If you want an organized closet, you have to tame the clutter that seems to accumulate over the year.
First decide how you plan to use your closet. Is it only for your clothing or do you also use it as storage? Do you store all of your clothes in this closet or do some of your clothes (like off season or special use) go into another closet? Do you store some of your clothes in dressers?
Now, pull out everything and separate into four piles: keep, toss, donate, and goes somewhere else.
Next, sort the clothing that is to go back into the closet. How you make your sort is up to you but some options are: long sleeve tops, short sleeve tops, pants, jeans, jackets, skirts, dresses. You might prefer to sort your clothes by outfits or usage (work, work out, casual, dressy). This same sort goes for shoes and accessories that are stored in the closet. The sort is helpful for a couple of reasons. First, it shows you how much you have of each category (and maybe helps you add some of those 15 pair of jeans to the donate pile). It also makes it easier to retrieve your clothes and put together outfits.
Hang up what goes on hangers. It is a good plan to hang up all of your hangers backwards at this point and then the first time you wear the item, hang it correctly. This way, at the end of the season, you can see what has been worn.
If you have shelves in your closet, use boxes that fill up the shelves. Designate each box for the type of clothing: workout clothes, short sleeve T-shirts, long sleeve T-shirts, etc. Label the boxes. Use open boxes for items that you use frequently. The boxes keep like items corralled and leave no space on the shelves for clutter to accumulate.
Keep loose items off the closet floor. Use that space for your laundry basket or shoe corral.
If shoes are stored on shelves, use plastic, clear shoe boxes. They are smaller than the cardboard boxes that shoes come in and the plastic boxes will stack neatly.
The top shelf of your closet can be used to store suitcases or large, light items that you don’t often use. It might be helpful to store a small, folding step stool in your closet.
Once everything is in order, label the shelves to help you keep your closet in order.
Jonda S. Beattie Professional Organizer
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