ASK Musings

Four Stars

Best for:
People who like to look at interior design porn. People who want to organize. People who have some measure of disposable income.

In a nutshell:
Joanna and Clea share their organizing philosophy, room by room, and share some gorgeous photos of different options. Also some famous people’s pantries.

Worth quoting:
“We know you’re fantasizing about all your dry goods in pretty jars — and they’ll get there! — but first, be realistic about your time, experience, and abilities.”

Why I chose it:
I binged The Home Edit on Netflix over the last couple of weeks and needed to get the book.

Review:
I am an extremely organized person. Seriously, probably one of the most organized people I know.

And yet …

Moving house in the middle of the pandemic meant that things just got shoved pretty much anywhere. And because my partner and I rent a place in London, it came partially furnished. On the plus side – we have loads of storage, which is rare in the UK. On the negative – there’s literally no rhyme or reason to how we unpacked. And one of the closets – affectionately dubbed ‘the murder closet,’ because, trust me it’s creepy as hell – has a lot of the landlords items we don’t need (this place used to be an AirBnB).

So, I’ve purchased and read the book, and am slowly making my way through my house. Yesterday, I worked on what has become my home office. I edited out a lot of things I didn’t know I had still kept (shoved into one of the fabric cubes I bought when we moved in, in an attempt to have some sense of order), figured out what (if any) organizers I needed (finally got a monitor stand!), and will finish up when that stand arrives this week.

Today I moved into our bedroom. I’ve not yet tackled the wardrobe, but I have taken a go at our nightstands and a couple of other areas in the room where things are stored (a function of using other peoples’ furniture). I also did tackle the murder closet, and while it’s not going to show up in Style magazine any time soon, I think I’ve worked out a system that will work for us.

Joanna and Clea are not Marie Kondo, but they’re not in opposition to her. They just go a bit further in directing the reader as to how, once they’ve pared their belongings down to things that we need or that spark joy (as Ms Kondo would say), we can keep them organized in both a visually pleasing and a useful way.

The authors are also funny. Their little quips here and there make reading a book on organizing entertaining. The only drawback is that their solutions require a lot of containers and dividers and while those items are not exorbitantly expensive, they can add up, and may not be accessible to everyone.

Look, there’s so much going on in the world right now. Is having an organized home the priority? Nope. But I think better, I manage life better, I just exist better when my shit is organized. And this book is helpful.

Recommend to a Friend / Donate it / Toss it:
Recommend to a FriendThe Home Edit: Conquering the Clutter with Style