Not simply cleaning it out and purging expired condiments, but really thinking how your fridge is organized…and whether it’s actually set up to support the way you and your family eat?   

Our refrigerators are workhorses. We’re in and out of them all day, every day, but we rarely think about setting them up with the same intention we might give a closet, pantry, or office.  

Refrigerators just happen to be one of my favorite things to organize (nerd alert 🤓), and I’ve been dying to organize one on the podcast.  

This week on What Are You Making Space For?, we’re tackling Mica’s fridge. 

Podcast banner updated with: Episode 8, Mica’s Fridge (link to www.whatareyoumakingspacefor.com )  

Mica is a working mother of 5, with kids ranging from 9 months to 13 years old. Her hands are full (literally and figuratively), and she needs her fridge to support the whole family.  

But as we start digging in, we discover something else… 

Some of the clutter in Mica’s fridge is actually pointing us to what she needs. 

Because sometimes the stuff that’s getting in our way is also trying to tell us something. 

Take a listen to find out what was hiding in Mica’s fridge, and pick up some ideas for setting up your own fridge to better support you and the people you feed. 

Here’s to more nourishment and less mystery leftovers, 

The post How to organize your refrigerator so it actually works for you appeared first on Star Hansen.

Last week, I asked you a question…

What percentage of your stuff would you have to let go of before you would feel good in your space? 

A lot of you answered…thank you so much for taking the time to reach out and share.   

Some of you named percentages, some of you wrote me paragraphs…and a few of you even told me you haven’t been able to sleep in your own bed in years.  

The percentages were all over the place. From 0% all the way up to 98%. But the most common answer, by far, was 

50%

The post What % Would You Have To Let Go Of Before You Would Feel Good In Your Space? appeared first on Star Hansen.

I love receiving handwritten notes in the mail. It makes me so happy! 

But not all mail feels so exciting. Many times, mail can feel stressful, overwhelming, and irritating.  

Medical bills, reminders, charity requests, credit card offers, things we “should’ be handling… it can feel like a lot. 

In fact, mail is one of the main sources of paper clutter. 

I’ve worked with many clients who feel a wave of dread just looking at a pile of mail.

If this is an area where you struggle too, please know you’re not alone.

We don’t need to invent a way to eliminate all mail from the face of the Earth. Instead, what we need is to create a mail system that actually supports you. s

Step 1: Create a Place for Mail to Land

Most people don’t have a true “mail home,” so it ends up everywhere.  The counter, the chair, the floor, your bag…a random pile that seems to move around your house.

Instead, we want to create a very intentional landing spot. Think of this less like a “mail pile” and more like a landing zone.  A place where your mail can land without needing immediate action. 

Because the truth is, you’re not always going to have the energy to go through it the second you walk in the door. And that’s okay. 

Your system needs to support you on your hardest days, not just your best ones. 

So, give yourself a container that can hold at least a week’s worth of mail (larger if you need it).

If you have the energy to go through your mail as you bring it in, great! If you don’t, it has a place to go. 

Step 2: Make it Easy to Let Things Go 

You need a way to get things out as easily as they come in.

That means having a trash, recycling, or shred option right there at your mail station. 

Because if it’s not easy to throw something away, you won’t.

You’ll set it down and tell yourself that you’ll look at it again later. But then move it from one pile to another. 

We don’t want that. We want one-touch decisions whenever possible.

Get rid of anything you don’t need. 

It’s just as easy to put it in the recycling bin as it is to put it in your mail inbox. 

Step 3: Decide When You’ll Deal with It 

Mail doesn’t magically handle itself (Shocker, I know).

And it’s never going to feel “good” to sit down and go through it.

So, instead of waiting for the perfect moment, choose a rhythm.

Once a week is a great place to start. 

If this is something you tend to avoid, don’t rely on scheduling or willpower. Instead, pair it with something you already do: 

• Laundry day 

• Trash day 

• Sunday afternoon reset 

And if you need a little bit of extra support, try body doubling. Call a friend and go through your mail together. You don’t even have to talk about it…sometimes, just not being alone with a hard task can make a huge difference.

This is about more than just mail. It’s about creating a system that supports your life.  

A system that works when you’re tired. When you’re busy. When you don’t feel like being your most “on top of it” self.  

