What Order Should You Organize Your Home In? The 3S Method
Before you buy the bins or start rearranging the closet, follow three simple steps: Simplify, Sort, and Sustain.
You finally decide you’re going to get organized.
You grab some bins.
You empty a drawer.
You start moving things around.
Maybe you even make labels.
And for a minute, everything looks great.
Then real life happens.
Stuff starts creeping back onto the counter. The basket is overflowing. Nobody puts anything where you decided it should go. And a few weeks later, you’re wondering:
Why can’t I keep this organized?
Sometimes the problem isn’t that you didn’t try hard enough.
You may have simply started with the wrong step.
Because organizing works better when you do things in the right order.
That’s why I use the 3S Method: Simplify, Sort, Sustain.
First, we decide what actually belongs in our current life.
Then we create realistic homes and systems for what stays.
And finally, we build the habits, routines, and maintenance that keep those systems working.
Simplify → Sort → Sustain.
Three steps.
In that order.
Prefer to Watch?
I walk through the 3S Method along with organizing styles and spaces in my full Home Organization 101 video.
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Why Does the Order Matter When Organizing?
One of the easiest mistakes to make is jumping straight into the organizing part.
We see the messy pantry and think:
I need bins.
We see the overflowing closet and think:
I need a better shelving system.
We see toys everywhere and think:
We need more toy storage.
Maybe.
But before you create storage for everything that’s there, there’s another question to ask:
Does everything that’s here actually need to stay?
Because we don’t want to organize clutter.
And once we’ve decided what stays, we still can’t assume that putting it into a pretty container means the job is finished.
Someone has to use the system.
Someone has to maintain it.
Life is going to change.
That’s why the three steps work together.
Step One: Simplify
Simplify means decluttering what doesn’t serve your current self.
Before we decide where everything belongs, let’s decide what belongs.
And because decluttering can quickly become an exhausting series of decisions, I like to make this part as simple as possible.
Start by looking for three things:
Expired. Outgrown. Unused.
Expired: Past Its Useful Life
When you hear “expired,” your first thought may be the date on the milk.
That’s certainly one kind of expired.
But I want you to think bigger.
An item has expired when it’s past its useful life.
The shoes with holes in the soles that leave you with wet socks every time it rains?
Expired.
The markers that are completely dried out?
Expired.
The broken kitchen gadget you’ve been keeping because maybe someday someone will fix it?
It may have expired too.
Broken, busted, spoiled, worn out, dried up, or otherwise no longer useful?
Start there.
These are often some of the easiest decluttering decisions because you’re not deciding whether you still like something.
You’re asking whether it can still do its job.
Outgrown: No Longer Fits Your Life
Next, look for what you’ve outgrown.
And no, this isn’t only about the jeans your kids can’t button anymore.
We outgrow seasons and phases of life.
Maybe you worked in an office and now you work from home.
Maybe you used to entertain constantly and now your lifestyle looks completely different.
Maybe your kids have moved into a different stage.
Maybe you had a hobby that mattered tremendously five years ago but doesn’t fit your life today.
None of that means those things were mistakes.
They belonged to a different version or season of your life.
The question is whether they still fit the one you’re living now.
Unused: No Longer Part of Your Life
Then there are the things that are perfectly usable.
They’re just…sitting there.
The treadmill.
The protein-shake maker.
The hobby supplies.
The kitchen gadget.
The toys nobody chooses.
The thing on the shelf that has collected enough dust to tell you exactly how often you’re reaching for it.
Something shifted.
Your habits changed.
Your interests changed.
Your routine changed.
But the item stayed.
Unused items don’t automatically have to go. But they’re worth questioning before you spend time, money, and space creating a system to organize them.
Simplify first.
Now we know what we’re actually organizing.
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Step Two: Sort
Once you’ve Simplified, it’s time to Sort.
This is the part most of us traditionally think of as “getting organized.”
We’re creating homes.
We’re creating categories.
We’re creating systems.
But we’re not creating them based solely on what looks good.
A successful system needs to consider:
Your Style. Your Space. Your Success.
Your Style: How Do You Naturally Function?
A system should work with the way you naturally interact with your belongings.
Maybe you need one-step put-away.
Maybe you’re willing to take a few more steps putting something away because one-step retrieval matters more to you.
Maybe you need to see something to remember you have it.
Maybe seeing too many things makes you feel overwhelmed.
Your natural tendencies matter.
If you never put things into a basket because taking off the lid is one step too many, repeatedly telling yourself to “just put it away” isn’t much of a system.
Take off the lid.
If you’ll never hang the sweatshirt, try a hook.
If you need to see what’s inside, try a clear container.
If you need visual calm, tuck it behind a door.
We’re not trying to force you to become better at maintaining someone else’s system.
