My closet has always been a huge annoyance. I'm the type of person who will be so busy I'll just lay those last two shirts on the drawers or just toss my shoes at the bottom of the closet not in the proper spots. So in my continuous quest to pare down and organize our lives my closet was of course the bane of my existence.
1. Implement a system
Luckily for me right after we were married Kevin and his dad were willing to install one of those great closet systems. We purchased a set like the ClosetMaid ShelfTrack 5 ft.- 8 ft. Closet Organizer Kit and then added extra items like the set of drawers and more shoe shelves. Adding the extra parts and changing it around to work for us and our closets was super helpful. You don't have to run out and purchase the wire organizers. Maybe you have someone who can make you wood shelves or you prefer using multiple dressers in your closet any way you want to slice it evaluate your needs and really figure out a system that will fit into your life (and budget!)
2. Hangers
In the past I've always been a "buy the cheapest plastic hanger bunch at Target" type of person which led to craziness in my hanging clothes. Giving in to peer pressure to upgrade to nicer flocked hangers was probably the best idea ever. I ended up getting the Stone and Hot Pink kinds because of a different style being discontinued and on clearance. Instead of just mish mashing them I decided to use the hot pink ones strictly for sleeveless items (since I had less of the actual hangers) and the stone ones for everything else.
The biggest issue is the attempt to only use the number of hangers I purchased. Unfortunately I have not pared down my wardrobe to fit exactly that number. There always seems to be a couple of extra tops or a pair of pants hanging out on the little bench right next to my closet.
3. Change it up
Sometimes even if you are organizing it might not be working properly or to the best of it's advantage. Case in point my tall boots. A couple years ago when wide calf boots actually became available and I was able to get a couple of pairs really cheap at the end of the season I invested in boot shapers. These were pretty good, they kept the boots from flopping over and everything but they would get kinda messy at the bottom of my closet. Even though they were organized they would still be unorganized.
So I decided it was time to figure out a better solution and I came across a boot stand. It's a little wobbly and not the best quality but the fact that it corrals my boots and keeps them all in ONE spot is worth it's weight in gold. Added bonus is since there is only room for three pairs it forced me to get rid of one pair! I'm still working on what to do about the two short pairs in the front there. Any ideas?!
4. Give everything a place
Don't just say "oh accessories in these couple of drawers" or "the scarves could work here" make a definite plan of what goes where.
5. Type then color
This is a task I am still trying to master, at least the second part. It was easy enough to separate items by type because of the way the closet organizer was set up. Dresses had to go in one part because of their length and the summery sleeveless tops could go on the bottom hanger rod, etc,etc. It makes life so much easier in the morning when I don't have to flip through the entire closet trying to find a darn sweater, they're all right together in one spot. It would be nice to get to the point of laying out my outfits for the week but baby steps.
Then sorting by color is a work in progress for my closet. I have accomplished it for the sleeveless tops but am terrible about doing it for any of my other clothes. I also haven't done it for anything else like jewelry. Maybe that should be the next colorful thing I tackle!
What are your top closet do's?
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