Because that’s when you actually need it.  

If your mail has been piling up or stressing you out, don’t try to overhaul everything at once. Start with three simple things: 

• Give your mail a place to land 

• Make it easy to let go of things you don’t need 

• Choose when you’ll deal with it 

That’s it. Three small steps will help you stop your paper clutter at the source. 

The post 3 Simple Steps to Create a Mail System That Actually Works appeared first on Star Hansen.

Where do you go to catch your breath?

And the shame ends up taking more energy than the actual action would have.

The post Building A Village: You’re Allowed To Need Support Sometimes appeared first on Star Hansen.

As we walked into the room, they felt overwhelmed almost immediately. There was a lot to do, the energy felt heavy, and about 20 minutes in they said: 

“Maybe this is too much. Maybe we should switch to an easier project.”

They were feeling overwhelmed and getting ready to abandon the bedroom project altogether.

So, I asked them to pause.

Not because they needed to push harder or do more. But because the bedroom is one of the most important spaces in the house to approach gently.

The bedroom is where we sleep. Where we let our guard down. Where our nervous system is supposed to feel safe enough to rest.  

And because of that, it can be a surprisingly charged space… 

There can be relationship energy activated here. Or body image issues connected to our clothing may arise. We can experience sleep struggles.  

And often, we’re reading, scrolling, unwinding, or overstimulating ourselves without realizing it.  

So, when people tell me they want to “organize their bedroom,” I often slow them down. 

Because sometimes the goal of organizing isn’t to do a full, deep, color-coded overhaul.  Sometimes the goal is much simpler. 

Sometimes the goal is to protect your peace.

Right now, the world is loud. It’s heavy, fast, and overwhelming.  Many people are carrying way more than they realize, and it shows up most clearly at night.

If your bedroom doesn’t feel peaceful, you don’t need to “Marie Kondo” the entire space.

You just might need to remove one thing. 

Something that doesn’t feel right. One thing that disturbs your sleep. Or something that pulls your focus in a direction you don’t want it to go. 

That could look like: 

• Removing a book you’re not reading from your nightstand 

• Clearing the top of your dresser so your eyes can rest 

• Moving your charging cord to the bathroom so you aren’t tempted to scroll at night 

• Unfollowing someone online who activates comparison or stress in you 

• Unsubscribing from an email that hijacks your nervous system 

• Letting go of something, physical or digital, that no longer belongs in this season of your life 

This counts as organizing. 

This counts as self-care.

Protecting your peace isn’t indulgent. It’s essential.

It’s self-regulation.  Its boundaries. And it’s choosing what (and who) gets access to you.

So today, take one small step.

Ask yourself: 

What’s one thing I can remove to protect my peace?  

That’s it. That’s the work.

The post Protecting Your Peace In The Bedroom appeared first on Star Hansen.

• Getting rid of stuff
• Buying containers
• Making systems

And, yes, those things matter. But if that’s all you’re doing, it’s no wonder it feels like you’re stuck on an organizing hamster wheel.

Because organizing isn’t just a task. It’s a life skill.

And that skill goes way beyond clever organizing hacks and folding techniques.

The best organizing results come from cross-training.

Think about athletes… NFL players have been known to train in ballet to improve balance and coordination. Weightlifters do yoga to protect their joints and stay mobile.

They’re not doing it because it’s trendy. They’re doing it because training only one way creates an imbalance.

Organizing is the same.

If the only muscle you’re building is “hands-on decluttering,” you’re skipping the inner skills that make organizing sustainable. You need more than that.

You also need nervous system regulation, decision-making support, patience, creativity, and support.

That’s where cross-training comes in.

Here are a few simple ways to cross-train your organizing projects:

MEDITATE

Organizing requires presence.

Taking a few quiet minutes each day to breathe, be still, and step away from screens will help build your ability to respond instead of react. That pause is what helps you make better decisions when you’re standing in front of a pile wondering what to do.

As Einstein said, “We can’t solve a problem from the energy that caused it.” Stillness is one of the best starting places for facing the chaos in our lives.

RESEARCH

Sometimes organizing stalls because of unanswered questions.

Where do dead batteries go? What about paint? Electronics? Medications?

