Home Organization Tips

In my old apartment, I never closed my closet door. I simply couldn’t. I tried and tried, but jacket sleeves or long skirt bottoms kept getting stuck in the door and preventing it from closing. The plus side was that I got a great glimpse of my wardrobe options every morning- without having to lift a finger. The down side was that I never got to look at a clutter-free room because my clothing was always in plain view. Ok, so I really enjoy sitting in an overstuffed armchair when I happen upon one, and I LOVE indulging in an overstuffed corned-beef sandwich about twice a year. But an overstuffed closet? It’s a bit much on a regular basis.

When we moved to our new place, I promised myself that I wouldn’t allow the same messy closet that I tolerated in our admittedly temporary apartment (so what if ‘temporary’ turned out to be nearly 3 years?). So I set about organizing my new closet in a way that it can (hopefully) stay neat. And I realized that it’s not really as hard as it seems. By following these easy steps, you too can have a neat closet, and you may be even enjoy the fact that the door actually closes.

- The first thing to do is empty out the closet and clean out all the dirt and grime that tends to pile up on the shelves and the floor. It’s amazing at how much larger the closet will seem when dirt isn’t taking up valuable space!

- Next, go through your clothes and remove anything that you haven’t worn all season (or all season last season that you’re saving for next season when you probably won’t wear it either).

- It feels great to donate all clothes in good condition to those who are less fortunate, or to use them as a dress-up game for children. Old or extra t-shirts can be cut up into rags. Stray socks can be used for polishing silver. Warning: in my experience I’ve found it is better not to save stray socks in the hopes that one day the match will be found. After two weeks, if you haven’t found it, you probably won’t. In the unlikely event that you DO find the missing sock, the first one will probably have disappeared by then.

- Whether or not you have enough room in your closet for all of your clothes, it is worthwhile to arrange your clothing by season, so that you will know what you have when the weather suddenly turns, without having to sift through the entire closet. Keeping your clothing stored in this way will also help you notice more quickly which clothing is not being worn, so that you can remove it from your closet and make room for your new acquisitions.

- All-year-round clothes will serve you best if stored in the middle of the closet, since you can always grab it in a hurry.

- Store your dressiest clothing and eveningwear on the periphery of the closet, so it doesn’t get jostled and wrinkled on a daily basis. Keeping these items out of the way will also help you find your everyday dresses and trousers more easily.

- If you have limited space and can only store seasonal clothing in your closet, make an effort to pack up your off-season outfits in an organized fashion, so that it will be a cinch to recreate your organized closet when you change the clothing over.

- If you need extra hanging space, consider using some of the space in your guest room closet (when applicable), or extra space in your children’s closet. This will help keep your garments wrinkle-free and available whenever you need them.

Picking out an outfit in the morning should make you feel good about yourself. Keeping an organized closet is a great way to appreciate the clothing that you have by allowing you to view things that would likely get lost in a messy wardrobe.

While there may be some benefits to having an open closet door, closet doors were invented for a reason.

Posted on November 26th, 2006 by Sari
Filed under: closet organizing