Wirecutter - Small spaces you can declutter today

To start, pull everything out of your refrigerator—yes, including the mystery Tupperware that’s been festering in a back corner—and toss any expired ingredients.

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After you give the shelves and drawers a wipe down, it’s time to create a new system.

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Investing in a turntable to keep your most-used ingredients and condiments in view is a great first step. We also recommend using small, rimmed sheet pans to divide your shelves into clear zones and to make pulling items out much easier. 

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Make your fridge a better place→

The first step is to clear your desk of anything you don’t use daily. Printers, scanners, and external hard drives, for instance, can be placed on a side table or tucked away under your desk. Use a desktop organizer with plenty of slots and compartments to arrange your everyday essentials, like pens, Post-it notes, and important documents.

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To further streamline your workstation, tame your unruly cables. Reusable cable ties and cable sleeves are the best ways to corral the cords snaking every which way.

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Tackle your desk→

Start by emptying the entire bag and removing everything you don’t need. To keep your bag from morphing into an abyss that eats chapstick and hair ties, keep dedicated pouches in your bag. We recommend ones here that are perfect for charging cables, headphones, makeup, and more. 

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To simplify things even further, you can ditch the separate pouches and instead opt for one of our recommended purse organizers with built-in pockets and pouches.

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Beautify your bag→

A closet system (and before that, a clothing purge) is a great way to arrange your space, eliminate clutter, and fit more stuff into your closet. These wall-mounted organizers are typically modular, which give you the opportunity to create a closet that works for you.

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If your space isn’t conducive to a closet system (or you’re working with a tighter budget), you can invest in a few modular pieces to create the closet of your dreams. Stackable shelves and cubbies allow you to mix and match shoe cubbies, drawers, and shelves to suit your needs. Shelf dividers help tidy piles of linens and keep bags separated and upright.

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Clean your closet→

Start by creating keywords and tags for all of your folders and files, such as “personal documents,” “in progress,” and “complete.” You can also separate your photos in folders labeled with the appropriate year and month. To make locating your digital essentials effortless, pin your frequently used folders so they’ll always be up top.‌

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Then, back up all your data on either an external hard drive, or with an automatic online backup service—though we recommend using both methods, in case something (fire, theft, natural disaster) affects both your computer and local backup drive.

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Declutter your digital life→

Enjoy your freshly tidied spaces.