Going Into The Closet: A Series In Closet Organization (Final Step)

I apologize for the lack of pictures in this post...closet organization is holding up other blog posts that need to be written!!


Step 4: Refilling Your Closet
Number one rule here: you must use hangers that are all the same.  This is key to keeping your closet organized, looking pretty and under control. I highly discourage using the wire hangers from the cleaners,
they tangle up with each other and they look ugly.

According to the season, begin filling your closet.  As I said before, we will be using a twice a year rotation in these explanations and right now I'm going to talk about the Fall/Winter rotation since that's what I just worked on.  Our closet is split between my clothes and Russell's clothes and so I give Russell a half of the top rack and a half of the bottom rack and then we split the rack on the opposing side for his suits and my dresses.

Common sense says put shirts on the top rack and pants/skirts on the bottom rack so that's what I do.  On Russell's side, I hang from left to right as follows:

top rack:

casual jackets

formal dress shirts

dress shirts

casual button downs

long sleeved polo shirts

short sleeved polo shirts

long sleeved t shirts

short sleeved tshirts

bottom rack:

track pants

jeans

chinos

dress pants

I realize that this logic kind of goes backward from the top row, but for some reason it works better that way in our closet.

Here's where you decide just how organized you can be.  Do you organize by color and pattern or not?  In our closet, my clothes are organized in rainbow order, Russell's are in a rough rainbow order, but he doesn't really care if his clothes are in color order so I'm trying not to care about what his side looks like with regard to color progression.

My side of the closet from left to right:

top rack:

tanks and sleeveless tops

t shirts

polo shirt

long sleeved shirts

button downs

fleeces/jackets

bottom rack:

jeans

chinos

dress pants

skirts

On the opposing rack, which has no bottom bar, I have half of the closet reserved for hanging storage, one fourth for dresses and one fourth for suits.

From front to back:

 3 hanging shoe shelves

 two hanging sweater shelves

Russell's suits 

my dresses.

In the shoe racks, I organize from top to bottom beginning with flip-flops and flats and graduating to heels and all the while in rainbow order (except for Russell's shoes).

Hanging sweater racks: in one I keep Russell's undershirts and t-shirts, sweatshirts, workout clothes and sweaters. In the other I keep my cardigans, sweaters, and workout clothes.  I split my workout clothes by tops, shorts, and pants.

**side note** Keeping your workout clothes visible and easy to access, it helps with motivation for actually putting them on and working out :)

As far as the rest of it goes, Russell's suits that he does not wear regularly (like his tux) are kept in plastic suit bags that hanging in the closet and I keep his suits on suit hangers (the ones that are thick plastic or wooden) in order to keep them from wrinkling because I'm terrible at ironing.

My dresses hang from casual to fancy and from short to long as well as rainbow order :)

On the floor, we keep boots and tennis shoes.

On our shelving, I keep bathroom storage and accessories down the middle in canvas boxes and on the sides I place overflow sweaters, purses, overnight bags, and hats.

Well, that sums it up!  I hope that this series in closet organization has helped you begin to create an organized, functional and happy closet!  Once you take the time to organize once, it's so easy to maintain and reduces your need to go shopping, the time it takes to get ready in the morning, may even increase your outfit options!

Going Into The Closet: A Series in Closet Organization- Step 3

Step 3: Closet Organizers:
This step is VERY important.  To make the most of any closet space, you're going to need some organization gear.  This will vary depending on your closet and drawer space and you'll probably want to buy several things to figure out what works best in your space and with your things.  The things that I can't live without are my jewelry hanger, sweater hangers, shoe hangers and matching clothes hangers.  I also love cloth boxes for things like scarves and belts.

Depending on your price range there are several places where you can look for closet organization (this stuff gets pretty expensive...but it's worth it, I promise).

Here are some of my favorite things at my favorite places:

The mecca of closet organization is The Container Store.  Here's an example of some of their closet organization offerings.  They have lots of cute "series" of storage solutions so they all match!  This one is called Firenze.  This is probably what my heaven will look like.   You can find EVERYTHING here and it's all pretty.  Even better, they have closet organization specialists so you could just stop reading this blog post now and go there and get someone to totally makeover your space for you.  For those of us not that fortunate (and I'm not) look at these options:

Target- Check out this hanging purse organizer.  Great space saver too!  I don't have that many purses so I don't need one of these but maybe one day I'll have that many purses!  Target has great hanging shelves, colored bins, modular sets, and storage boxes of all sizes.  They often have special collections by designers too.

(the picture that should go here is a canvas handled hamper by Mainstays)

Walmart- similar to Target but usually not as cute.  I like these hampers because they're easy to move around!  I use one hamper to hold donation clothes.  These hampers fit nicely in closets as well as bathrooms and are very easy to tote to the laundry room!

