How organized and tidy is your home? If you’re like most, you probably have a Tupperware cupboard with mismatched pieces or a junk drawer filled with miscellaneous items from rubberbands to that business card you picked up a few years ago.
Let’s face it – most of us have a bit of a ‘messy’ side to us. Many of us, because you know – we’re only human, will spend the entire day cleaning our house, only to have it in disarray just a week later. There are even some people who have a bit of a hoarding problem or have trouble letting items go. This, I’m certain, is a majority of America.
So, earning the title of the ‘Most Organized House in America’ is no feat.
For those of you who are ‘neat-freaks’ or even those who are looking to improve on their organizing skills – you’re going to absolutely love this house and love this video. It’s the prime example of how to have a neat, tidy, organized house with much less of a fuss than you’d imagine.
Alejandra Costello is a Certified Professional Organizer who has a YouTube channel and hosts webinars on how to help people become more organized – not only in their living space but in their lives as well.
Alejandra lives in just a modestly-sized condo, but she proves that simple organization skills can make your home feel much larger than it really is.
Walking into her humble home, she starts off by giving viewers a tour of her kitchen area – specifically the pantry. The shelves are neatly stacked and organized with the use of lazy susans, dry goods containers, and pull out drawers. Many items that people would never think to put inside their pantry.
“I love this pantry,” she says. “There is so much you can do inside of a pantry.”
In addition to the lazy susans and drawers, Alejandra has also included labels to take the organization to the next level. This way, if you ever run out of an item and need to replace it – you know exactly where it goes. Great for when you have guests visiting as well! She explains her pantry organizational methods further in the video below.
Does your silverware tray annoyingly slide to the back of the drawer every time you open it? Alejandra has figured out a way to prevent that from happening.
The professional organizer explains that a simple drawer divider placed inside the drawer will hold the silverware tray in place, preventing it from sliding back with the force of the drawer opening.
Alejandra has other tips for the kitchen as well, further explained in the video, such as how to maximize space in cupboards (especially for smaller kitchens), how to avoid a cluttered fridge door by placing magnets and photos inside cupboards, and placing lazy susans in hard-to-reach cupboards.
Next, Alejandra shows us inside her home office.
The small room is not only used as her home office, but it serves as her craft space as well. One of Alejandra’s peeves is having a bunch of paper strewn about an office in messy stacks along the desk or shelves.
In this segment of the video, Alejandra explains her technique. Basically, she says that if everything “has a home” then not only will your office be less cluttered, but it can help you be more productive as well.
Her office and craft space is neat, tidy, and she has a filing system that will make your life a million times easier when it comes to handling and finding important documents.
The bane of most people’s organizational skills usually comes down to clothes, shoes, and the closet, in general.
If you live in a small space – the closet is where you’ll be storing a majority of your clothes (if not all), shoes, and even jewelry. It can pile up quickly and become a total disorganized mess.
Alejandra shows off her closet and how she uses more pull-out drawers to help maximize space and maintain a clean, tidy look in the small area. More details provided in the video below.
Much like a retail store that divides close by ‘small’, ‘medium’, or ‘large’, Alejandra uses clothing dividers to separate her long-sleeved shirts from short-sleeved ones and pants from skirts.
Two of the biggest culprits in creating a messy, cluttered bathroom are makeup and medicine.
Alejandra explains that bathrooms can become the ‘black hole’ of clutter and messiness. Repurposing other items into storage and organizational units can be a great help – like using a hanging shoe organizer to store your makeup and hair accessories, keeping your counters clear. Medicine has been moved to the linen closet (more below).
When it comes to medicine cabinets – they tend to be a catch-all for items that you want to keep out sight in the bathroom. Since many medicine cabinet doors are metal, Alejandra suggests taking advantage of magnets to hang things on the inside of the door.
Inside the medicine cabinet, you can hang magnetic hooks that can hold toothbrushes and scissors. You can also purchase magnetic containers to hold cotton balls and cotton swabs. Don’t have a metal medicine cabinet? That’s no problem, simply hang a piece of sheet metal inside the door.
Next stop is the mess-prone linen closet.
Linen closets are usually packed full of sheets and towels, but Alejandra has moved towels to the bathroom and utilized her linen closet to organize medications and cleaning supplies. She keeps her sheets at the very bottom of the closet.
Using clear plastic containers with labels, Alejandra has neatly organized all of her items in a way that is visually pleasing and easy-to-get-to. No more fussing around to find what you’re looking for.
Living in a small condo or living space, it’s advantageous to utilize every area of the home – including the outdoor space.
Wire shelving can become your new best friend when you use it on a balcony or patio to help organize garden tools, toys, hardware, or anything else you would normally store in a garage. Once again, labeled, clear plastic containers save the day.
The full tour of Alejandra’s home, along with dozens of nifty tips, are in the short video below. De-clutter your home, all while having fun, by watching this video, and many other helpful videos she’s filmed.
Happy organizing!
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