Well if this post isn’t just SO fitting.
Most of us are in our houses right now, so I decided to do a 5 part series with Ria Safford. It’s going to be all about how to organize the fuck out of your home during quarantine.
Just to give you a little background… Ria has organized for some top celebrities in LA ( ahem Chrissy Teigen ) & she really knows her shit when it comes to getting your home organized & streamlined.
She truly made every facet of our home work for us & our life. From under the bathroom sinks, to the pantry, to Michael’s shaving collection. You guys, I’m telling you, my house is feeling so efficient right now, & it’s all because of Ria & her team.
Not only is she a master of her craft, she’s also a mom of 3, a badass entrepreneur & someone who really cares about making your home work for YOU. Like, your nail polish doesn’t have to live in your bathroom, ya know? Stay tuned for that story in an upcoming post.
Did I mention Ria is also funny & cool as fuck? Her & her team came into our home with this amazing, light energy & they made everything seamless & comfortable for us.
In this post you can expect to learn the steps on how to get started on any space or drawer in your home, the #1 thing you need for organizational success, & Ria’s favorite organizational hack.
Let’s welcome Ria to The Skinny Confidential.
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♡ Introduce yourself to The Skinny Confidential community & tell us your story.
Ria Safford: Hi guys! My name is Ria Safford & I am the owner of RiOrganize–a luxury home organization company based out of Southern California. I have three kids ( ages 1, 3 & 5 ) & am married to a good ol’ Texan man.
This crazy ride began in 2016 when I convinced my husband I should leave my 6-figure commercial real estate job to launch a home organization company! Let’s just say that took some MAJOR convincing. He was like, “You want to give up the money you’re making to organize pantries? Is that even a thing?” I was like, kind of sure it was a thing & wore him down enough to get on board, hah! If I was going to be away from my kids, I needed to be my own boss, make my own schedule & I needed to be making a real difference in people’s lives.
`I had the name first–obviously it’s a play on my name, Ria. Those closest to me call me “Ri” & I love being able to incorporate the nickname. RiOrganize was an idea I had in 2012 when I graduated college ( TCU ) but I was in no place to start an entrepreneurial journey. I just wanted to enjoy living in a new city ( Houston, TX ) & enjoy my early 20s!
I got married in 2014 & had Landry 6 months later–you do the math! Life started at epic speed & Conner & I were forced to grow up real fast. We made the decision to head back to where I’m from, Orange County, & it served as the perfect opportunity to start something new! I immediately tackled branding, social media & a simple website & launched RiOrganize in March 2016.
♡ How did you get into professionally organizing?
RS: I wasn’t born an ‘organized’ person. I was messy, like really messy. I was the girl in college that would just shove my whole room into the closet when people were coming over. It wasn’t that I didn’t know how to organize, it just wasn’t something that I wasn’t prioritizing in my life. My outlook on organization changed once I got married & began having kids. SO. MUCH. STUFF. Like honestly–kids’ things procreate overnight. Having good organizational systems was so necessary for my sanity.
I love organization because it is a perfect way for me to combine my talents! I have always been a creative person & extremely good with space–whattup Tetris! Funny enough, my job encompasses all of my majors I bounced around from in college, hah! Graphic design, Interior design, psychology, business & strategic communications. How I graduated in 4 years is beyond me– I ended up with a General Studies Major with a Business emphasis. I digress. I became proof that good organization skills can be learned & maintained & I wanted to share the Kool-aid with others!
♡ What are 3 easy tips someone can do at home to get organized right now?
RS: Here are 3 easy tips to get started:
Tip 1: tackle that ‘junk drawer.”
But first, let’s change the name. I hate calling it a junk drawer because I feel like that gives us the free pass to just dump crap in there all day & not make any sense of it. We shall call this space, the ‘Essentials Drawer’–okay much better.
You can use the following steps for any space in your home really. This drawer is a good start to the process & will give you the confidence to keep pushing through your home.
+ Empty completely.
+ Clean the drawer.
+ Assess everything one by one. You will be shocked at how much trash, receipts, gum wrappers, & just complete randomness is living in this space.
+ Place the items you will be keeping in the space.
+ Product. You can purchase new organizers or use old gift boxes you may have lying around to create homes for your items within the space.
We love the iDesign Shallow Drawer Organizers for this space.
Tip 2: purge expired items in your pantry & fridge.
It’s an easy, guilt-free way to declutter spaces.
Tip 3: file fold all your t-shirts.
Take out all of your shirts & purge anything that can go (t rash, donate, or give to a friend depending on condition ). The key is to fold your shirts & place them in the drawer vertically with the fold face up.
