Spring cleaning transcends basic tidying—it's an opportunity to organize your home, streamline your life, and feel revitalized. Drawing from years of professional experience, Joanna Teplin and Clea Shearer of The Home Edit share their proven strategies to help you succeed.
1. Distinguish cleaning from organizing.
Reflect on your daily habits, home layout, and lifestyle to design sustainable solutions tailored to you.
2. Apply the 80/20 rule after establishing a system:
Keep spaces no more than 80% full, reserving 20% for breathing room. Overflow leads to clutter accumulation.
3. Label categories clearly or sort by color as a visual cue.
Labels serve as intuitive guides for where items go and belong, simplifying maintenance.
4. Consider the users of each space.
Strategic zoning ensures longevity—place kid-friendly items on low shelves or secure them high up as needed.
5. Ensure everything has a designated home.
The container type doesn't matter—bins define zones, enforce limits, and build accountability.
6. Tweak systems that aren't working.
Schedule monthly reviews to edit and refine as new items enter your space.
7. Begin every project with an edit.
Empty the area, categorize items, purge the unnecessary, then select a system that fits your remaining essentials perfectly.
