‘The Home Edit’ Doesn’t Really Edit

Ever since Netflix released the series, “Get Organized with The Home Edit,” we have received messages and questions asking our opinion of the show. We hadn’t heard of the show, the brand, nor Joanna and Clea (the founders of The Home Edit), until I (Shannon) opted to watch a few of the shows, thinking that it must be right up our alley, since we kept being asked about it.

I dove into the series, choosing a few episodes, mainly the ones where I liked the stars involved, i.e. Reese Witherspoon, Retta, and Khloe Kardashian, oh, and they throw some “regular” people (non-celebs) into the mix of each show, maybe to make themselves feel grounded, not sure. I was stoked, assuming that these people were going to downsize/edit their lives, and these gals from The Home Edit were going to help. You know what happens when you assume…

Let me first say, that while I love for things to be aesthetically pleasing, and I adore all colors of the rainbow, I really take pride in purging items that I do not need. If you are a follower of this blog, I am stating the obvious, here. If you are a newbie to Arner Adventures, well, you may think that this blog is about hating on a couple of gals, who have started their own business, and have become highly successful, and you would be wrong. I am not hating on them; this blog is to answer the questions about our thoughts on the show/concept, in relation to our minimalist lifestyle. If Joanna and Clea are making a few mille, while hob-knobbing with celebrities, enjoying their life, well good for them!

The clear answer to our thoughts on their concept is that The Home Edit doesn’t do enough editing. The formula that Joanna and Clea use is to first, edit, then organize, then contain. The show seems like a long commercial for The Container Store. I do love The Container Store, and when I have items that need a container, well, it’s a great place to shop, but to buy containers for items that you don’t need, just to make a room look pretty… well, that seems pretty pointless to me, but again, it doesn’t fit with our lifestyle. The feature photo for this blog is a real photo of our dinnerware, and guess what, I threw in a bit of color from our rose bush, and it’s pretty, without having a ton of items. 😉

I had someone text me a few weeks ago and said, “OMG, started watching The Home Edit, I bet you LOVE that show!” You see, even in years past, when I had a ton of crap, I kept my crap organized, and would often organize friends’ and families’ closets and pantries, because frankly, I love that shit! I kept our home and our stuff aesthetically pleasing, and while I did not have everything sorted using a rainbow of colors (though I did and still do keep my closet that way), I did have things where I could see them, and were easily accessible. By the way, the answer to that text I received was, “Shannon from 2010 would have TOTALLY loved that show, now, I just keep wondering why Reese Witherspoon wants to hang on to all of that ‘Legally Blonde’ clothing! She should sell it all as a fundraiser for a non-profit of her choice!”

If you want to impress me, have The Home Edit gals go into a home that is 1200 square feet or less, and help the family who doesn’t have a wall of designer shoes to organize. Help them edit years’ worth of memorabilia, baby clothes, dishes, and paperwork that has been hanging around for years. Help them develop a lifestyle to keep it edited, to save time, real time, not time they could have been using in a hair and make-up chair. Then, you will have my full attention.

Did you know that 1 in 4 Americans has a clutter problem, that in most cases, it teeters on being a hoarding problem? Let’s have a show where The Home Edit rolls into one of those homes on Hoarders, and let’s not only get rid of that crap, but then let’s put that rainbow organizing formula to work. Yes, then you will have my full attention.

In my opinion, The Home Edit simply encourages people to buy more stuff, to put in more containers, of course, purchased at The Container Store, and keep more stuff hanging around that they won’t use, because the logic here is that you can always make things more pretty, if you have more items to use, right? Ugh.

I even fell to some of their ways, when they used the rainbow method to store books on a bookshelf. I immediately gathered the books that we have kept and started putting them in order of color. I found myself disappointed to not have more yellow and blue books. Should I buy more books to really develop the colors of the rainbow on my shelf? Hell no! I quickly snapped back into my reality, the one where I feel less anxiety about having a bunch of stuff I don’t need, and also reminded myself that I was being influenced by really great marketing, as well as Netflix production- though I did keep our books organized by color. It is really pleasing to the eye, after all.

Final thoughts, if you have items that you want to keep around, because they bring you joy, and/or are functional in your life, then by all means, use The Home Edit formula to store them, but our recommendation would be to lean heavily on the edit portion of the concept, and get rid of the crap that you don’t need. Don’t be influenced by a shiny, pretty Netflix series that makes you feel like you need to the crap to have a more fulfilling life, because at the end of the day, it’s just another celebrity, and slightly non-celebrities on a production set, trying to sell you something.