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!