Do you have a friend who is obsessed with cleanliness? You can tell by their immaculate home, their orderly surroundings, and their uncanny ability to locate any item in a flash. They are so organized that they could guide you to the red screwdriver’s exact location, even in their sleep.
Some people have a knack for tidying up everything they touch. Some don’t even stop at their own spaces but also love to extend their passion for organizing to their friends’ and family members’ homes. And if they are feeling adventurous, they might even rearrange a supermarket shelf, just for the thrill of it!
Having someone like that in your life can be a blessing, as they are meticulous and dependable when you need someone to host a flawless dinner party or help you pack for moving.
To celebrate the spirit of your neat-living friends, we have curated a list of amazing gift ideas that will help them organize smarter, because the last thing they want is more clutter.
Smart storage solutions and accessories
Some gifts can be a nightmare for people obsessed with neatness – imagine how they feel about scented candles, dust-collecting knick-knacks, or books that will never get read. They would rather have something useful that will make their organizing tasks more enjoyable. Here’s a list to help you get started on the search for the perfect gift:
- A set of apothecary jars is not only elegant but also practical. They can be used to store anything from spices, pasta, beans or nuts in the kitchen to cotton balls, soap bars or bath salts in the bathroom. In the office, they provide a home for paper clips, pens or boxes of staples, and even detergents, dryer sheets or spare buttons in the laundry room.
- Another charming and practical idea is a pegboard system. Forget about banishing pegboards in the garage, as they are a versatile and fun way to organize jewelry, kids’ toys, cleaning supplies or even craft materials.
- Among the most challenging kitchen items to organize are pans and their lids. They are impossible to stack without the risk of having them avalanche over you the next time you open the cupboard door. So, naturally, a pan and lid organizer will be a highly appreciated gift for anyone who loves both cooking and tidiness. Maybe you should even treat yourself to one!
- Small items are the ones most likely to get misplaced. That’s why a vanity organizer with a magnetic strip is a great gift idea. The removable compartments hold a bunch of daily essentials, while the magnetic band makes sure there will be no more bobby pins loose around the house.
- There are some essential items that every kitchen needs. Using this insight, buy a handy multifunctional organizer for your plastic wrap, wax paper and foil. It can be kept on the kitchen counter for convenient access and could well be as stylish as it is practical. In addition, those unsightly packaging boxes in the drawers will become history.
- How about giving your neat friends a set of linen organizers that will make their closets sparkle with the magic of Marie Kondo? These helpful items are also flexible and foldable, so they can be easily stored away when not in use.
- Planners and notebooks are useful gifts for keeping track of schedules, goals and tasks. They can help keep one’s time and thoughts neat and organized. Some of our favorites are The Bullet Journal and The Happy Planner.
- If the person you are buying the gift for is a tech enthusiast, they will appreciate cable management solutions. These are useful for keeping cables and cords organized and tangle-free, preventing accidents, damage or fire hazards caused by loose or messy wires. A smart web cable management box, an appliance cord box, a cable management sleeve or a desk cable organizer are all gift ideas that will improve any living space.
Essential books for home organizing
Organizing is a never-ending journey of learning and improving. And those who love the activity find that nothing is more satisfying than discovering new ways to tidy up and optimize their spaces. Here is a list of books that are packed with useful, practical and doable DIY and organizing tips that make for a perfect gift:
- The queen of domesticity herself wrote a book on organizing, so it naturally lands on the first spot in our list of books for optimizing your home. Martha Stewart’s “Organizing: The Manual for Bringing Order to Your Life, Home & Routines” is a comprehensive guide that covers everything from decluttering your closet to planning your meals to managing your finances. You’ll find practical tips, checklists, calendars and advice from Martha and her team of experts.
- “Essential” is another must-have book on any organized bookshelf, as it offers vital tips for simple living and decluttering in every aspect of your life — from finances to health, hobbies and relationships. The authors, Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, are Emmy-nominated Netflix stars and New York Times–bestselling authors known collectively as The Minimalists.
- Decluttering guru Marie Kondo has revolutionized homes and lives across the world. Her books “Spark Joy” and “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” are illustrated guides to the KonMari method to create a home filled with joy. The books show how to sort your belongings by category, keeping only what makes you happy, and arranging them in a way that makes them easy to find and use.
- For a friend or family member who struggles with messiness but wants to change, “How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind” by Dana K. White is the perfect gift. The book offers realistic and achievable methods to get your home out of chaos and keep it that way for good. The book is also fun to read, as the author shares her own journey as a “slob who came clean” and her successes and failures along the way. Dana teaches that cleaning your house is not a one-time project but a series of ongoing choices.
Digital organization tools
When it comes to organizing homes, decluttering apps can make life easier. They offer a way to “organize your organizing” and keep track of what’s actually in your home, helping you streamline tasks, and even making chores a little more fun. Here is a list of our favorite apps for achieving a tidy home.
- Tody is an app that helps you manage, arrange, simplify and track your cleaning tasks, without feeling stressed out. It gives decluttering checklists and lets you see your cleaning progress in each room with a progress bar. This way, you can easily spot which rooms need more work and which ones are already clean. Plus, you can also personalize the app to add multiple users and turn on cloud syncing. Another nice feature is gamifying your cleaning and decluttering to make the chore a little more fun.
- Pantry Check is an app that helps you keep track of your pantry and grocery list. It alerts you when food is about to expire, helping you keep things tidy and avoid food waste. The app has a barcode scanning feature that you can use with your phone’s camera to quickly add items to your inventory. It’s so smart it can even automatically create a shopping list based on your shopping habits.
- Imagine a cleaning app that transforms the mundane task of tidying up into an enjoyable game. When was the last time you found cleaning and organizing your home genuinely fun? Sweepy makes that happen, infusing a sense of excitement into your cleaning routine. With Sweepy, your cleaning progress is displayed through colorful visual cues, allowing you to earn points as your home gets cleaner.
- Procrastinators will find their fix with Toss, an app that cuts through any time-related excuse. It presents bite-sized tasks that are quick and easy to accomplish. When you do them regularly, they become habits, and this makes a big difference. The app has an interactive way of helping you get rid of the things you don’t need and encourages you to donate, recycle and sell the things you don’t use.
Self storage space for the home organizer
If your friend is a serious organizer, they may eventually run out of space in their home, even if they’re very good at decluttering. So, extra space can be an ideal gift for them. Have you considered giving them a gift certificate to a self storage facility? This unconventional idea is as practical as it gets, giving them a smart solution to better organize their home.
A self storage unit can be a wonderful solution for storage – especially for seasonal items like holiday ornaments, outdoor equipment, winter sports gear or summer clothes. Self storage units are also great for keeping recreational vehicles safe, storing valuable collectibles in optimum condition, or even for archiving important documents needed for future reference.
The best part is that a local storage unit enables people to keep their things safe and organized in a separate space close to home, but which can be easily accessed any time when the items are needed again.
Remember to choose gifts that match your neat friend’s specific organizing needs and style preferences. Tailoring the gift to their individual tastes will make it even more appreciated.