I Tried the “Cousins & Coworkers” Method and Finally Found My Desk (and My Sanity)

I can’t be the only person drowning in chaos these days. My home is a disaster—piles of laundry, stacks of paper, random toys and cords and socks in places they definitely don’t belong. I long for a Marie Kondo–style minimalist haven where everything has a place and my home makes Kim Kardashian’s look cluttered. But with a full-time job, three kids and a knack for misplacing things (usually my phone, usually under the couch), that’s not exactly my reality.

So when I stumbled across something called the ‘Cousins and Coworkers’ organizational method, I was intrigued. It is supposed to be a way to tame the clutter and answer that eternal question: Where the hell does this go? If your home looks anything like mine right now, keep reading.

Coined by professional organizer Christen Fackler of iOrganize, this clever method groups items by relationship:

• Cousins: Things that are similar but not identical (think: a tube of mascara and a bottle of foundation).
• Coworkers: Things that work together, like a notebook and a pen.
• Family: Things that are the same—two hair clips, for example.

What’s refreshing is that there’s no right or wrong way to do it. In fact, the same item might belong in more than one group depending on what works for you. Take sunglasses: You could keep them next to their cousin, your reading glasses, or with their coworker, your purse. Either choice works—it’s about what makes the most sense for you.

To be honest, I could have picked a few spots in my house—the basement closet that’s overflowing with outgrown clothes, the attic with still-unopened moving boxes, the kitchen pantry that (no joke) still houses Halloween candy from two years ago… you get the idea.

But the area that haunts me daily is the desk corner in my bedroom. It’s where papers, lotions, kids’ crafts and rogue hair ties go to die. Every time I glance over, I feel stressed. And instead of working at my actual desk, I end up setting up shop at the dining room table.

But before you judge the “before” photo, let me just say that we moved into our house a year ago and had a baby four weeks later. Said baby slept in our room for five months. After that…well, I got tired. And stuck. And had no idea where to start.

Enter: the Cousins and Coworkers method. I recently gave myself one weekday morning to see if I could declutter and organize this particular disaster zone in my home.

I started grouping “cousins” together—creams and toiletries went to the bathroom, kids’ books and toys back to their rooms. Then came the “coworkers,” like notebooks with pens and a portable charger that found a new home in my purse.

Even items that first seemed like total strangers (what does one do with your kid’s first tooth? Or a car charger that won’t work in your car?) found a home when I thought about it methodically (the former went into a box with other childhood keepsakes and the latter on my neighborhood ‘buy nothing’ Facebook page). And then I kept at it for about another 30 minutes or so.

I can finally see my desk! And more importantly, sit at it. The Cousins and Coworkers method gave me direction when I usually spiral into indecision (“Does this passport photo go with the passports or with the photo albums?”).

But if I’m being honest, the biggest game-changer wasn’t just the system—it was taking the time to actually do the organizing. The method is a great tool, but the real magic formula is: you + time + motivation.

While some items were no-brainers to put away (all the random books lying around went to the bookshelf), others took a little more time. For example, I had some makeup samples lying around that I wanted to collect and gift to my kid’s babysitter. But that reminded me that I also had some other things for her in the basement, and so I got slightly sidetracked doing that (although, that did help get rid of some more clutter in my house so it’s kind of a win-win).

Still, I’d say that as far as organizing hacks go, this one’s smart, flexible and actually doable for real-life messy people like me.