If you want your home to look and feel more organized, embrace the difference between In and On.

Homes with objects on surfaces tend to look and feel cluttered. Stuff is ON the floor, ON the counter, ON the armchair, ON the dining table. Even if the stuff is useful, beautiful, and meaningful, it can start to look like junk when it is strewn about on surfaces.

Surfaces do not make good storage. Surfaces are good for verbs, like chopping vegetables, folding laundry, paying bills, crafting, sleeping, eating, sitting, etc. Reserve your surfaces for these activities. Don’t go putting nouns ON them.

Store your nouns in something instead. Storage works best and looks best when it’s happening IN a closet, IN a cabinet, IN a drawer, IN a tray, IN a basket. These spaces aren’t designed for activities, they’re designed for stuff.

Look at a hot mess in your home. Can any of the objects there be stored IN something so the activities meant for the space can once again take priority? If you've done the sort and purge steps from S.P.A.C.E. with me, you’ll probably have a lot of new real estate available in closets, drawers, or cabinets.

There are two exclusive exceptions to the In vs. On rule: you may store things ON a hook or ON a shelf. If you’re really struggling to store every object In something, you might consider installing a hook or a shelf. This cheat also works well when considering retrieval: taking a coat off a hook is often simpler than taking it out of a closet.

That said, break the In vs. Out rule only if absolutely necessary!

If objects find their way onto a surface throughout the course of the day, which they inevitably will as you go about your life, just be sure to adhere to curfew and get those things back in their assigned homes.