If your closet is a jumble of mismatched shoes and bags all over the floor, dry cleaning bags sticking out everywhere, clothes you haven’t worn in months (or years!) taking up all your space, and a general mess of wrinkles and missing buttons, don’t despair. It’s time to control yourself, and what you need is a plan.
Step 1. Assess your hideous closet. Open the door and look the beast in the face. The first thing to determine is whether the root of the problem is the closetor the lack of a system for using cabinet. Take a good look at the following: IF your items were neatly stored, would you have enough hanging space? Shelf space? Space drawer? Shoe space? If the answer to that is yes, then congratulations! You can go directly to the next step. If the answer is no, you have a little more homework. Make a list of exactly where your wardrobe is falling short. Now take all the internal measurements of your closet. You’ll have to visit your local hardware or department store to get the organizational pieces you’ll need, or if you’re really in a tight spot, use one of the many closet design tools available online. Once this is fixed, you are ready to proceed with the system installation. You’ll need the following: a couple of large garbage bags, a laundry basket, and a basic set of hangers. These hangers should match and NOT be made of wire, which will tangle and damage clothing. Do not forget the hangers for pants and skirts.
Step 2. Get EVERYTHING out of the closet so you can start fresh. As you take them out, you will separate them into three piles:
- damaged, outdated, or don’t fit (if you’re not sure, try them now)
- Pieces you still like but need minor repairs (think buttons, hem changes, etc.)
- clothes that you wear regularly AND with which you feel good.
Now, take all the items from the damaged/outdated/doesn’t fit pile and put them in the garbage bags. Get them out of the house immediately. Put them in your car to drop off at the donation center the next time you go out. There is absolutely no need to keep these items in your life. Examine the items in the minor repair pile. Put them in the laundry basket. Set a deadline to make repairs, or join your friends at the donation center. If something isn’t important enough for you to fix in a timely manner, it’s not important enough to keep. (The quickest way to do this is to simply take them to the dry cleaner and let them do it for you. It’s very inexpensive and can be done in just a day or two.)
Step 3. Go through the pile of items you use regularly and separate them into categories by item TYPE. I recommend the following: sleeveless, short sleeve, long sleeve, sweaters and jackets/blazers, skirts, pants, and special occasions. When you’re done, place the hanging items on hangers and fold the rest. Here’s a tip: The more you can keep similar items together, the easier it will be to find what you’re looking for and also maintain the system. For example, if you only hang ALL your short sleeve shirts, instead of hanging some and folding others, you only have one place to go to find or store them, right?
Step 4. Organize each category by color as follows: whites and creams, pinks, reds, oranges, yellows, greens, blues, purples, browns, blacks, grays. The logic is simple: let’s say it’s summer and you’ve grabbed a pair of brown pants. Now you know exactly where to look for a matching tank top or short sleeve, instead of having to hunt around to find the color you want! (I also know a lot of organizers who sort only by color, and not by style. My problem with that is that sleeveless shirts get lost in long sleeves, and long sleeves get swallowed up by sweaters, and bottoms aren’t t separated from the top, so you still have to do a fair amount of shuffling to put a set together).
Step 5. It’s about controlling the little things: underwear, socks, bras, stockings, scarves, ties, etc. For this, I strongly suggest a set of stackable shelves or drawers, in which you can put separate plastic organizers for each item; many stores even sell dividers designed for each of these things. No shelf or drawer space? Get one of those wire shoe racks that hang over the door. They’re terrible on shoes, but they make a perfect accessory organizer in disguise! Necklaces can be hung from the prongs to prevent tangling, earrings and watches from crossbars; Bras, pantyhose, belts, bags and hats are now within easy reach too!
Step 6. Now it’s time to tackle the shoes, if they live in the same closet as your clothes, and we’re going to use the same process as before. Put them in pairs if they are not already paired and then rate them. Do you use them? They are in good condition? How many do you have in that color? If you have more than 2 or 3 of any color, it’s probably safe to cut them down. When you put the protectors back in the closet, just like the other categories, arrange them in rainbow order so you know where to look for what you want and know where to put them away at the end of the day. Now you will discover that it is not only preparing a much smoother process, but maintaining the system is a no-brainer, and I know you’ll agree that when your morning runs smoothly, it’s a much more pleasant start to the day’s journey.
