Melody Martin and Kim Solomon have always appreciated having a well-sorted way of life.
It’s what inspired them to start a home organisation business, LifeSort by MK. Launched in early 2020 during pandemic times, the professional organisers say with stay-at-home orders, people found they either loved their space – or grew frustrated by it.
“People sought different ways to manage their stress, and many turned to cleaning or organising,” says Kim. “There’s also a lot of social media influence and inspiration through big names like The Home Edit and Marie Kondo who have inspired us to make a big difference in our spaces.”
Well-organised spaces have many benefits including reducing stress and anxiety associated with clutter, and boosting productivity.
“Being able to see a space completely transform, not by renovation, but just by decluttering, editing and sorting is amazing,” says Melody.
HERE, LIFESORT BY MK SHARES TOP ORGANISING TIPS FOR ANY SPACE.
- Fight the temptation to purchase the beautiful organising products first. The products will always look beautiful on the shelf, but if they’re not fit-for-purpose, you’ll find yourself reorganising the space again and feeling like your initial efforts were wasted. Start small, focusing on one space at a time, and edit your items first by choosing what you’re okay with discarding and/or donating. Then see what type of products are best to contain the volume of items that you’re left with.
- Practise the ‘One in, One Out’ rule with your family. When you get a new item, a new toy, or a new piece of clothing, send an old one to the donation pile.
- Consider who else is using the space and how they use it. You don’t want a system that’s dependent on only you maintaining it.
- Don’t separate like-items. You risk losing track of them, buying the items again when they’re not needed.
- Know that it’s OK to ask for help. Organising your own space is difficult and sometimes overwhelming, even for the pros. Hiring an organiser can get you on track faster and help provide a long-term solution to effectively manage clutter.
Custom LifeSort organising tips by space:
CLOSETS & WARDROBES
Create visual uniformity and maximise space by using a single and consistent colour of hangers. You’d be surprised by how much more space you gain.
Use the ‘Rainbow Method’. One of the most effective ways to maintain your closet organisation is when items are organised by colour. It’s super easy to know the best place to hang a particular clothing item when you’re looking for the colour rather than deciphering if the item is casual, business-casual or professional.
Make the most of your space by experimenting with other methods of folding, such as file folding. Folding clothes or towels in an upright position allows you to have a better view of all items and is much more appealing. For additional sorting with this technique, you can colour-code from light to dark.
When you compartmentalise your drawers, you increase functionality so that you’re able to quickly find what you need. You can use bins, drawer dividers, inserts and other items to group similar items into categories and keep like items together.
REFRIGERATOR & PANTRY
Keep the edit process as simple as possible and discard all expired products.
Turntables are helpful products when you have a variety of items in a particular category that all need to be seen and easily available to grab.
Remember the ‘who’. If you have kids, consider where their food items are stored. For example, do you want those items to be easy to reach? It’s probably best to keep sweets on the higher shelves to mitigate impromptu sugar rushes.
Some popular zones or categories for your pantry items could be: dinner, kids’ snacks (the healthier stuff), baking and dried goods.
Never separating like-items is especially important here.
KIDS ROOM OR PLAYROOM
If it’s broken or missing a part, discard it.
Use a garage or spare room for ‘toy quarantine’. Chances are that if they don’t remember that it’s there or don’t ask to play with it, it’s probably good to add to your donation pile.
Colour coding is a fun and manageable way for your kids to know where things should go once they’re finished playing.
This article appears in the Spring/Summer 2023 issue of InsideOut magazine, now available at magazine stands and delivered to select homes.
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