Bobby Berk's Top Solution For Achieving An Organized Home (Without The Stress)

Bobby Berk, host of HGTV's "Junk or Jackpot," spent years in design before being tapped for the award-winning Netflix show, "Queer Eye." As the show's resident design expert, Berk's job is to transform less-than-ideal homes into showcases. Organization is an essential part of the job, and his top stress-free solution for creating order from disorganization is one that's doable for anyone planning to tackle an out of control mess. Berk recommends starting small to keep yourself from becoming stressed out and overwhelmed by the process.

Deciding that today is the day you clean out the garage or declutter the basement, and that you'll finish the job no matter what, can lead to major disappointment. The job may even seem so stressful you decide to curl up with a good book instead. If you lower your expectations that you'll suddenly become an organizational superhero, you have greater chances at success. You also need to accept that it's okay if you don't get everything done at once. After all, the mess, like Rome, wasn't built in a day. Choosing a small project, like cleaning out a single drawer, not only takes you one step toward organization, it leads to a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction. It's just one of Berk's smart decluttering tricks. 

Consider the stress you may feel if you're in a hurry and need to find something important but can't lay your hands on it because it's buried somewhere in the clutter. Scientific studies have tracked a direct correlation between having a messy space, stress, and depression, so there's more to keeping your home tidy than bragging rights. Bobby Berk recommends starting with a very small, easily achievable goal and then using that success as motivation for continuing the bigger project. Choose a drawer full of stuff — it doesn't matter if it's the cluttered kitchen junk drawer, which you can organize with this genius Dollar Tree hack, or the desk drawer you keep work items in. Empty it, sort the contents into piles of similar things, throw away, sell, or donate stuff you never use, and put the things you're keeping back into the drawer.

Once you've mastered the art of small-batch organizing, it's time to tackle a big project like the attic or the garage. Your skills will be well honed, you'll have learned to focus on completing a job successfully, and you'll have enjoyed a mental boost from taking positive steps toward achieving your goals. Keeping the garage doors closed will no longer seem like the best solution to hide the random stuff you keep in there. Organizing, rather than ignoring, becomes the healthiest course of action. Even if you don't need the garage for a car, you'll have room for the containers of essentials you need to store after organizing your home. When the messy garage is organized and the rest of the house is done, you may discover that you're suddenly concentrating better or even getting more sleep.