Ría Safford

Founder and CEO, RíOrganize

Ría Safford, founder and CEO of luxury professional organizing company RíOrganize, said organizing is a skill anyone can learn. “You don’t have to be born with it — organization can be learned, practiced, and perfected,” Safford said. Here are her six best tips for getting started.

1. Plan ahead

It’s important to organize your plans before organizing your space. One of the biggest mistakes Safford sees is skipping the steps of “purging, sorting, and space planning.”

2. Shop mindfully

Make products work for your space — not the other way around. This is another common misstep Safford sees: Stocking up on organizing products before knowing what you’ll do with them. If you buy preemptively, “you find yourself forcing those products to work for your space versus knowing how your space is going to be set up, what products you are going to need, and purchasing purposefully,” she said.

3. Invest in go-to tools 

A lazy Susan is one of Safford’s favorites. “This allows you to take advantage of hard-to-reach corners or high-up shelves when you are storing things like bottles or jars because you are able to utilize the space in the back, but access those items easily,” she said. Drawer organizers and drawer dividers are other smart choices, as they allow for micro-organization even in the most notoriously messy spots, such as junk drawers (which Safford likes to call an “essentials drawer”).

4. Make your closet hangers uniform 

No, really. Buy all the same kind of hanger. Safford’s recommendation for women is slimline velvet, which prevents clothing from falling off the hanger and offers an instant facelift for your closet. Not to mention, she said, “when all of your hangers are the same, it just makes your space feel so good!”

5. Start small

Set an intention but go slow. For a quick win, begin with a small space that has been stressing you out. 

6. Don’t take shortcuts

“Whatever space you want to be tackling, you have to be tackling it as a whole,” Safford said. “If you’re not accessing everything within the space and really getting yourself to be able to start with a blank canvas to reimagine what the new system could be, sometimes you’re just putting on a Band-Aid that’s going to get cluttered all over again.”

Ultimately, getting organized is about simplifying your life. “When you create a system and build your organization off of that — off of your essential items that you use, off of your necessities, off of your regular habits — you are able to create a ‘routine ready’ space that helps move your day along in an efficient way,” Safford said.