Four Steps for Organizing Your Custom Closets

Closets are one of the most essential areas of any home.  When a closet is cleaned and organized, not only is everything easier to find, but everything also becomes more accessible. Whether searching for your favorite pair of jeans or the warmest sweater for the outdoors, with an organized closet, everything is located in its most logical place.

There are four steps to follow when organizing any type of closet:

• Empty your closets
• Declutter your wardrobe
• Organize clothing and accessories by category
• Clean your closets

Follow these four quick and easy steps when organizing your custom closets.

Easy Steps to Follow When Organizing Your Closets

The first step in the organizational process is to start with a clean slate by removing every piece of clothing from your closets. This includes all the shirts, pants, belts, bags, and any and all accessories.

When organizing your closets, remember that things will get messy before they get better. This step is crucial because it will help in not only assessing inventory, but it will also make your closets easier to clean. Additionally, this will also provide you with insight into which pieces of clothing you haven’t worn recently, which will prove to be useful in the upcoming steps.

Next, to prevent clothes from piling up in your closets in the future, take this opportunity to address how many pieces of clothing were in your closets in the first place.

The rule of thumb when cleaning is to take into account how many times a piece of clothing has been worn. If it’s unclear when the last time something was worn, there’s a good possibility that it can either be kept elsewhere or donated. While it may be difficult parting with some items of clothing, this step is critical in creating more space in your closets for more essential items.

To help with this step, before putting anything back, separate clothing into three categories:

• Clothes to Keep

The name of this category speaks for itself. Whether these are work clothes, casual wear, or frequently worn t-shirts, this is where the most commonly worn items will be kept.

• Clothes to Store

Items such as jackets, sweatshirts, and winter coats can take up a lot of real estate in your closets. Depending on the climate, it may be more effective to keep winter clothes in a separate closet during the summer and vice versa as the seasons change.

• Clothes to Donate

Getting rid of clothes is never easy, especially if it involves getting rid of clothes that once held immense personal value. However, if they haven’t been worn recently, they probably don’t need to be in your closets at all. Consider putting clothes in this pile that would be better off being donated to a local charitable organization.

Now that your clothing inventory has been reduced, it’s time to take things a step further and choose how they will be organized once they are put back into their original locations. While some prefer to organize clothes by color, others prefer to organize by brand, and some prefer to organize clothes by even more detailed categories.

When organizing clothes, consider organizing by any of the following suggestions:

• Season
• Color
• Type
• Frequency of Use

Last, but certainly not least, be sure also to organize any accessories that will be put back in your closet. When organizing accessories, consider putting them where it will be most sensible and accessible to have them. If it’s an accessory that is frequently used, it may be useful to have it located somewhere that won’t require a lot of time to find it.

For example, items such as belts, ties, and shoes should be located near the front of your closets, while other items can be tucked away in the back. For larger amounts of accessories, it may also be beneficial to invest in tie racks, belt hooks, and drawer dividers to keep this section more organized.

Additionally, the importance of hangers when organizing a closet cannot be overstated.

Instead of selecting hangers based solely on price, consider spending a little more money and purchasing high-quality, color-coded hangers. Not only will this make for a cleaner and more cohesive looking closet, but it will also make searching for clothes much more effective. Velvet hangers are great for this because they keep clothes in place while they are hanging, while not taking up as much space as other types of hangers.

Now that all of the items have been removed, this is a prime opportunity to grab the vacuum and duster and clean your entire closet. This includes every crack and crevice, regardless of how clean it may appear. When cleaning, be sure to clean the dustiest areas of your closet, including areas that have been left unused.

You may be shocked at how dirty such a small space can become. However, once your closets have been cleaned, it may come as a surprise that more space is available for clothing than initially thought.