One of the greatest luxuries in my life is space. When a surface — be it my office desk or vanity bureau at home or bathroom cabinet — lacks clutter [1], my head instantly feels clearer. And the funny thing about space is that while it's free and something I can control, I often don't see much of it. As a beauty editor, I am constantly getting new products to test, and while this sounds pretty awesome (and it is!), it also leads to untidiness. So I crave clean space and product-free countertops.

Before my now-fiancé moved into my apartment last Fall, he gifted me Marie Kondo's bestselling book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up [2]. And for me, it really was both life changing and magical. The essence of the KonMari method [3] is to take out all of your items in a category and examine each one, questioning "does this bring me joy?" And only if it does, do you keep it. She then offers a ton of storage ideas, such as stacking items vertically in drawers so you can see them.

After reading it cover to cover, I took two days off to handle the big clean-out task [4]. When I was on the other side of the emotional journey, I felt wonderful and my apartment finally felt more spacious. My beauty stash was significantly cut down, and while I have to work hard to upkeep it, I now know what to do when it's time to declutter.

If you feel like you need to try this method, keep reading to discover KonMari-inspired tricks [5] and organizational ideas for your beauty goodies [6], shared by Instagram users.