Skip to content

Episode: 422

From Chaos to Calm: The Easiest Way to Organize Your Life and Home

with Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin of The Home Edit

This conversation will make your home and your life feel lighter and easier in the first 10 minutes.

Clutter steals time, drains energy, and makes daily life harder. Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin of The Home Edit reveal a simple system for taking back your space.

You’ll learn:

  • The 4-step method
  • The 80/20 rule
  • The 3 questions that make deciding what stays easier
  • Where to start when your whole home feels overwhelming.
  • One drawer. Ten minutes. Zero dollars. Immediate relief.

Listen on:

Clutter is not a character flaw.

Joanna Teplin

All Clips

Transcript

Share With a Friend

Key takeaways

  1. Stop waiting for a whole weekend, because one drawer edited in 10 minutes gives you proof you can change your home, your mind, and your daily life.

  2. Your clutter is not a character flaw or your self-worth; when you remove the shame, you create more peace, energy, and mental clarity.

  3. Before you keep anything, ask whether you need it, use it, love it, or it's truly sentimental; if not, let it go without guilt.

  4. Give every item a home, because you waste more time searching than organizing, and a simple system makes your mornings calmer and easier. 

  5. When you feel stuck, ask yourself, "Do I want the item or the space?" Choosing space gives you more freedom, breathing room, and calm.

Guests Appearing in this Episode

Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin of The Home Edit

Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin are founders of The Home Edit, bestselling authors, and stars of Netflix’s Get Organized with The Home Edit.

  • Show: Get Organized with The Home Edit

    Expert home organizers Clea and Joanna help celebrities and everyday clients edit, categorize and contain their clutter to create stunning spaces

  • Book: The Home Edit: Stay Organized: The Ultimate Guide to Making Systems Stick

    It's one thing to get organized, but how do you make those systems stick? The Home Edit Stay Organized takes the intimidation and hesitation out of the maintenance involved to prevent you from abandoning your once-tidied systems or maybe help you to get organized in the first place!

    When you have a system that works, maintenance is a breeze. Think of a silverware drawer: It's obvious where each utensil goes, and so everyone in your house should know how to move the forks from the dishwasher to their spot. Often, when you’re struggling to keep your home tidy, it’s because your system is too complex and needs some tweaking—and this book will dig deeper to show you how. Throughout the book, Clea and Joanna reveal the important habits, debunk the myths, address the setbacks of being organized, and new and exclusive images show you how to tackle the hardest and trickiest spaces in each room in order to create a home that's organized for the long term. 

    With inventory checklists, tips for getting the whole family on board to help, fans' frequently asked questions, and more, The Home Edit Stay Organized will help you move forward feeling calm, collected, and confidently organized—with humor, relatability, and beautiful imagery to enjoy along the way.

  • Book: The Home Edit Life: The No-Guilt Guide to Owning What You Want and Organizing Everything

    At home or on the go, you don't have to live like a minimalist to feel happy and calm. The Home Edit mentality is all about embracing your life—whether you’re a busy mom, a roommate living with three, or someone who’s always traveling for work. You just need to know how to set up a system that works for you.

    Clea and Joanna are here to remind you that “it’s okay to own things” in the quest for pretty and smart spaces. With The Home Edit Life, you’ll soon be corralling phone cords, archiving old photos, arranging your phone apps by color, and packing your suitcase like a pro.

  • Book: The Home Edit: A Guide to Organizing and Realizing Your House Goals

    Believe this: every single space in your house has the potential to function efficiently and look great. The mishmash of summer and winter clothes in the closet? Yep. Even the dreaded junk drawer? Consider it done. And the best news: it’s not hard to do—in fact, it’s a lot of fun.

    From the home organizers who made their orderly eye candy the method that everyone swears by comes Joanna and Clea’s signature approach to decluttering. The Home Edit walks you through paring down your belongings in every room, arranging them in a stunning and easy-to-find way (hello, labels!), and maintaining the system so you don’t need another do-over in six months. When you’re done, you’ll not only know exactly where to find things, but you’ll also love the way it looks.

    A masterclass and look book in one, The Home Edit is filled with bright photographs and detailed tips, from placing plastic dishware in a drawer where little hands can reach to categorizing pantry items by color (there’s nothing like a little ROYGBIV to soothe the soul). Above all, it’s like having your best friends at your side to help you turn the chaos into calm.

Resources

Related Episodes

New Here?