The ‘Desire Paths’ Method Is the Organizing Solution for Naturally Messy People

If you’re fed up with your home always being disorganized and in disarray, you’ve probably wondered what needs to change to keep your space in order. You might’ve asked yourself things like, What habits do I need to correct? How should I rearrange my home? Or even, what organizing products do I need to buy? You could come up with endless answers and solutions to these questions and still end up with a messy home. That’s because you might be asking the wrong questions all together.

Instead of trying to figure out how to change yourself and your routine to become more organized, you may want to consider how your organizational strategies can better accommodate your lifestyle. That’s the idea behind the “Desire Paths” method coined by content creator @jenny.for.yourthoughts—and it’s changing how we think about organizing. Here’s everything you need to know about this organizing method, and some ideas for how you can make it work for you.

What Is the Desire Paths Method of Organizing?

A desire path is the name of unofficial trails made by people walking in the same place over time. These paths often represent a more convenient route to get somewhere, an alternative to the formal, established route set in place. For example, you might see winding sidewalks around the perimeters of large lawns on college campuses, and over time, desire paths may form from students and teachers choosing to take a more direct route straight through the grass to the building they need to get to.

So, creator @jenny.for.yourthoughts shared a way to apply this same logic to home organizing. “[Desire paths] happen because humans are super efficient creatures who always favor convenience in poorly designed environments,” Jenny shares in her video. “We navigate our homes with the same efficiency, so we shouldn’t feel guilty when we want to trek back and forth across the house putting things away.” Instead, Jenny recommends identifying the areas where you see “desire paths” forming in your own home and adding solutions to accommodate those habits, rather than trying to force yourself to change them.

How to Use the Desire Paths Method

To identify the “desire paths” in your own home, look for the common areas and spaces where you most often find clutter piling up. Instead of simply scolding yourself and trying to remember to “Put it away, not down,” you can offer yourself in-between solutions in these spots. Here are some ideas:

Incorporate small trash bins

Sometimes, going all the way to the big trash and recycling bins in the kitchen feels like too much work, and that’s how we end up with small items of trash cluttered around the house. To address this, Jenny says, “Start by finding the areas where trash or recycling piles up and add small waste bins so you can clean up right on the spot.” In addition to keeping small bins near your nightstand, living room couch, or other areas where trash might accumulate in your home, Jenny also recommends small countertop trash containers to quickly toss smaller items in the kitchen or bathroom.

Then, at the end of the week, or whenever you have time for a bigger cleanup, you can collect the trash and recycling from the smaller containers throughout the house.

Add more options for laundry piles

“If you keep accumulating dirty laundry piles, just embrace the path of least resistance and add some small hampers [in those areas],” Jenny says. This might mean adding a small hamper in your closet, the bathroom, or other areas where laundry often piles up.

For that worn-but-not-dirty pile—that so many of us have—Jenny recommends adding a blanket ladder, a towel rack, or some simple adhesive hooks on the wall to keep those clothes accessible, but still separated.

Utilize trays and clutter receptacles

For general clutter, like loose pens, pieces of mail, beauty products, or whatever else tends to accumulate on your surfaces, catchall trays or bins are the perfect solution. Keeping a tray on your coffee table or desk will help keep everything contained throughout the week and make your surfaces look far less messy. Jenny also shows an example of a caddy being used beside the couch to collect books, magazines, and laptops—things that tend to always be out and in use. This helps provide a way to quickly tidy up and offers a place to put these items away, even if it’s just temporarily.

Overall, this method of organizing is adaptable and should work with—not against—your lifestyle. So, keep doing you, and just offer yourself some easy solutions to stay tidy along the way.