Your closet is the bedroom’s main storage space. Whether it is filled with organized clothes or sloppily arranged boxes can make a big difference in terms of your room’s appearance. And a clean room is about more than just aesthetics; a clean and decluttered room is actually good for you. A well-organized closet can help you keep your room clean, and a clean room can help you reduce stress, and less stress can improve your life. Ergo, a well-organized closet can improve your life. No joke. Looking to organize your entire home, check out our Ultimate Home Organization guide.
Here are 12 tips for how to organize your closet:
- De-shoe Your Closet
- Buy a Clothing Rack
- Add Another Row
- Use Modular Shelves
- Never Leave Empty Handed
- Color Code Your Clothes
- Use Shelf-Dividers
- Make a Small Room a Walk-In Closet
- Pack Away Your Seasonal Clothing
- Try Space-saving Hangers
- Use Wicker Baskets
- Take Advantage of Corner Storage
1. De-Shoe Your Closet
There’s an old (and odd) saying about procrastination: Eat the frog. What it means is that you should get the hardest thing out of the way first and as soon as possible. That is why the first of our closet organizing ideas may also be the toughest: Get rid of some of your shoes.
You may enjoy having stacks upon stacks of shoes lined up in your closet. It’s your way of pretending you’re Kim Kardashian or Michael Jordan. But the thing is, those two people don’t need to worry about closet space! You, on the other hand, do. So be honest with yourself and go through your old shoes. Which ones do you wear? Which ones don’t you wear? If you still have some old pairs of shoes that you haven’t touched in months or years, get rid of them! If they are in good shape, you can give them to the Goodwill, otherwise, throw them in the trash.
This is a good declutter step because shoes require a lot of space, so you only want to keep the ones you either use or simply really like.
2. Buy a Clothing Rack
A clothing rack is something that can look quite stylish and that you can keep outside of your closet. By storing some of your more frequently used closed on a clothing rack, you will free up more storage space inside your closet.
You can stick a clothing rack right outside your bathroom or just in any corner of your room. For guys, the kinds of clothes that go well on clothing racks are plain button-down shirts (like the kind you would wear to work) and for women pants, jeans or dresses. The key is to free up more primary closet space by making a second portable storage area (a clothing rack) in a different location.
3. Add Another Row
You can buy or build another row into your closet if it includes high cubbies that are not giving you enough bang for your buck. You can only efficiently stack clothes so high until it becomes ridiculous. That is why, after a certain point, it becomes better to add another row.
There are pre built wooden and plastic rows. Or, you can simply nail or drill a piece of wood in yourself to create more storage space in your closet.
4. Use Modular Shelves
Related to adding another row is modular shelves. Modular shelves can be made of metal, wood, or plastic and can be added to or subtracted from depending on your needs and available space.
As far as closet organizing ideas go, modular shelves are best for larger walk-in closets with lots of space. Simply because a closet is large does not mean it is well-organized. And, if this includes you, consider putting in one or more modular shelves if they didn’t come built-in. You can stack clothes, wicker baskets, shoes, or anything else you’d like on modular shelves. They are the perfect tool for helping you get organized.
5. Never Leave Empty Handed
If you cannot or do not want to clean out your messy closet all in one shot, there are some things you can do to ensure it gets done over the course a few days to a week. The first is never to leave your bedroom empty-handed. This is an excellent piece of advice because if you simply grab one more piece of junk out of your closet and toss it in the trash or donation box every time you leave your bedroom, it will be clean in no time. This is a very casual and un-stressful way to approach closet cleaning.
6. Color Code Your Clothes
Color coding your clothes rather than sorting them according to some other method is a good way to stay organized. You can put whites on one shelf, darks on another, and then have a separate space for more bold colors or patterns.
As far as closet organizing ideas go, color coding your cloths is especially useful for those with lots of t-shirts and other kinds of clothes that they may not be able to fit in their dressers or chest. This is because without a clear way of separating that which we often wear from that which we don’t, we are prone to wearing the same five or six shirts week in and week out. There is no point in having piles of clothes if you are not going to wear them. Because if you are not going to wear them, you should simply get rid of them!
Not wearing your clothes because of stains that just won’t come out? Learn how to remove ink from clothes.
7. Use Shelf-Dividers
Shelf-dividers are a great way to separate clothes and other items on your closet’s shelves. Also, you can use shelf dividers to convert your closet shelves into a bookshelf or to make it a more useful space for storing shoes. Either way, shelf-dividers are a very versatile closet storage idea.
Pro Tip
There are many home organization services, like The Container Store, who will come out and help organize your closet. These paid services can help you come up with additional storage ideas, design a closet system, and declutter other parts of your home as well.
8. Make a Small Room A Walk-in Closet
Not everyone has the luxury of an extra small room just lying around their house. But some people do. Whether it is a broom closet, or the room of a child who has moved out, or an old office you never use anymore, there is no reason you can’t turn just about any room into a giant, walk-in closet.
If you do this, though, you want to make sure you do not treat the room like a large storage unit and start aimlessly stacking boxes and tossing clothes around. The first thing you will want to do is empty the room of all its former contents and give it a good clean. Next, you should put up some modular shelves and poles for hanging clothes. Finally, add a shoe rack and or some plastic drawers and a dresser. Presto! You have your own luxurious walk-in closet.
9. Pack Away Your Seasonal Clothing
If you’re looking for closet organizing ideas, after Winter has passed, many people throw their giant sweaters, boots, and heavy pants back into the closet and treat them as if they were like all their other clothes. This is a silly waste of space. You are never going to wear a giant Michelin Man-style sweater outside of winter. So why keep it stored in your closet year-round?
Get a chest or a large plastic container and store your winter clothes somewhere they are not taking up so much space. Either that or put them in under-bed storage containers. Under-bed storage is one of those places that few people think of. You can do a lot more with space under your bed then just kick dirty cloths! Consider getting a thin storage container for your shoes to free up some closet space by storing them under your bed.
10. Use Space-Saving Hangers
If you’ve never used space-saving hangers, you are in for a treat. One of the most inexpensive of the closet organization ideas, space-saving hangers, only cost a few bucks, and they can double or even triple the amount of hanging space you have in your closet.
11. Use Wicker Baskets
Wicker baskets not only make excellent accent pieces, but they are also effective for storage. Wicker baskets can be used on top of modular shelves or just on your closets natural shelving, or even in the corner of your room if you are looking for a place to toss items that don’t look sloppy.
If you add one or more wicker baskets to your closet, you can use it to store miscellaneous items and things that take up too much space on your shelves. These can include accessories, specific shoes, belts, hats, socks, underwear, and the like.
12. Use Corner Storage
The final of our closet organization ideas is to declutter by utilizing your corner storage. Walk-in closets typically miss the opportunity to capitalize on their corner-storage. Corner shelves are great for storing clothes, shoes, or whatever you need. If your closet is not walk-in, then you can still use corner storage in other parts of your room to free up more space.
If you use corner storage outside of your closet, consider displaying some of your more attractive pieces like boots, purses, or other leather items.
Conclusion
There you have it 12 closet organizing ideas to make the most out of your space. Decluttering a closet, inventing new storage solutions, or coming up with DIY closet organizers isn’t easy. Remember, getting organized is an essential part of improving your life. Whether it is your bedroom, office, or, of course, your closet, don’t procrastinate home organization. Remember, eat the frog!
