Hello lovelies!! Today I am going to be showing you some of my most treasured tips and tricks for organizing a closet (especially a small one like my own!). Hopefully my spring closet cleaning endeavor will inspire you to tackle your closet this weekend! So my friends, crank up your music, because we’ve got work to do!!
Here's a quick before picture to set the scene:
Isn't that a stunner? Now onto the steps to transform this heap of sadness.
Make sure your room is clean. Trust me folks, if your room is not clean when you organize your closet, you are most definitely not going to be very efficient in the ways in which you work. By having both a clean bed and floor, you will have places to organize your clothes, shoes, and other such items in which reside in your closet in a relatively orderly fashion. Now, of course, if your closet is detached from your room, this tip is slightly irrelevant, although, make sure you pick up anything that doesn’t belong. This will make the entire process easier.
Empty everything out of your closet. Yes, even those five-year old shoeboxes. Everything leaves so that only some things can go back. I emptied all of my clothes and shoes (on the floor, the ones on the shoe organizer were a-okay!) out onto my bed and bedroom floor. I decided not to empty the sides of my closet and the top of my closet because they were actually organized, well more like organized chaos. I had previously deep cleansed my closet over winter break, and got rid of any non-essentials up top and on the sides, so I knew that I needed everything on the sides and top, I just needed to spend 5 minutes making it orderly.
The left side of my closet before...
Now for the right side! Before...
Here is when I emptied all of my clothes out:
Quick Tip: I think that if you haven’t organized your closet in 6 months or more, you should really go through it with a fine tooth comb. This will make room for more clothes later, and if you’re like me, that’s like the best news ever!!
After I’ve emptied everything out, I like to start with organizing all of my clothes, which can be a tedious process if you’ve got a lot! The first thing I do with the clothes is organize them into categories. The categories that I use are: Dresses, Skirts, Sweatshirts/Cardigans, Uniforms, Shirts, and Pants. I find that by categorizing the clothes that it’s a less overwhelming process.
Yeah, so I kind of just threw everything on my bed at first to get this.
I also had my pants on the floor, as well as my sweatshirts/cardigans.
I then went through every. single. item. of. clothing. I like to stare intently at it and ask myself: Would I buy you today? Can I pair this in three different outfits? Have I even worn this in the last 6 months? If my answer is “No” to at least two of those questions, it goes in the “No Pile”. If I’m really on the fence with a piece of clothing, and “my test results are inconclusive” (Yes that was a Divergent reference in there, I couldn't resist!), I put it in the maybe pile. When I’m finished with saying “yes, no or maybe so”, I like to come back to the maybe pile, be a typical teenage girl, and text myself in the clothing item to one of my really honest friends to get their opinion. I then proceed from there, either yay or nay. For the burning question: What do I do if I want to keep the piece of clothing? Well, my friends, put it in the yes pile!
Now that we know whether or not our clothes will be residing in our closets again, time to move on to the shoes. I just found the bff for each shoe, aka its pair, and put them neatly back in my closet. All of my boots stayed on the floor, while my other shoes stayed in my over-the-door shoe organizer. I think that by spending $15-20 on a shoe organizer, you will save so much space! Not only can you store your shoes, but you can also store hats, belts, and scarves. Talk about money well spent! I also put rolled up magazines in my boots so that they keep their shape. I find that my boots definitely last a lot longer compared to when I didn't do this before.
Everything out...
Everything in...
Quick Tip: I think that another thing that people should buy for their closet is a wooden cubicle organizer, like mine. Mine is not very sturdy, but was very cheap from Target. These can organize all of your junk, especially junk you don’t want to be seen. I keep some memoirs from elementary school in there. I also fold my jeans on top for easy access.
When I put my clothes back in my closet, I paid special attention to make sure that I was putting everything on the same kind and color hanger. This may sound a little OCD, but by doing this, it makes your closet look really put together and more organized. I also like to hang my clothes so that when the front of the piece of clothing is facing me, the hook is facing to the left.
Quick Tip: In order to make your yes, no, maybe process easier next time, hang all of your hangers so that the hook faces outward, instead of inward. So when you next organize your closet in three to six months, get rid of any clothes still facing outward, showing a visual that you haven’t worn that item of clothing since you last organized.
The order, in which I put my clothes in, from left to right, is: Dresses, Skirts, Sweatshirts/Cardigans, Uniforms, and Shirts. I fold my pants, like I said before, and put them down on top of my cubicle set.
This step, is of course, optional, but makes your closet really eye-appealing. Two words, color-coding!! I love color-coding because it is really simple once you develop your own system, and makes your closet look super cute! I have an interesting system for color-coding, but feel free to develop your own. I start with red on the left, go through the rainbow, and the order afterwards is as follows: pink, brown, black and white. I then take this process a step farther by organizing the clothes from lightest to darkest within their color group. Once again, a little extreme, but well worth it!
Here is my (now!) organized closet before the color coding:
I think that by using these tips and tricks, you will be more successful and efficient when you organize your closet. This only took me an hour, and for awesome results! It was relatively easy and quick to-do for the weekend. Most importantly, this closet cleanse will make your life much easier in the long run! What’s to lose people?!
Have a fabulous cleaning session!
XoXo, Megan :)
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