Tidy Nest Featured Press: How to Fold Shirts– for Stacking in the Closet and Packing in Suitcases (Homes & Gardens)

I think any organizer will tell you that one of the most requested tutorial topics is “How to fold ______”

We spoke to Homes & Gardens on our favorite methods for folding shirts - for travel & for home storage.

We’re super excited to announce that we’re a regular expert contributor to Homes & Gardens’ organization features! You can check out all our article with Homes & Gardens below.

Away Travel Packing Cubes

There are a bunch of packing cubes on the market but if we have a choice, we always prefer AWAY products.

Folding Board

If your folding skills need some help, try a folding board which will help you create a perfect fold every time

Adjustable Bamboo Drawer Dividers

Bamboo is always our first choice but these spring loaded dividers also come in various plastic colors.

For our video tutorials on folding techniques, head over to our Instagram account and check out our reels

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FEATURED PRESS

Take a look at our other interviews with Home & Gardens over the years

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disclaimers:

photos from Amazon & Away Travel

If you purchase from one of our LTK links, we may earn a small commission.

Tidy Nest Featured Press: How to Organize a Sock Drawer– 10 Ways to Sort Socks in Style (Homes & Gardens)

If you ask Jared, there’s nothing worse than searching for a pair of socks in a drawer of mismatched socks. And if you’re not a morning person, this sock hunt can start your day off on the wrong foot.

We always encourage clients to take time to organize the sock drawer to make your morning routine much more enjoyable.

We recently chatted with Homes & Gardens about sock drawer organization - take a look below on our tips.

P.S. We’re happy to report that we are a regular contributor to Homes & Gardens now.

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FEATURED PRESS

Take a look at our other interviews with Home & Gardens over the years

Tidy Nest Featured Press: 10 Ways to Declutter Your Bedroom– To Make it Feel Bigger (Homes & Gardens)

If we had to pick just one room in the house to declutter it would be the bedroom! Your bedroom is a place of peace and rest so bringing clutter into this space stains the energy in the room.

So when Homes & Gardens told us they were working on a story on decluttering the bedroom, we were very eager to share our number one rule when it comes to bedroom organization.

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FEATURED PRESS

Take a look at our other interviews with Home & Gardens over the years

Tidy Nest Featured Press: Create A Clean and Organized Home with These 35 Tips (Redfin)

Great news! We were named a top organizing and decluttering expert by Redfin!

We recently shared some of our quick tips to keep a clean and organized home. You can find the full article below.

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Featured Press

Take a look at our other interviews with Redfin over the years

Quick Tidying of a Closet

This closet wasn’t in terrible shape per se; it was just a bit chaotic. Dedicating just an hour to the closet (and an hour to the shoe collection) we were able to give this closet a quick facelift. 

The best way to handle this kind of project is to get right into it. We pulled everything out and edited the contents. There were great organizing products already being used, so there was no need to order anything new. Even though this closet is edited seasonally, we still wound up with a few bags of donations, which made a big difference. If we did purchase products, we would have added in shelf dividers to keep the stacks of clothes upright. 

The closet contained different types of hangers - plastic tubular hangers in four styles and three colors and velvet hangers. Instead of buying all new matching hangers, we choose to group the different styles together within the closet. As Shannon’s mom says “like with like.” 

Pro Tip: Grouping like hangers together in a closet is a budget-friendly way of taming the chaotic mismatched hanger situation without investing in new hangers. 

We refolded everything on the shelves using the file folding method and rolling when applicable. Bulkier items were folded flat and denim was folded rather than hung. We contained as much as we could using the Y-Weave baskets from Target. 

We noticed that plastic garment bags (even the nicer ones from The Container Store) attract mold after a few years so we recommend cotton hanging bags for storing formal wear. They come in various sizes for coats, suits, gowns, etc. We used the coat and gown size. 

Finally, we wiped down all the shoe boxes (using Grove All Purpose Cleaner) and relabeled the boxes using chalkboard stickers, leftover scrapbook paper and oil based sharpies. The previous labeling system (post-its) was not working and looked very messy. 

