Closet Organizing Tips
I’m going through a big closet overhaul in my home right now. I live in a relatively small Manhattan apartment with decent closet storage — for Manhattan. But by most American home standards, my closets are very, very small. This is complicated by the fact that I hate dressers. As far as I am concerned, dresser drawers are way too much like bottomless pits where random things end up living way too easily — but I digress.
Before you take on your closet, click here to find out if you are more of a minimalist or an organizer. That will help you determine how fast or slow this process will be for you. If you are an organizer, like me, then it will be a bit of a process, and that’s ok. If you’re a minimalist, then you might be more willing to part with items, so it will take you less time. Either way, good for you for tackling the work!
Here are some tips that have helped me keep my closet in check:
Realize that closet organizing is a process not a project - especially if you are more of an organizer. I know some organizers believe that the best way to organize your closet is to pull everything out and find all the items that spark joy all at once. I do not have the time to do that with a full time job and my toddler. Not to mention the mental capacity, like my toddler, I need bite sized jobs that I can tackle in 15 minute increments (or during nap time). You may find this tool helpful when using this process to organize your closet. I started my closet process by going through my closet and doing the following over the course of several weeks:
Donating clothes I really do not want. This is a simple pass through of your closet. Pull out the items you hate or that don’t fit, and donate them right away.
Boxing up clothes I am pretty sure I don’t want, and seeing if I remember them in 6 month. I made a maybe pile, and I then put those maybe clothes under my bed. I also made a notification in my phone reminding me to check back in 6 months. In 6 months I gave away nearly all of the items under the bed because I didn’t remember what was under there.
Turn around my hangers. I took everything that was left and I turn the hangers around. This way I would know if I wore the clothes. In 6 months, when I was notified by my phone about my maybe piIe under my bed, I gave away the items I still never wore.
Uniform hangers matter. I use white tubbed hangers. Always. There are a few reasons for these particular hangers. First, they always have them everywhere you shop. Second, the always lay flat. The wooden hangers are tempting, but sometimes they don’t lay the same way. Third, white looks really clean. Over the years I have purchased different sets of hangers, so they look slightly different before your shirt is on them, but once they are all hanging they look the same. Finally, they are cheap. You can find them at higher end places, but most dollar stores have them too.
Hooks are your best friend.
First, there are your traditional wall hooks that can be used along the edges of your closet to provide spots for things like hats, scarves, and bags. But, second, you can also buy hook hangers. You can hang things like leggings or bras on those hangers.
I will do a follow up post to this when my closet re-design process is done. My larger goal is actually to get to a capsule wardrobe - which is a fancy way of saying I want to get down to a very small amount of clothes I love. But again, I am a working mom, so I focus on taking the baby steps I can take, when I can take them.