Taking time outside of hands-on organizing sessions to figure these things out removes friction later. When you already know where things go, actions feel lighter, and momentum builds.

Less friction = more follow-through

BUILD

Support matters.

If something physically blocks you, organizing will stall every time. Heavy furniture, high shelves, limited energy… All of these things have an impact on our organizing progress.

Finding someone to help you move things, having a step stool where you need it, or asking for support isn’t a weakness, it’s smart self-care.

Organizing works best when your environment supports you.

PLAY

Joy isn’t a reward for finishing.

When our homes feel chaotic, many people delay having fun until everything is “handled.” It’s common to feel like we have to earn our rest. But joy is actually fuel. When your system feels nourished, organizing stops feeling like punishment.

Take a walk. Listen to music. Laugh with a friend. Grab an ice cream. Dance in your living room with your dog.

These moments build capacity, and capacity makes change possible.

CREATE

Organizing isn’t just logical, it’s creative.

Movement, art, music, or even doodling activates the part of your brain that imagines new possibilities and helps you invent systems that actually work for you.

Some of the best organizing systems don’t come from books. They come from your own lived experience. You just need to make a little space to express your creativity each day.

Organizing doesn’t only happen in your closet or at the Container Store.

It happens when you pause. When you ask for help. When you make room for joy. And when you trust your instincts.

That’s cross-training. And it’s what makes organizing stick. 

Comment below and tell me one way you can start your organizing cross-training journey this week. 

Cheering you on as you train your way to a clutter-free finish line. 🎉 

The post Cross-Training: The Missing Link to Getting Organized appeared first on Star Hansen.

“Do I throw away expired food, or not?”

People usually fall into one of two camps:

Camp 1: “If it’s expired, it’s out of here! Goodbye, good luck, and thanks for your service!”

Camp 2: “Expiration dates aren’t real. I’m not getting rid of this.”

Wherever you land is totally fine. But here’s what I want you to know before you start organizing your kitchen:

Most expiration dates are about quality, not safety.

The FDA and USDA are very clear about this. “Best by,” “sell by,” and “use by” are mostly guesses from the manufacturer about when food will taste its best…not when it suddenly becomes dangerous. (Except for infant formula—that one actually does matter.)

This doesn’t mean that everything in your pantry is edible forever. But it does mean that we don’t need to go into an expired food panic spiral.

If you want a quick breakdown of how to handle expired food in your kitchen, here’s a short video I made explaining what expiration dates mean, and how to set up your kitchen for success:

So, what should you do with the expired food in your kitchen?

Before you touch anything, take a minute and ask yourself one simple question:

How do I feel about expiration dates?

Because the moment you’re standing in the kitchen holding that expired can of soup, you’ll start convincing yourself that you’ll finally make it. (My friend, you haven’t made that soup. You’re not making that soup…and it’s totally ok.)

What about emergency food?

Living in California, I totally get having a backup stash in case of emergencies. No argument there.

But try keeping emergency food separate from your everyday pantry. It’s kinder on your brain, your shelves, and your future self when you’re trying to cook dinner on a busy Wednesday night.

If it feels like something is always expiring or going to waste, please know that’s not a failure. It’s feedback. It’s your kitchen quietly telling you, “We don’t actually eat this.”

Let that insight guide what you bring home next time you go shopping.

A quick note about packaging…

Sometimes the expiration date is about the container, not the food. Some packaging breaks down over time (especially certain plastics). That doesn’t mean you need to panic. It just means you need to be aware.

Also, as you launch into your kitchen organizing projects, please keep in mind how emotional our food items can be.

Kitchens bring up a lot…

Food insecurity. Financial scarcity. Childhood memories. “Just in case” thinking. Body image issues. The desire to be prepared. The fear of waste.

All of these are real and valid. You’re not wrong for wanting to keep extra food. Or for feeling torn about what to keep.

You deserve to have your needs met. And to be able to make your kitchen organizing decisions with clarity and peace, rather than guilt or fear.

So, before you step into your kitchen, take 5-10 minutes to get clear about your relationship with your kitchen and food items.

Ask yourself:

• How do I personally feel about expiration dates?
• What foods do we actually eat in this house?
• What belongs in my “everyday” pantry and what belongs in “emergency back-stock”?
• What can I donate to someone who would use it?

