Clothing is an everyday part of life, which means your closet is a central part of your morning. Does it take forever to find what you want to wear each day? Do you roam the house, looking through piles of laundry for what you want? Getting dressed can be simple and stress-free, but not if your closet threatens an avalanche when you open it. A simple-to-use, calm and orderly closet? You can make it happen! Over the next four weeks I’ll take you through the steps you can take to make your closet work for YOU. The first step: find your closet style.
Why Organize My Closet?
An organized closet brings many benefits! An organized closet…
- contains ALL of your clothes, so you only have one place to go to find what you need.
- contains clothes you like and wear. You can go into your closet and be guaranteed to pick out something that fits you and matches your personal style.
- keeps your clothes in better condition. When they’re wadded up on the floor, or languishing in the dryer, clothes develop wrinkles. The less you have to iron, the longer your clothes will last. And who wants to iron, anyway?
- makes it clear which clothes are clean. When your clothes are strewn all about the house, it can be difficult to tell the dirty stuff from the clean stuff. Clothes might go through the wash two or three times! When all your clothes have a home, it’s simple to tell what’s clean.
- is decluttered, meaning you have fewer clothes to deal with overall. Things might get worn more often, which gives you a chance to update your wardrobe with current styles without having barely-worn items hanging around for ages.
- is eco- and budget-friendly! When you store clothes properly, they last longer and you won’t have to buy new ones. Donating items that you don’t wear gives them a chance to be loved by someone else, too. The longer a piece of clothing stays in circulation, the less new clothing has to be made. Don’t buy into the throwaway mentality of fast fashion!
Speaking of Fast Fashion…
When building your wardrobe, keep sustainability in mind! Adding a few good-quality pieces rather than many poor-quality pieces saves you buying more in the future, and means less clothing headed to the landfill. Tentree.com is a super example of sustainable, high-quality attire. For every item purchased, they plant 10 trees! This cute tee is my favorite (not a sponsor, just so cute!).
Find Your Style
Closet style is about more than color palette! To achieve any goal, you first have to know what that goal is. When you know what kind of closet you want, then you can work toward it. Ask yourself questions like these to learn what your closet style is!
How much space do I have?
This one’s pretty literal. Unless you plan to knock down some walls and remodel, your closet has fixed dimensions. Be realistic about the space you have, so you can plan accordingly. A large walk-in closet can accommodate a more relaxed and spacious style, whereas a smaller closet focuses on storing clothes efficiently.
How do I want to use my closet?
Do you love getting dressed in the morning, and want a space to take your time choosing the perfect outfit? Your perfect closet would have room to get dressed, mirrors to check yourself out in (hint: you look great!), and perhaps a place for accessories. Maybe you’re a grab-and-go person who wants to get dressed and hit the road. Your perfect closet is compact and utilitarian, and uses efficient storage solutions to maximize capacity. When you organize your closet, it should directly support how you want to use it. Function first, then form!
What do I want my closet to look like?
Once you know how your closet should behave, then think about the aesthetics. Are you a minimalist who craves simplicity? How about a cozy, relaxing vibe? Maybe you’re more utilitarian, and function is all that matters to you. Glam as heck? Go for it! When you start organizing your closet, keep your visual style in mind, and then use storage tools that reflect your personality. Aesthetics aren’t frivolous–if you like the way your closet looks and feels, then you’re MUCH more likely to maintain it.
Try This Worksheet
Don’t just ask yourself these questions in passing. Use this downloadable worksheet to pin down your closet goals! You can print it out, or save paper and fill it in electronically.
Next week when we dig into the decluttering process, use the worksheet as a motivator and guide. You CAN have the closet you want, with some determination and elbow grease.
What’s your closet like right now? What closet style do you want to have? Tell me in the comments below!
I love tips on organizing a closet. There are many tips, and I am looking forward to this series. Right before school starts is an excellent time for kids and parents to organize their closets. Thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome, Sabrina! This has been a fun series to write and I’m excited to share it!
Organizing clothing closets is one of my favorite things to do. It’s so satisfying to weed out the items you no longer want and organize the keepers. As you said, it makes it so much easier to get dressed. And why keep things that no longer fit or make you feel bad when you put them on? Over this past year, I lost a significant amount of weight. I did a major edit recently when I realized how many clothes no longer fit (too big.) I can’t say I remember the last time that happened, but it felt good to let go and thin things out. Now my closet feels more spacious and the clothes I kept have more space to breathe.
I love that, Linda! Congrats on your roomier closet.
Definitely function first in the closet.
I recently worked with a man who didn’t like having his golf shirts folded up on a shelf in a dresser. They are so slippery that they never looked good, and he wasn’t liking the whole setup.
After some assessment, I suggested we move them to his closet. We removed shelving from one section, added a rod, and made the perfect location.
He wasn’t wearing the sweaters on the shelves, and he wears the golf shirts all the time. So I love your phrase about considering how the closet should “behave.” Excellent!
Thanks, Seana! Yeah, the closet really does have a kind of “behavior” depending on how it’s put together. Excellent work customizing your client’s golf shirts!
All of my clothes live in my closet – I hang up everything! Except socks and under-garments, which are kept in baskets on a top shelf. Works great and makes me keep only the clothes that I love. No more “maybe I’ll wear this someday”.
An “everything in the closet” mentality can work so well!
I’m super-utilitarian. My clothing is divided by category (jackets, long-sleeved blouses, t-shirts, pants, skirts, dresses), and within category, by color. Except when I’m hanging freshly laundered clothes, I spent about two minutes in the closet each day, but everything is easy to find. (But I’m lucky to have such a nice walk-in for a random 1BR apartment; I’ve had closets that were not nearly as spacious or easy to keep orderly.) Your guidance is perfect for anyone who is starting fresh, or needs to fix what’s broken.
I don’t need a TARDIS closet, but I’d love a TARDIS book nook!
A TARDIS book nook would be sublime! : )