Products found in this closet:

Amazon: Ultra Thin Velvet Hangers

The Container Store: Tubular Hangers 

The Container Store: Children’s Tubular Hangers

The Container Store: Shoe Box 

The Container Store: Natural Cotton Hanging Storage Bag

Target: Y-Weave Storage bins

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Project Recap: Spring Organizing – Kitchen Cabinet Edition

Need: Even organizers need to take time to edit, edit again, re-sort, and change up their organizing solutions.

Solution: Review all content in cabinets, evaluate current organizing systems and make any necessary changes to the products, placement, and cabinet use.

Method:

1. Clear out each cabinet

2. are no longer of use.

3. Review contents – discard expired items, donate both duplicates and items that are no longer of use.

   We are sticklers about expirations dates (Shannon more than Jared) and even we found spices in our cabinet that had expired. It was a horrifying moment for Shannon, but a good lesson that even the expiration police can miss a date!

4. Analyze previous placement and make any necessary changes

   We originally had our baking supplies in mismatched jars, and after a few crazy months of non-stop work and travel, our baking cabinet got a little out of control, with no system whatsoever. We decided to forgo the mismatched jars and put all our flours and sugars in the ProKeeper containers from The Container Store. This line has snap-out levelers, dusting spoons & screens and terracotta disk inserts.

5. Implement new systems and products when needed

   We had an abundance of various teas in a corner of the cabinet. It was hard to identify our inventory and all the labels caused visual overload every time we opened the cabinet. We removed all the teas from the boxes and found a great storage solution. Now the tea nook is super calming… exactly how a tea nook should be.

6. Label!

   We prefer handwritten labels in our kitchen – we like the homey feel. We replaced all our printed labels with handwritten chalkboard stickers and washi tape labels.
   

Tidy Tip:
As mentioned earlier, we’re the expiration police - when you’re swapping out containers, remember to write the expiration date on a piece of washi tape. You can conceal the label by hiding it on the bottom of the jar or container.  We think washi tape works best here. We also like to label the inside cabinet door with the inventory for easy reference (see spice cabinet photo).

Products:

·  The Container Store: ProKeeper Baker’s Storage

·  The Container Store: InterDesign Linus Spice Rack

·  The Container Store: Linus Tea Storage Box

·  Target: Threshold Round Glass Spice Jar With Copper Metal Lid

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Project Recap: Closet Close-Up

Need: Maximize the space in a linen and utility closet and make it accessible for young children

Solution: Install organizing solutions that would utilize the depth of the utility closet and implement streamlined folding techniques in the linen closet. Labels were a necessity!

Method:

1.     Pulled everything out of each closet

2.     Categorized contents

3. Reviewed and edited all categories – discard expired products, stained linens, and items that are no longer used.

4. Identified storage solutions that could be reused (three-tier drawer unit, plastic shoe boxes, bamboo drawer organizers)

5. This household has young children so we needed to take into consideration the products that the children would need access to, like sunscreen, band aids, and towels. These items were put aside for the lower shelving.

6. Installed deep drawers for easy access for the kids while utilizing the depth of the closet. Since this closet contained a lot of products with labels, to cut down on the visual clutter, we chose a drawer with a cloudy façade to subtly conceal the products.

7. We folded linens uniformly and kept the linens stack low for easy retrieval.

8. We chose to print labels on clear tape for a subtle directory.

Pro Tip:  

Utility Closet: Drawer inserts are key when using these drawers. These inserts keep products upright, so your products don’t topple over when you open the drawers.

Linen Closet: We like to stuff a set of bed sheets inside one of the matching pillow cases. Who doesn’t want to open a cute linen package when it’s time to make the bed?

Product Links:

The Container Store: Like-it Modular Drawers

The Container Store: Like-it Modular Drawer Organizers

The Container Store: White Elfa Mesh Drawer

The Container Store: Gray Under Bed Storage Bag

Target: Sterilite Three- Drawer Cart

Linnen Closet Before & Afters

Supply Closet Before & Afters

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