When you know what matters to you, organizing becomes a thousand times easier.

I would love to hear where you land with expiration dates—strict, flexible, or somewhere in between? Comment below and tell me. Everyone has a pantry philosophy, and I would love to hear more about yours.

And if you want support in getting your kitchen in shape this month, come join us in the Chaos to Calm Organizing Community. We’re working on our kitchen systems, pantry clean-outs, and talking about what belongs in your cabinets as we move into the new year. 🎉

You don’t have to do this alone. ✨

The post Should You Throw Away Expired Food? Here’s What Expiration Dates Really Mean. appeared first on Star Hansen.

The post Don’t Let Those Returns Steal Your Joy (or Your Money) appeared first on Star Hansen.

But before you click add to cart, I want to offer another voice. A quieter one.

Since 2020, I’ve moved seven times. Seven. 

And every single time, I’ve had to touch, pack, and carry every item I own.

And let me tell you…it’s humbling.

I’ve seen just how many things I bought with good intentions that I barely used, didn’t love, or never even opened.

Each move was a reminder that most of what we buy doesn’t end up changing our lives. It just fills our closets, our shelves, and our mental space.

So, this week, while the world is shouting “More! More! More!” I want to whisper something different:

🖤 You don’t have to buy a thing.

🖤 You don’t have to chase every deal.

🖤 You don’t have to prove your love or success through stuff.

There will always be another sale. But your peace of mind (and your space) is worth far more than anything in a shopping cart.

So if you need permission to sit this one out, here it is.

The post You Don’t Have to Buy a Thing: A Black Friday Reminder appeared first on Star Hansen.

You know when you’re organizing something…and it’s almost perfect. But then there’s one tiny detail that makes your eye twitch every time you look at it?

And it makes the whole space feel chaotic, and you find yourself avoiding that room at all costs…and then clutter starts to mysteriously build up again?

I call that frustrating challenge The Imperfection.

For Shawna, The Imperfection was a giant cat box. She had a huge utility closet in her mudroom. It was the best and most functional storage space in her house. And (thankfully) there was a plug in there, so the cat box being stored there felt like a perfect win…

• Privacy for the cat ✅
• Out of sight ✅
• No smell ✅

Now, don’t get me wrong—this solution worked…

Except for the fact that the closet door had to stay open six inches at all times so the cat could get in and out.

And this closet was the first thing you saw when you walked into the house. And it wasn’t a cute closet, either—it was a functional utility space with mismatched boxes and random gear.

Shawna was frustrated. “It ruins everything,” she said. “If I see clutter, I create clutter. It snowballs.”

This is what I call THE IMPERFECTION.

It’s that one element that isn’t ideal and feels like it ruins the rest of the system.

That thing that whispers “Why even bother?”

The Imperfection doesn’t mean your systems are broken or unfinished. It means they’re still evolving.

Sometimes things are less than ideal. Sometimes we can’t make our homes bigger, get our doors to close all the way, or decorate the way we want to.

And inside, our inner teenager may want to fight back and rebel. But done is better than perfect.

Instead of fighting The Imperfection and feeling like getting organized is a lost cause, sometimes the best first step is acceptance. Accept that The Imperfection exists, and we need to work with it.

Then dive into possible solutions.

For Shawna’s closet, we doubled down and brainstormed solutions:

• Could we remove the closet doors and use curtains instead?
• Paint the closet interior a fun color?
• Style the left side (the side you see) to look intentional and beautiful? And then stash the messier stuff on the right, out of view?

Once Shawna accepted that THE IMPERFECTION wasn’t going away, everything shifted. She was able to pick a direction and give it a try.

She didn’t have to move the cat box—she just had to change how she saw the space. And with that, her overwhelm lifted. She made peace, and she moved forward.

The truth is that she may change the configuration of that closet a dozen times while she lives in that house. Each version is valid. And each will get better and better.

So, here’s your invitation:

What’s one IMPERFECTION in your home that’s tripping you up?

Let’s look at it together. Comment below and tell me what it is—I’ll help you brainstorm how to turn it into a win.

The post Overcoming Imperfection: How to Stop One Small Clutter Detail from Ruining Your Whole Space appeared first on Star Hansen.