Waking up is hard enough. Simplify your mornings by making your closet a happy place to be.
Here are some tips to create an organized closet. Use the tips that work for you and forget the ones that don't. The point is to make a space that serves you well.
- Have less stuff than you can fit in it. Leave room so that you can push the clothes back to look at them.
- Get rid of any clothes that are more than 10 lbs away from fitting correctly. Some people add to this suggestion: "unless you are currently dieting". But seriously...who isn't dieting by the time they are halfway through trying on all their clothes to see if they fit.... Clear out the clothes you can't wear and make room for things that will look fabulous on your current body size.
- Use matching hangers. They're cheap and it looks tidy. We actually use too types of hangers: pricier wooden hangers to hold the weight of my husbands jeans, and inexpensive white ones for everything else.
- Alternate types of clothing. It may seem to make sense to put short sleeve shirts beside long sleeve shirts, but that is a difficult difference to see when putting clothes away. It's much easier to see the sections if you put a different type of clothing in between the two. Here's an example of what I mean:
- Know thyself. I'd like to be the kind of person who, when running late and indecisively trying on half a dozen outfits, puts them all back nicely on their hangers. But I'm not that kind of person. There's a good chance you aren't either. I have a bin at the bottom of my closet to throw these items in. Next time I'm putting away laundry, I'll put the items in that bin away. Assess what habits cause your order to turn to disorder and come up with solutions you can actually live with.
- Hang a valet hook. It's a handy spot to plan an outfit. I got this one at the dollar store.
- Avoid putting things on the floor. If you must use the floor for storage, place things in a box or basket. A few loose items quickly turns into a mass of loose items.
- Arrange any folded items so that you can remove the item you need without disturbing the things you don't. Try rolling items, or laying them in a single layer in a basket or drawer organizer. When things are buried the items on top of them tend to get disrupted. Think single layers whenever possible.
- Use what you've got to store accessories. I've hung my scarves on a simple wooden hanger. A lot of fancy organizing devices solve a problem that was never actually a problem at all. There are a million and one ways to organize your stuff, and most of them don't cost much.
Don't forget that there will be a linky party on October 27th so that you can show off your own organized spaces!
[This is day 15 in a 31 day series called 31 days to an Organized Home. Thanks for Visiting!]
Great tips! I need a place to throw all my clean, unworn clothes after trying on an outfit.
ReplyDeleteOh, you hang your jeans! That's amazingly organized! I wouldn't have room for all my jeans - or my hubby either {who has more clothes than me}. Great ideas and helpful hints!
ReplyDeleteBecky B.
www.organizingmadefun.com
Organizing Made Fun
Wow! Beautiful closet!
ReplyDeleteWe just moved into a new house, and I just love everything about it except....I HAVE TO SHARE A CLOSET WITH MY HUSBAND! Oh the tragedy! I'm kidding, but it has made organizing a teensy bit more difficult. Thank you for the closet inspiration!
BTW I am loving this series!
"...who isn't dieting by the time they are halfway through trying on all their clothes to see if they fit..." AMEN.
ReplyDeleteIn lieu of a valet hook, I hung one of those over-the-door hooks, and it accomplishes the same thing.
ReplyDeleteNot as cute as your hook, of course...but it works.
Started reading this yesterday and immediately took apart my front closet. Today I folded my sweaters so they weren't on top of each other and put them in a basket in my closet. I've labeled four or five baskets I've had around the house. And I JUST finished re-folding my boyfriend's t-shirt drawer. thank you for this inspiration!!!!
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying this so much. Another suggestion to the scarf hanging, shower curtain rings on the hanger. No fancy hanging necessary :)
ReplyDeleteGroup your clothes. Classifying your clothes into groups is another important trick to do if you want to learn how to organize a closet successfully. Group your items into the following categories: blazers, shorts, skirts, polo, polo shirts, dresses, etc.
ReplyDeleteI am currently hanging on to a range of clothing sizes because I gained a *lot* of weight during my pregnancy and we plan on having another baby so my weight is probably going to be all over the place for a few more years! Looking forward to ditching some of it after that though.
ReplyDeleteDo you have a magic number for your clothes too? I love how simple your closet looks. I noticed your rule of 3 with your kids clothes, but I think I have more of a problem at this point than my kids, I just never know how much to keep.
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ReplyDeleteBasket for all those unworn clean clothes that end up in a huge pile.....genius! This is going to save my husband a lot of headache. Ha. Nothing fits quite right. Had baby #4 and while I look pretty much the same, weight has shifted so it's a battle finding things to look right even though they all 'fit' more or less. Getting dressed is way more complicated than it ought to be for sure and my chair, closet floor and foot of the bed often show it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I am doing laundry, I hang up an entire outfit on one hanger: Pants, blouse, jacket or sweater, and accessories. Sometimes I even include the socks. There is no rule that says I have to wear that outfit in exactly that way, I can certainly steal a component if needed. However, since I started doing this, it really saves time in the mornings. I work outside the home and need to look at least somewhat professional.
ReplyDeleteI would like to know exactly where you got the valet J hook. I love it!! We are building a new home and I have been searching for something just like this for our family of 7. It would really help in the mornings to have it all picked out, which we try to do, but have nowhere to put them except lay them on the dresser.
ReplyDeleteI do not know if you mentioned it any wear so far, but back then i heard a tip to know when its time to get rid of the clothe and how to choose. You put all your hangers facing toward you and each day that pass you will end up picking the ones you usually wear and hanging them back facing the wall once they are clean, so after a period of time lets say 6 months to a year you can take a look to see which one is still facing toward you ;) that would mean that maybe its time to consider giving it away or reusing it for other purposes.
ReplyDeleteLove the idea about the box inside the closet. When trying a bunch of different outfits, I don't usually bother to put it back in the closet. At least you get to sort it out later when doing the laundry.
ReplyDeleteAlso, rolling up the items and keeping things from piling up and from digging later saves time. I didn't know that was my problem until I read your post. Thanks!