Greetings!

Confession: I have a stack of storage bins sitting in my bathroom right now that don't fit on the shelf I bought them for. I saw them at the store, thought "these are cute and I clearly need bins," and bought them without ever actually measuring the space. Classic.

So when I sat down to record this week's episode with Julianna Strickland of Space Camp Home Organizing, and she said the number one mistake people make is buying organizational products before they've measured, sorted, and figured out what they actually need... I felt very seen. 🤭

Julianna has organized thousands of homes, and what she shared lined up so closely with what I see energetically in a space. A room can look clean on the surface and still feel completely wrong, because it isn't set up to support how you actually live in it. She calls it the difference between a space that's "clean" and a space that's truly "functional" — and once you hear the difference, you'll start noticing it everywhere.

My favorite tip from her: leave at least 20% free space in any drawer, closet, or cabinet you organize. If everything you own barely fits with zero room to spare, the system is set up to fail the moment one new thing comes into your home. It needs breathing room, just like the rest of your life does.

This week, try this: before you buy a single bin or basket for a space you want to organize, take a photo of it on your phone and jot the measurements right on the image. It sounds so simple, but it's the step most of us skip (myself included, apparently).

You can find the full conversation with Julianna below, she also shares her three favorite organizing tips, and I promise none of them are complicated.

Enjoy the rest of your week, and let me know — do you have a bin confession of your own? Hit reply and tell me!

Warmly, Lisa Morton