How to Organize your Closets

Spring cleaning is upon us and with that I am sharing my personal tips on closet organization. So here it is! Happy Cleaning!

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1. Name your closet. Every closet and drawer must have a purpose and no more than one. Examples: linen closet can not be your kitchen pantry too and your kids closet should not be housing your Christmas. If you have double use of a closet you have too much. Period the end. Now with that in mind not everyone has extra closets all over the place. Our “basement” closet houses musical instruments, party planning things and decor. It is called the “basement closet” because my husband uses it for his creative outlet (banging on the drums) and I use it to hold my creative stuff (home decor). It  does not hold our extra toilet paper (bathroom closet)  or winter jackets (coat closet). 
   • Names of Closets 
   • linen closet
   • walkin closet
   • coat closet
   • extra closet
   • wine closet
   • guest closet
   • bathroom closet
   • basement closet
   • kids closet
   • toy closet
   • craft closet
   • pantry
   • refreshment closet
   • water closet
   • guest closet
   • book closet
2. Take everything out of the closet and only put back what that that closet is for. Everything else has to find another home or be donated.
3. Buckets, Baskets and Containers! Put everything in its own place! Every bed has its own sheet bin in my house and every seasonal decor has its own bucket. That way my summer table cloth is not found under last years Christmas candles and the double sheets are not being put on the twin bed. I have baskets everywhere in my house. I have them for books, blankets in the living room, donations in the garage, and even one at the bottom of the stairs for things that need to go up the stairs. I am a big promoter of finding the right container for the right items!  
4. Label everything. I do not use very many clear bins. I know it is all the rage with the professional organizing shows now days but I very rarely use clear containers. If you have kids you know that the color coordination of the lego set is only going to last for two seconds. Don’t use containers that when looking at them you can see Barbie was thrown in the bin and doesn’t have on matching shoes. 
5. If you can; make your shelves as customizable as possible. 
6. Always use the same hanger style for one closet. Mix and matching style looks untidy not creative! If you want creative pick different colors but always the same style!
7. Keep things off the floor when possible!
8.  Reorganize on a regular basis as things tend to shift with life’s ever changing needs.
9. When organizing pantry – ALWAYS buy pull out drawers to intall
10. When organizing a clothing closet, I like to do it by the person’s way of dressing. Do they use jewelry everyday? Are workout clothes important? How do they pull things out? How do they fold? Do they need a shoe bin to toss flip flops in or do they need a triple hanging shoe rack for all the colors they have? I hate folding so all my clothes are hanging. However, my kids are small and almost all their clothes are in a drawer because I want them to be able to pull them out and put them away. Hanging is harder for them. Another great tip is to use a scarf in the middle of the closet to show what you have already worn and what you haven’t. Thank you Hillary Rushford for this tip! (Everything you wear you wash and hang back up in front of the scarf where everything you haven’t yet worn is behind it. )
11. Target, Amazon, and Ikea are all incredible places for ordering and buying different containers, shelves and pull out drawers. The Container store is literally one of my very favorite places in the whole wide world! Just don’t over buy before you know how and what you are using your closet for. I have seen many a closet too full for comfort because people haven’t done the decluttering before the buying. Happy organizing everyone!

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