hooks for their coats. When artwork from school starts to pile up, she asks her kids to help decide which pieces are ready for the recycle bin. “I have one little cardboard box that we keep for their favorite drawings,” Boyle said.

Penn and her 22-month-old daughter sing a song and turn toy tidying into a game. “I find that when you can empower kids, they want to help out,” she said.

Decorate with sentimental items

Belongings that have meaning can’t spark joy when they’re boxed up in the garage. Instead, Kondo encourages her clients to decorate with their photos and sentimental items so they can enjoy them every day.

With physical photos, she recommends applying the same level of intention as with every other category in the home. When looking at similar photos taken at the same sitting, she says, choose the photo that sparks the most joy and toss the others. Kondo encourages her clients to put photos into an album that can be displayed and enjoyed.

If most of your family photos are digital, declutter your photo files and create a photo book for the coffee table with the best of them. We recommend Shutterfly Photo Books, which offer high-quality photos and customization options at a good price.

Avoid the urge to refill the space

Penn said that it’s easy to get overwhelmed with clutter now that shopping has become so convenient. “You can order something and have it be on your doorstep within an hour.” To avoid filling your space (and emptying your wallet) she recommends getting more specific and goal-oriented with purchases, and using a budgeting app like You Need a Budget (which we also recommend as the best budgeting app) to become disciplined about spending.

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