We’re creating one that works with you.
Your Space: Who Actually Uses It?
Next, think about the space itself.
Whose belongings are in it?
Who uses those belongings?
Whose hands are going to touch the system?
And who’s responsible for maintaining it?
Your personal sock drawer can be designed entirely around you.
The family pantry can’t.
When multiple people use a space, the organizing system needs to account for multiple people.
So when something keeps falling apart, ask:
How many hands are in it?
Sometimes you don’t have an organizing problem.
You have a system that only works for one of the five people expected to use it.
Your Success: What Works in Your Real Life?
This is the piece I don’t want you to skip.
I don’t want you to organize your home for my success. I don’t live there.
I don’t want you organizing for Pinterest.
Or the endcap at the store.
Or the person on Instagram whose pantry has seventeen matching containers and apparently no one ever shoves an open bag of chips onto the wrong shelf.
And I definitely don’t want you organizing for the potentially judgy visitor who doesn’t have to live with the system every day.
Organize for your success.
Your family.
Your schedule.
Your mornings.
Your messes.
Your real life.
A successful organizing system isn’t one that never gets messy.
It’s one that makes the mess easier to clean up.
That’s Sort.
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Step Three: Sustain
This is where we solve the problem of:
“I got organized once, but it didn’t stay that way.”
Because getting organized and staying organized are two different things.
Your house isn’t a photograph.
People live there.
They cook.
They get dressed.
They bring things home.
They make messes.
Kids grow.
Schedules change.
Your needs change.
So an organized home needs systems for maintaining the systems.
That’s Sustain.
And I break that into:
Habits. Routines. Maintenance.
Habits: Small Actions That Keep Spaces Functioning
Habits are the little actions that happen repeatedly.
Doing the dishes.
Putting something back after using it.
Making the bed.
Clearing the counter.
Doing a quick pickup.
They’re not giant organizing projects.
They’re small actions that keep dirt and clutter away and allow the systems you’ve already created to keep functioning.
And eventually, many of them can become things you do without having to think very hard about them.
You don’t create a new plan every morning for brushing your teeth.
You just brush your teeth.
Some home-maintenance habits can become just as automatic.
Routines: Regular Rhythms That Keep Things From Piling Up
Not everything needs to happen every day.
That’s where routines come in.
Maybe there’s a weekly bathroom reset.
A Sunday planning routine.
A monthly pantry check.
A regular laundry rhythm.
And let’s be clear: laundry is its own beast.
Laundry is rarely “done.”
You’re wearing some of it.
Some is probably dirty.
Some may be in the washer.
Some is waiting to be folded.
Somehow there’s already something else in the hamper.
That’s normal.
The goal of a routine isn’t necessarily to reach a permanent state of DONE.
It’s to keep normal household cycles from becoming overwhelming piles.
Maintenance: Scheduled Check-Ins That Keep Systems Working
Finally, we check back in.
Because even the best organizing system may stop working eventually.
Your life changes.
The people using the space change.
Your belongings change.
Your routines change.
Maintenance gives you a chance to ask:
Does this still work?
I like to check back in with rooms about every six months.
If you organize your kitchen in January, revisit it around July.
You don’t necessarily need to completely reorganize it.
You’re checking the system.
What’s working?
What’s starting to pile up?
What’s expired, outgrown, or unused now?
Does everything still have a home?
Are people actually using the system?
What needs a little adjustment?
That’s not starting over.
That’s maintenance.
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So, What Order Should You Organize Your Home In?
When you walk into the next messy space, don’t immediately start rearranging things.
Walk through the three steps.
1. Simplify
What doesn’t serve your current life?
Look for:
Expired → Outgrown → Unused
2. Sort
How should what remains be organized?
Think about:
Your Style → Your Space → Your Success
3. Sustain
What will keep the system working?
Create:
Habits → Routines → Maintenance
That’s it.
Simplify. Sort. Sustain.
You don’t need to organize the whole house today.
You don’t even need to organize the whole room.
Pick one small space.
Spend 15 minutes.
Figure out which S it needs.
And start there.
Want the Full Organizing Roadmap?
The 3S Method becomes even more useful when you understand how you naturally organize and how the people in your home use different spaces.
In my free Home Organization 101 video, I’ll walk you through organizing styles, Single-Serve and Shared spaces, and the entire Simplify → Sort → Sustain process.
Ready to Try the 3S Method in Your Own Home?
Start with the free Core Four Starter Kit.
You’ll use the same Simplify, Sort, and Sustain approach to begin working through four of the most-used spaces in your home:
Kitchen • Bedroom • Bathroom • Living Space
You don’t need a whole-house makeover.
You need a place to start.
One small space. One simple step. One method you can repeat throughout your home.
Stay Hopeful.
