Background

In September 2020, Netflix released the new Netflix show Get Organized with The Home Edit.

The show features the founders of the organizing company called The Home Edit named Joanna Teplin & Clea Shearer. The company was founded in Nashville, TN but they do travel for services outside the state.

The eight episode series shows the organizing/design projects for celebrities such as Rachel Zoe, Reese Witherspoon, and Khloe Kardashian . The Netflix series also features makeovers for non-celebrity clients.

Prior to the release of the show, they also had a 12 episode Youtube series called Master the Mess that was released in 2019.

The main difference with this show compared to other design shows are these things:

1. The methodology that The Home Edit uses to transform the spaces for their clients and

 2. The focus on organizational solutions.

Joanna & Clea were set up together by a mutual friend to meet up due to both of their interest in setting up an organization business. During the initial meeting, they created their business name, created social media handles, and have continued to work together ever since.

The Home Edit Methodology

One of the most eye catching part of their methodology is to organize all of the items by ROYGBIV (i.e. the rainbow spectrum). 

The result leads to a colorful array of products/objects ranging from clothes to food in pantries.

The three main steps in The Home Edit organization process is edit, categorize, and contain.  

Edit: taking assessment of the items that you currently own. Deciding on what to keep and deciding on things to get rid of.

Categorize: having like items with other items within a specific type. i.e. workout clothes, cookware, etc.

Contain: placing items into clear organizational bins from the container store, hanging clothes on velvet or wooden hangers, etc.  

Complaints

A summary of the complaints that I’ve observed about the home edit is about the following:

1. The feature of celebrities. For many people, celebrities represent some of the modern day problems in our world. Those problems ranging from consumerism, wealth distribution, to organized hoarding.
2. The negative environmental impact of plastic. Plastic takes decades to breakdown and most of the products the home edit uses is plastic.
3. The products being from the container store. Although the products are beautiful and functional, they are also not cheap. The cost of the products feels out of reach to many people whom can’t afford to exclusively organize from the container store.
4. The personality of Clea. Some felt that her personality was a bit overbearing.

My Observations

The overall feel of the show is upbeat and exciting.  However, I don’t feel like I learned a lot about organizing after completing the series. It took a bit of research for me to figure out what their process is. I think its because of how fast the show features the makeovers. The show also features two makeovers per episode and they focus heavily on the contain process not any of the other steps.

I like some items organized by color such as clothing, accessories, and crafting supplies. But I personally don’t think its practical to organize every single thing by color. For example with books, I don’t believe that it is always practical to organize solely by color.

For books, I believe its better to organize based on the genre if you have a larger collection of books.  Its seems like people that aren’t as avid of readers may lean more towards color organization. (but if I’m wrong let me know in the comments below. I also believe that color organization can work better for a smaller collection of books.

I also don’t see the point of organizing food in a rainbow fashion. Although food ordered by color looks nice, it shouldn’t be a organizational mandate. Sometimes the home edit will purchase additional food to help create the rainbow aesthetic within the pantry. If the family doesn’t end up eating the additional food purchased, the food will just end up going to waste contributing to food waste.

When the home edit meets with the clients, they briefly speak about the amount of things they own. However, a large surplus of items that the clients have ends up staying but now placed within plastic clear bins.

The series also does not focus on individual habits of the clients that contributes the excess and overconsumption of items. Its important to really focus on habits and mindset that the client has that creates the disorganization and overabundance of items. Otherwise, the client will continue to overbuy products and things become soon become unorganized again.

Also the show only features items from the container store. While I enjoy some items from the container store, shopping exclusively from the container store can get expensive and it can be out of reach for many people.

Final Thoughts

You don’t need to clear items to organize your belongings. You can also reuse items that you currently own or go to discount stores like T.J. Maxx, Homegoods, etc. to find organization items at a less expensive price.

I do feel that the show is lighthearted and it’s a simple form of escapism so I don’t look too deeply into the show.

The women from the home edit have a line featured with the container store so they definitely have a vested interest in exclusively featuring their product line on the show. The products with the home edit at the container have sold out since the release of the show.

There are several different ways to organize your items so if you want to follow the home edit method for organizing have at it! Just make sure that the organizing method that you used works with your space, style, and lifestyle.

If you’ve watched The Home Edit show and/or have followed their work, what do you think of the home edit and their process?