At CNN Underscored, our goal is to guide you to the everyday products and services that help you live a smarter, simpler and more fulfilling life, and we believe that organizing is a critical part of that mission. There are many benefits of organizing. At its most basic, the use of organizational systems can help to reduce stress. Being organized will also save you time and money, and free up valuable storage space in your home or workplace.
To guide you in organizing the physical and digital spaces in your life — a closet, the kitchen, your home office — our expert, Jolie Kerr, has sought out professional organizers, homemakers and time management experts to find the best products for organizing any type of space or thing, and to bring you their best tips and tricks for living an organized life.
Kitchen organization
The heart of your home, the kitchen is a space for making meals, memories and potentially even entertaining guests. But, that also means it’s a space that can easily be prone to chaos and messes. It’s a place everyone in your home uses, so we’ve rounded up our best tips for keeping everything from your junk drawer to your pantry as organized and mess free as possible.
Other kitchen organization ideas
Bathroom and laundry room organization
Cleaning and organizing are different jobs, but the two often go hand in hand, and for good reason: Organized spaces are simply easier to clean than ones cluttered with stuff everywhere. Nowhere is this more true than in the bathroom, where airborne particles of everything from hair spray to toilet plume settle onto surfaces, and where high moisture levels and fluctuating temperatures create a breeding ground for bacteria. With the help of organizing experts, we rounded up some of the best products for keeping everything in your bathroom — and your laundry room too — nice and tidy.
More bathroom and laundry organization ideas
Office and living room organization
One problem that plagues the living room is that we use it for so many things — watching TV, entertaining guests, family game night, home office and home gym, crafting room and on and on — and it can turn into a storage space for all the gear that goes along with those activities. With the chaos of cords, cables and other odds and ends, we asked experts for help finding the absolute best living room organizers.
Bedroom organization
Our bedrooms are more than just places where we sleep — they’re where we get dressed, or read a book in bed, or watch TV while working on a hobby like knitting. And the things we use for activities and self-care are often stored in our bedrooms, creating clutter where we need a clean space.
With those problems and more in mind, we consulted experts who gave us their top tips and products picks for keeping all the bedrooms in your home in working order.
More bedroom organization ideas
Closet and travel organization ideas
More closet organization ideas
Garage and storage organization
Those who are lucky enough to have a basement or an attic know how convenient it is to have a built-in storage space right in the home. But as convenient as it is to have a dedicated spot for stashing all the stuff that we don’t use regularly but use enough to merit holding onto, those basements, garages and attics can quickly become jumbled and cluttered black holes filled with holiday decorations, extra bedding, household supplies, tools and all manner of odds and ends. Luckily, we’ve rounded up some of the best products for keeping your space in a neat, working order.
Car organization
Having a clean and organized car can make a huge impact. Your car handles everything from grocery shopping or long-haul road trips and outings, so it needs to be equipped to service your daily passengers and keep you prepped for unexpected emergencies. That’s why we’ve rounded up our best tips for keeping your car as tidy and functional as possible.