Organizing a closet isn’t as daunting a task as you might think. The hardest part is getting started—focusing on the project and staying with it until it’s complete. Yes, it will take some time initially, but you’ll recover all that time plus more when you’re able to quickly find all your wardrobe faves in a newly organized space.
Rod extenders, slim hangers and hanging shelves are easy ways to gain more storage space from your closet.
It all starts with the three Ps—purge, plan and personalize. Remove everything in your closet, and divide it into three piles. If you love it and wear it all the time, put it in the keep pile. If it no longer fits or you haven’t worn it since the last presidential election, put it immediately into bags to either donate or toss. If you’re indecisive about a particular item, keep it for now, but when you place it back in your closet, turn the hanger backwards. If the hanger is still backwards in six to 12 months, you’ll know you haven’t worn it and it’s time to give it away or say goodbye.
Now look at what you have in the keep pile, and plan how you’re going to stash your stuff. Invest in slim hangers, which take up half the rod space of thick plastic or wood hangers. Another way to double your space is to hang a closet rod extender on an upper rod to create a lower rod.
For delicate blouses and dresses, use padded hangers to avoid hanger stretch marks along the sleeves or shoulders. Sweaters, especially heavy sweaters, should be folded, not hung. If your closet doesn’t have built-in cubbies, look for hanging shelves that attach to your closet rod. If your closet has built-in shelves, shelf dividers will help keep sweaters neatly stacked.
Now it’s time to personalize your closet. Make it easy to find anything by organizing your clothing by category—long-sleeve and short-sleeve work tops, long-sleeve and short-sleeve weekend tops, dress pants, dresses, jeans and date-night apparel. Then within each category, organize by color. Arrange your shoes in the same manner.
What you see is what you’ll wear, so put your favorites at eye level, and store your shoes in clear plastic boxes. Put your occasional go-to items below eye level. Hang your rarely worn pieces up high.
Reduce the stress of deciding what to wear by having your accessories organized, visible and easily accessible.
Have a lot of boots? Use cut-up foam pool noodles or even clean tennis balls as inexpensive boot shapers. Get your boots off the floor by suspending them with skirt hangers. Are you a scarf gal? Tie them onto hangers, or go to your local home improvement store for a no-frills towel rod. Mount the rod to the wall and tie your scarves to it. Or store them in a Christmas ornament storage box, which also works great for socks and jewelry. Another great way to store earrings is in plastic ice cube trays.
Maximize every inch of your closet’s walls, floor and doors. Use over-the-door hangers for shoes, jewelry or accessories. Expandable shoe racks or revolving shoe trees require minimal floor space.
There are so many ways to store your stuff, including motorized tie racks, under-the-bed zippered sweater bags, decorative storage bins and hanging shelf/rod combos.
You can buy some amazing specialized storage solutions, such as a motorized tie and belt organizer, but you can also find some great DIY hacks at your local home improvement store. Mount some basic slotted shelving rails all the way to the ceiling, then attach brackets and shelves for customized, easy-to-adjust shelving. Install a pegboard, and use hooks for belts and jewelry.
Want something even cheaper? Many hardware stores don’t charge for 5-gallon paint stir sticks. Cut off the curved end, reinforce both ends, paint the stick, then screw in inexpensive cup hooks every inch or so. Mount it to your closet wall, and you’ve got a totally cute jewelry holder for not much more than the cost of a gourmet cup of coffee.
When it’s time to transition from winter to spring, have your wool and cashmere sweaters professionally cleaned, then place them in tight-sealing plastic bags or boxes with lavender or cedar to help prevent moth holes. Store them either on the highest shelf of your closet or even under your bed.
Keep the focus of your closet on your apparel items; find another place to store non-apparel items like kitchen appliances and spare linens. And review your closet contents every three to six months to determine items that should be discarded or donated
What’s your favorite closet organization trick? Share your secrets on Twitter and Instagram using #jcpStyle.
