If you’ve read any of my organization-focused posts in the past few weeks, you’ve probably noticed that I’m a big proponent of the Organizational Triangle principles of storing like items together and making sure everything you own has a designated spot. It streamlines the process of organizing and decluttering your home. But there’s one flaw in that strategy: What do you do with those items that you only have one of, the things that serve a specific purpose and don’t necessarily have duplicates to store them with? You reframe the way you think about it.

This method comes from one of my favorite organizing gurus, iOrganize. Her name is Christen Fackler, and I respect her direct, no-nonsense advice, which usually involves completely rethinking the way you think about your environment. Another tip I love from her is about visualizing your home as a retail space, with stock and display areas in the back, so that you have the things you need at the moment, but you don’t sacrifice the structure behind the scenes.

This time she suggests thinking about the things you own, like cousins or coworkers. Check it out here:

Fackler describes “cousins” as things that are “similar in function, but not exactly the same,” while “colleagues,” on the other hand, describe “what it works with or where it works.”