Brittney Morgan

The next time you dive into a new decluttering project, keep these organizations in mind.

If light therapy is the right option for you, we've got you covered.

The age old tiny bathroom question: where do you put all your stuff? And why do towels take up so much space?

It's time to be a little more honest with yourself and figure out how to make your home work better for you.

Decorating for the holidays? Awesome. Putting it all back into storage afterwards? Not so much, but these products and DIY projects can help.

Raise your hand if, despite your best efforts, Tupperware and other plastic—or even glass—food storage containers always seem to take over your entire kitchen.

Good news: If you're looking for a little more contentment in your day-to-day, you've got science on your side. Try incorporating these study-backed habits into your routine.

The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is usually a quiet one, so it’s the perfect time to go through your things and declutter. Between donating old pantry items and gently worn clothes, recycling gift boxes and catalogs, and tossing out old wine and leftovers, there’s plenty to clear out so you can make your home ready for the new year—and it’ll be conducive to helping you keep your resolutions.

If you had to guess where the most expensive neighborhood in the country is, what would you say? The answer probably won’t surprise you (it has taken the top spot two years in a row!) According to a recent report from RentCafe, the zip code with the highest average rent is 10282—AKA the upper part of Battery Park City in Lower Manhattan—right by the water, and just north of the World Trade Center. The rent there? A whopping $5,657.

Let’s face it—doing the dishes is one of the worst chores there is. But it’s often the people who can’t stand doing the dishes who are the best at avoiding them—by getting them done most efficiently. That’s exactly why I reached out for advice from people who don’t have a dishwasher and just absolutely hate doing the dishes.

As magical as the holidays are, this time of year can also be a bit stressful—between handling a barrage of party invites, planning your own get-togethers, wrapping up the year, visiting family and getting all your holiday shopping done… well, it’s a lot. And then there’s the whole spending money thing. Shopping and celebrating add up, but it doesn’t have to be quite so painful.

The driving force in how you decorate your home—and really just how you live in it—is dictated most often by your personality. Who you are as a person impacts what art you hang, how you set up your rooms, how often you host people, your cleaning tendencies, and how you unwind at home.

Clutter is just a fact of life. Stuff piles up, messes are made, and dealing with it all becomes one of many things on your to-do list. Easy enough to manage when life is calm and work is steady, but when things get hectic, it’s more and more tempting to let things slide and deal with them later. And eventually, all that procrastinating can turn into what feels like an impossible cleaning challenge. But, of course, that’s not the case.

Like a lot of people, I grew up thinking that New York City was this magical place where all your dreams came true. In my fairytale, there was no gorgeous royal to sweep me off my feet—I was the princess, and New York was my one true love. When things were good, I pictured myself basking in the glow of the city lights. When things were bad, I told myself it would all go away once I got to New York.

Summer’s over and fall is here, and that can only mean one thing: it’s time to do some major decluttering. (What, you thought that only happened in spring?). The change of seasons is the perfect time to reset by going through your home room-by-room to get rid of all the stuff you didn’t use all season, not to mention all the stuff you know won’t get much use by winter, either.

Being more mindful of your health doesn’t necessarily mean overhauling your entire diet or hitting the gym for an hour every day—there are a lot of little things you can do to help you feel like your happiest, healthiest self. Things like staying hydrated, getting in extra steps, trying new things and taking breaks are all important, and it all starts with challenging yourself to pay attention to them.

Living in New York City often means expensive rent and little space, but sometimes apartments here are…an experience, to say the least. It seems like everyone lives in a building that has its quirks—things like strange-but-creative ways of fitting appliances in, weird structural features, odd smells, and more. Even the best apartments—the ones no one would dare give up their leases on—have their own interesting shortcomings.

Here’s the thing: I used to be a very productive person in the morning. I used to be a wake up early, make myself breakfast, get out the door and make it into the office before everyone else kind of person, but lately I’ve fallen into a very slow and tired routine. My recent mornings have been kind of a struggle, so I decided to try something new to get me out of my AM slump: getting up and going for a walk outside before doing anything else.

In the end, decluttering is generally pretty satisfying. But in the process? It can be an emotional, guilt-ridden and stressful situation. You want your home to be a positive space, but if you’re holding onto things that you really don’t need, or even things that actively make you feel bad, it’s time to let go. It’s time to invest in and focus on the things that do make you happy.