TJ Maxx/Marshals/Homegoods- Check out this adorable dresser someone found at Homegoods!  This would be great in larger closets for your "unmentionables" or just for extra storage space in your bedroom.  These stores are also great for patterned storage bins and jewelry holders (you never know what great stuff you'll find).  

Bed Bath and Beyond- These bags by Real Simple are fantastic for wool storage!  They come with cedar inserts to keep the bugs away.  I especially like the under the bed options as well as the label pocket so you know what's inside!  Bed Bath and Beyond will always have what you need, and it will always be overpriced.

You may even need to add some extra bars or rip out everything and start from scratch and in that case I highly recommend using somewhere like Home Depot, Lowes, The Container Store, or a specialty closet designer like California Closets. Most of these retailers have programs where you can input your closet dimensions and build storage solutions from the ground up.

Here's what we're working with in our closet:

All plastic hangers like these except that they're white (except for the suit hangers I use for Russell's suits and jackets).  I like my hangers to have the strap holders because they're much more convenient for sleeveless shirts, shirts with wide necks and dresses.

I highly recommend those new skinny hangers with the felt covered arms and metal hanger top like these from Bed Bath and Beyond by Real Simple.  I think I will transition to these soon.  They're great for small closets.  My sister has them and they're the only reason that all of her clothes fit intoher small space.

2 hanging sweater shelves and 3 hanging shoe shelves: I use my sweater shelves for more than just hangers.  They're great for making tshirts, shorts, and workout clothes easily accessible.  Shoe shelves really help to maximize space and save you from piles of shoes in your floor.

1 over the door shoe hanger is used for shoes that are not worn as often.  I also use one of the pockets to put the tags in that I use to monitor whether or not clothes are being worn (read comment on Step 1)

1 hanging jewelry bag.  This one is from Bed Bath and Beyond and is made by Real Simple.  I love it.  There is a bottom portion that can be snapped off and rolled up for travel.  This bag takes up minimal space and makes it really easy to see jewelry options.  (Please forgive the poor photography- minimal light and minimal space).

8 cloth boxes are used for belts, purses and non-clothing items.  I keep lots of toiletries in these bags from travel sized items to extra shaving cream.  Our bathroom has NO STORAGE so these boxes are a must!  These shelves are super-convenient for over-flow sweaters, hats, and bags.

Several plastic storage boxes with lids in varying sizes are kept on the upper shelves of the closets with off-season clothes as well as scarves.  Ideally, I'd like to have scarves hung somewhere so that they don't get wrinkled but there's just no space!


Our closet system is wire and we have a mixture of shelves and hanging areas.  You can design your own wire grid system here at ClosetMaid for $5.

Alright, that's it for Step 3!  Step 4, the final step, coming soon!

Going Into The Closet: A Series In Closet Organization Step 2

Step 2: Categorize 

Now you have clothes organized by those that you would like to keep and those (away from you so that you cannot pull things out of it and hoard them) that will either go to resale or will be donated.  The next step is to further organize the clothes you are keeping into season.  I really only change my closet out two times a year so I organize into Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter, but this depends on how many clothes you have and how big your closet space is.  For explanation purposes, I'm going to stick with two rotations of clothing.

When you're organizing your piles, really think about what makes sense.  Just because it's a sweater may not mean it's for Fall/Winter.  You may also want to consider a pile that is year-round that will not change out with the seasons.

Now is a good time to take inventory.  Look at the clothes you are choosing to keep.  Did you get rid of all of your flats that go with brown?  Do you need a new coat for Fall?  Did you find a dress that you love but you need a belt for it? Even more importantly, did you get rid of an entire season's worth of clothing? Write all of this stuff down (and if you're really anal, ahem I mean organized, put it in a spreadsheet on your computer).  You may even want to write down your entire closet inventory if you're getting really serious about this (note: I do not have my entire closet inventoried nor do I have a closet spreadsheet).

Here's a link to some crazy closet organization databases. I'm not sure that I will ever use these but hey, you could try it! http://www.instantfundas.com/2010/07/5-best-wardrobe-management-software-for.html

The clothes that you will not be showcasing in your closet for immediate use should be put in plastic bins with lids, vacuum bags or hanging bags.  I use clear storage bins so that I can see what is in each box in case I need to access an item before I rotate the season.  I try my best to keep like items together so that rotating my closet is easy because everything is already organized.