By doing this, you are able to see all of your shirts & grab one without destroying the entire drawer. You will wear shirts you have forgotten about & it will be much easier for you to maintain the space.
♡ When it comes to organizing for celebrities or influencers, is there any special flare you add?
RS: Honestly, no. I definitely want to bring the same results to a local mom of 3 as I would a multi-millionaire celebrity that we get to work with. I would be doing a disservice to my other clients if they weren’t getting the full RiOrganize treatment & I was saving the good stuff for the celebrities.
♡ What is one of your favorite organization hacks?
RS: I always tell my clients to look at negative space. How can a space that isn’t being used, be used. A really creative hack is adding an over-the-door unit organization storage rack.
It basically adds an entire wall to a room. We do it for gift wrapping, pantries, utility closets, etc. It’s really useful inside a bathroom because so many people in the city lack enough space in their bathrooms.
♡ What’s a mistake people make when it comes to organization?
RS: The number one no-no people do is buying the product first. All too often I have clients or friends telling me they went & got a ton of organization product on sale & want to know the best way to use it. There is no way to truly know which organization product you need until you have tackled the necessary steps of purging, sorting, categorizing & space planning. When you have products first, you find yourself trying to force your stuff to work for the products you have versus the other way around.
♡ If you could pick one product to use for the rest of time, what would it be?
RS: For sure the iDesign Divided Turntable. We use this bad boy for so many different things–vitamins, medicines, bathroom under-sinks, bathroom counters ( as you know! ), kid’s artwork supplies, skincare, hair products, you name it!
♡ What’s your motto when it comes to organization?
RS: Oh gosh, I feel like I have so many little Ria-isms when it comes to organizing!
Some of these include:
Your space starts to tell it’s own story.
When you empty a space & purge the unneeded & unnecessary, you are left with the items you need, love & will use. As you begin to place items with purpose, your space will start to guide you on what should go where.
Don’t complicate simplifying.
This doesn’t have to be stressful, scary or difficult. Go at the pace that works best for you & get after it!
♡ How do you scale a business when your business revolves around offering services?
RS: I think I have just continued to make adjustments to my business format based on demand. I first began this business as a way to contribute enough & not get any heat from Conner–a girl’s gotta make that Target money somehow! I never in a million years could have imagined what was in store.
I had slower turnarounds because I was tackling so many spaces ( alone ) within each client’s home. Word of mouth was huge & the demand was growing. Conner suggested growing a team to knock out projects faster & increase our ability to take on more clients! We started hiring in early 2018 & I have always felt that is when RiOrganize as you know it today was born.
I also have never taken lightly how important social media is. With a pretty good knowledge of the importance of good branding & marketing, I knew investing in a solid website was crucial. When instagram & your website is a lead’s first impression of you, you need to be putting your best stuff forward. The more leads I got from instagram, the more I was motivated to stay on top of it & keep up with posting new content. In 2018 we grew from 2,000-10,000 followers. In 2019 we grew to 80,000 followers & in just 3 months we have grown to 90,000 followers in 2020. Hard work pays off, y’all!
♡ What’s your best advice when it comes to organizing a kitchen?
RS: Keep the essentials at arm’s reach. You need to create a kitchen space that makes sense for YOU. Having your oils & spices in a cabinet next to your stove doesn’t make sense if you Postmates everything. Having baking supplies at the front of your pantry when you only bake once at Christmas doesn’t make any sense.
Place items purposefully. It is also important to know it may not be 100% right the first time. There may be a little adjusting to find the perfect set-up for you as you live in the space.
Pay attention to essentials. Smoothies on the reg? ( Cough, Lauryn, cough. ) Keep that blender within arm’s reach to keep your morning routine streamlined.
Clear counter space. If you have the storage–USE IT. Everything doesn’t have to stay plugged in 24/7. The blender can be super accessible but hidden at the same time. Designate a lower cabinet to appliances that are easy to find & use when needed.
♡ What’s something everyone needs to organize a room that they don’t know they need?
RS: TIME. Providing yourself the appropriate time to tackle certain spaces is very important. There are little tasks you can do with the 10 minutes before going to bed, but to tackle an entire space you need to set aside the appropriate amount of time. If you don’t, it’ll become half-assed & just won’t be done properly.
♡ Where can everyone find you?
RS: Instagram @riorganize | Our website at www.riorganize.com | Tik-Tok @riorganize
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Hopefully this gives you some inspiration on how to organize your house during quarantine or self-isolation, whatever you wanna call it.
Let us know what you want to see next & share all of your organization tips below. Be sure to check out Ria’s Instagram & her website for lots of inspo too. Plus, stay tuned for Ria’s next installment on setting up a smoothie/coffee/tea/morning station.
x, lauryn
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