I recently learned something that totally blew my mind: you uh… actually don’t need soap to wash your dishes. Or at least, that’s what one cleaning brand called Goodbye Detergent claims, thanks to their Original Spaghetti Scrub. Spaghetti Scrubs are an environmentally friendly sponge alternative.

Anyone who’s searched for a way to save more money has probably heard of the 52 Week Challenge. It’s a way to slowly build up your savings throughout the year—you start by putting aside $1 on week one, $2 on week 2, and so on until you reach week 52, putting aside $52 that week. In total, if you follow the 52 Week Challenge, you’ll save $1,378 by the end of the year. Easy enough, right? While it sounds like a great idea (and if it works for you, keep it up!

Saving up to buy a home next year? You might need to put aside a little extra to keep up with rising home costs. According to a recent report from Zillow, the national median home will be worth $6,275 more a year from now—meaning that, on average, U.S. homebuyers will need to save an extra $105 a month (a total of $1,260 for 12 months) to keep up with the cost of a 20 percent down payment.

The holiday season is a time when people gather with friends and family, exchanging gifts and celebrating with loved ones. And when you’re a pet owner, that totally extends to your furry friends, too. If you have that all-too-familiar urge to spoil your cat this year, we’ve got you covered. You may not be able to read your cat’s mind, but if they had a wish list, these items would probably make the cut—not to mention, you’ll enjoy them too.

Decluttering—especially if you have a lot of stuff to begin with—can be an exhausting task. You can spend hours going through your things and realize you’re not even remotely close to being done with all your sorting. If you always feel totally spent when you’re done with a major decluttering session, the key might be in avoiding those giant, day (or weekend!) long clean-outs in the first place.

If you use a coffee or spice grinder you know that, over time, residue builds up inside and on the blades, and it’ll eventually, well… get a little gross. The good news is that if you’re facing a funky, gunk-filled coffee grinder, there’s an easy trick to get rid of all that buildup and get your grinder clean and back in action: use rice.

It’s not the holidays unless every beloved member of your family is included somehow, right? And that means your pets, too. While you’re exchanging gifts with friends and family, don’t forget about your dog—not that you ever would. But if you really want to spoil your dog—with things you can also enjoy, even if just aesthetically—we’ve got you covered.

When it comes to close friends and family, buying gifts is often a lot easier. You know them, and you’re probably willing to spend a little more (not just money, but time and effort) to get them a gift that they’ll really love. But for everyone else on your list—when a card just doesn’t feel like enough on its own—there are small things you can do that they’ll definitely appreciate.

Here’s the thing about stuff—even when we don’t need it, it’s easy to become attached to it, assign meaning to it or feel guilt about getting rid of it. Gifts from loved ones or an expensive purchase you regret but can’t return can weigh you and your home down. So, what do you do when you feel like you can’t part with anything you own—even when you have multiples that you don’t need?

Let’s be honest—gift shopping can be a big challenge sometimes. Some people are just hard to buy for, and it can be tempting to get the first thing you see that reminds you of them and call it a day. (I’ve definitely been guilty of doing this in the past, so don’t worry—you’re not alone.

If you, like me, feel serious shopping stress whenever you need to make a purchase, you probably make it a point to shop at stores that have easy or extended return policies. But some brands go above and beyond making returns a more simple, happier process—they back their products for life. As in, if you buy something from them, you never have to worry about shopping for that item ever again, because they’ll repair or replace it forever.

Feeling like you're always battling dust? These simple secrets will keep your space dust-free.

Have you ever thought about just up and moving to a new city halfway across the globe? If you’re not just fantasizing and you’re really considering a major move, you may want to consider which cities have a super high cost of living first. Each year, The Economist releases their Worldwide Cost of Living Report which determines the most—and least—expensive cities around the globe. This year, the report ranked the most expensive city as Singapore.

Sometimes moving into a new apartment is just the push you need to start over. It’s a clean slate—your new home is clean and empty, and as you move in, you have the power to decide where everything goes and what you want your home to be like.

As a society, we’re constantly trying to make our lives easier, speed up everyday tasks and find products to hack our routines. While we’re constantly on the hunt for new technology that can multitask for us (honestly if you told me 10 years ago that someday I’d talk to my lightbulbs, I wouldn’t have believed you), there are plenty of affordable products already on the market that can change your life—or at least your life in the bathroom.

It's no-waste AND self-cleaning.

When you really need to go the extra mile, cleaning-wise.