Before you put any clothes away for storage, make sure they're all clean.  It's worth a trip to the dry cleaners to make sure your clothes don't ruin if you put them away dirty!  I just looked up a dry cleaning guide to help you out on how often to dry clean your clothes but it appears there are many differing opinions.  I am not a dry cleaning expert and don't want to give bad advice so I'll skip it :)

Back to organization.  Let's say you're transitioning your clothes from Spring/Summer to Fall/Winter.  You've put your summer clothes in boxes and you're left with your Fall/Winter wardrobe.  Now divide your clothing by type.  Look at what you have and really think about what makes sense in your closet.  Do you want to fold some items and put them in dresser drawers?  Would some things be more accessible in under-bed boxes? Where is the best place for your shoes? Only you can decide what works best for you.  We only have one dresser for the two of us and our undergarments, socks, and pajamas fill the whole thing.  It is necessary for us to use our closet for everything else!

One more note- often times more than just clothing may need to go in your closet- purses, luggage, toiletries and other extras.  Also consider these things when you're thinking about where to place everything back in your space.

I think I'll end this post here.  The next post will be a great compliment to helping you figure out what should go where!

Happy Organizing!!

Going Into The Closet: A Series In Closet Organization

It's time to get real about closet organization.  No one's closet looks like a California Closets ad. It's not possible.  Even if you have a top of the line closet, you have more than four dress shirts, four pairs of shoes, and four pairs of pants (I guess I should say ESPECIALLY if you have a California Closet you have more than 4 of those things).


I, however, do not have a custom closet, I live in an apartment and my husband and I share 1, that's right 1, closet for 4 seasons of clothes.  It is a walk-in and for that I am thankful.  (This is where I attempted to post a picture of my closet, but there was no way for me to take a picture at an angle where you could view the entire thing...you'll see some pictures throughout the post though.)

I must pause a moment and say, I am not knocking California Closets or custom closets in general.  One of my dreams in life is to have a custom closet.  My parents just got one this year and I'm pretty sure I could just lay out a pallet and live in there when I go visit.

I believe that one of my gifts in life is good closet organization skills.  I can't say I'm organized in every aspect of my life because anything to do with paper organization is a lost cause for me.  I can never get everything filed (or even piled) in an organized fashion...but that's a different post.

To me, closet organization is kind of like therapy.  I really enjoy it.  I actually changed out the seasons in our closet this weekend and it was so satisfying.

**Disclaimer: I do not claim that I have all of the answers for closet organizing or that my closet is perfectly organized.  I know so many more people who are more organized than me so take this as a beginner course in closet organization.

After writing this post I realized that it was a bit lengthy so I decided to break it up into more manageable chunks!  I'll be posting one step at a time.

Here we go...

Step 1: Purge
I am a believer that it takes awhile to get your closet organization under control.  If you have never had an organized closet or you find yourself with a full closet of "nothing to wear" you should probably start with doing a purge.  Don't get discouraged here.  A complete closet purge can take several months.  You'll probably want to take a whole Saturday for the first go 'round if you're starting from scratch.

Start by separating your clothes by type (pants, shirts, dresses, shirts, shorts, sweaters, shoes etc). From there, separate each pile into things you wear regularly and things you wear on occasion or have not worn recently. Give the pile you wear frequently a quick once over to see if there's anything you hate in that pile and does not fit well (there probably won't be much since you wear this stuff regularly).  Now you'll spend a significant amount of time with this next step: begin going through the clothes that you do not wear frequently.

My tip here is look decent (you don't have to look like you're going out on the town but semi-fix your hair and maybe put some mascara on).  I say this because you'll probably hate everything you try on if you don't feel good about your hair and face...silly but true.  You may also want to have a patient and honest friend nearby.  My mom always needs a patient and honest friend (usually me or my sister) during this process.  I think it's just human nature to get attached to clothing (for Mom, it's shoes, sweaters and really ugly button down corduroy shirts...sorry for ratting you out Mom).

You'll probably want to have a floor length mirror for this.  I have no better method but to dig in to each pile by clothing type and start trying things on.  If you don't like it- put it in the give away pile.  If it doesn't fit anymore- put it in the give away pile.  If it still has the tags on it and you bought it more than 2 seasons ago- put it in the give away pile.  If your friend looks at you and says "that shirt is disgusting"- put it in the give away pile.  "I might wear this again someday" is not a good reason to keep something that doesn't fit or is out of style.  If you can't name an exact time you will wear it or put an outfit together on the spot with that clothing item, it's time for the clothes to go.

What to do with all of these clothing items you are getting rid of?  Start by taking clothes that are in good condition to a resale shop.  This may seem like a pain, but I think it's worth it...don't get embarrassed when they don't want all of your stuff.  Remember, you haven't cleaned your closet out in a long time!  Use the money you make from resale to restock your closet.  Take everything else to Goodwill or Salvation Army.  They will put your items to good use and it's a tax deductible donation.

Check out Dirty Secrets E-Boutique.  This is a painless way to advertise your clothing items you no longer need.  Contact Timie for more information!

In North Carolina I use Fifi's and My Secret Closet for consignment as well.

Once you've got your closet cleaned out, you're ready for Step 2.  Watch for the next post!