I am usually guilty of letting items pile up around my home. It is, after all, so much easier to drop something on a side table than it is to find its home and return it.
However, this line of thinking can quickly lead to chaos, especially in a period as busy as the hosting season, with Thanksgiving quickly giving way to Christmas. So, with a stream of friends frequenting my house and a packed schedule of festive events, I turned to the One-Touch organizing rule to stay on top of the mess.
It hasn’t been easy to beat my serial procrastination habits, but the results of this decluttering method were undeniable – here’s why the experts applaud my efforts, and why you should try it for future hosting.
Why The One-Touch Rule Works
The one-touch tidying rule is self-explanatory – you only touch an item once between finishing using it and putting it away. For example, when you enter your home, you don’t take your coat off and drape it over a chair before later hanging it on the hook; you touch it only once and hang it up right away.
The whole method revolves around minimizing decision delay and stopping clutter before it starts by acting immediately. These easy little successful moments of tidying can deliver an immediate dopamine hit to the brain, making it particularly useful for those who struggle to focus, are neurodivergent, or find that ADHD procrastination often gets in their way when it comes to chores.
Similar to the no-pile rule, the one-touch approach is about breaking bad home habits, explains Lisa Cantu, professional organizer and owner of An Organized Home. ‘It helps reduce clutter by preventing accumulation. By dealing with items as they come in, you stop them from multiplying into large piles,’ she explains.
‘It also creates a sense of order. Clear surfaces contribute to a calmer and more peaceful, organized environment, while also making cleaning easier – when surfaces are clear, cleaning becomes much faster and more efficient.’ You can make it easier by introducing drop zones into your home using open-top water hyacinth baskets from Target, offering you some space for putting items away quickly without them cluttering surfaces.
‘Furthermore, it forces decision-making,’ Lisa adds. ‘The rule encourages you to decide what to do with an item right away: File it, discard it, or put it away.’ To make the one-touch rule easier, Lisa recommends ensuring everything has a designated place to make putting items away quicker, adding, ‘Like any new habit, it takes time to use regularly. Be patient.’ These routine tracking sticky notes, from Anthropologie, can help you build better habits by creating a small reward system.
My Verdict
This trick is ideal for quickly sprucing up several rooms, quickly.
I am a serial procrastinator through and through, and usually I have to rely on my trusty ski-slope organizing method and Joseph Joseph folding laundry basket from Wayfair to help me restore order after ‘clutter creep’ leaves every surface of my home covered in stuff.
However, with so many visitors to my home, big dinners, and a packed seasonal planner, I had to make a change and try some chores to instantly make my home look put together. The one-touch rule is the complete antithesis to my habit of dealing with stuff later, and while irritating at first, it proved to be an incredibly effective tidying technique, preventing me from tidying a home when I feel overwhelmed.
By decluttering as I go, such as taking plates or wrappers straight to the kitchen after use, putting bags away when I first enter my home, and dealing with mail and greeting cards as I collect them from the mail box, I had to expend a little more energy immediately, but it prevented seasonal mess accumulating that would be more tiring to tackle later.
It was particularly useful for tracking daily-use items such as guest outerwear, keys, phones/chargers, and mail. This small habit kept my entryway functional and welcoming, and it also reduced the mental load of wondering where things had gone.
Overall, it is a great mindset shift that helps prevent clutter, and while it is one I know I might struggle to stick to beyond the holidays, as I am terrible for fixing my bad habits, it is one that I will come back to whenever my home feels at risk of falling into chaos for a quick organizing system to keep me sane.
What to Shop
This laundry basket features strong, woven handles, making it very easy to carr,y and it folds flat, making it easy to store in a narrow space, such as on top of or down the side of a washing machine.
With vibrant designs and elegant gold foil detailing, this notepad set encourages you to customize your routines - both morning and evening.
Measuring 8x10x11 inches, these handwoven water hyacinth baskets are ideal for drop zones, shelves, and cabinets.
Labeling with generic labels can help you create homes for items that do not feel too constraining. This can also help guests and family members find what they need, and put items away in your system.
These under-bed storage bags on wheels are easy to pull out, and maintain good ventilation for items to prevent mold or musty bedroom smells. They are perfect for hiding away the items you do not need to access regularly.
This bestselling book packs so much information into a mere 200 pages, in a readable and digestible format that's accessible to all readers of all ages.
Meet the Expert
Lisa Cantu is a certified professional organizer and the founder of An Organized Home OC. She now oversees a team of organizers who help clients across Orange County downsize their homes and develop a custom plan to keep their spaces in order.
The one-touch rule is just one of the many ways you can think like a professional organizer at home. When trying to stay on top of the mess during the hosting season, you can also try the FIFO method for organizing kitchen storage, or the Sunday butterfly method for focused tidying, which is particularly great for neurodivergent minds.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.