Organize Your Closet and Keep it That Way

Easy Steps to Organize Your Closet and Keep it in Tip-Top Shape

Organizing your closet involves two major steps: organizing and maintaining. The latter is actually the easier part; the maintenance part is where some folks run into trouble. I’m sure some of you will know what I mean if you’ve spent lots of time building your dream closet, only to find it in a disarray six months later because you never changed the habits that made the chaos to begin with. The following is a useful list of easy steps to first organize, and then maintain your closet, which requires very little time investment if you perform the rituals regularly and faithfully.

Organize Your Closet

1. Remove clothing, shoes and other Items and perform a storage needs assessment.
2. Donate or toss items you haven’t worn in a year, do not want, or no longer fit into.
3. Assess storage requirements for folded garments and hanging ones.
4. Purchase additional storage to accommodate your clothing, shoes and accessories (think hangers, belt racks, hanger valets, shoe boxes or shoe racks, etc).
5. Install new closet accessories and components.
6. Establish a system for hanging and folded storage (arrange by color, style length, frequency of use, etc.).
7. Return clothing and shoes to your closet.
8. Admire your handiwork.

Maintain Your Closet

Having achieved the extreme order you want in your closet, now you need to keep it that way. In the past, you may have gone through the organizing process, only to find your closet returned to it’s chaotic state, but this doesn’t have to happen, provided you work at the art of maintenance and good habits.

1. Closet Rules

Establish closet rules and follow them. Yes, rules are fun to break, but not in this instance. Use the rest of the points to help establish your own guidelines, which will likely be more detailed, numerous and elaborate.

2. Put it Away Now

Return every article to its proper location in your closet (clothing, shoes, etc.).

3. Observe a Buy-Toss Ratio

Adopt a new-garment-toss-garment policy (if you buy something new, you must part with something old). This gives you a mental shopping check so you don’t acquire too much again.

4. Hanger Maintenance

Remove empty hangers from your closet as soon as you remove the garments for wearing.

5. Scheduled Mini-Closet Maintenance (5 Minutes Minimum)

Have a once-a-week, Saturday morning closet cleanup (re-order clothes by color, garment-type, etc.).

6. Periodic and Seasonal Closet Assessments

If you haven’t worn it in a year, get rid of it. Easy-peasy.

7. Size Checks

If it’s too big, get rid of it. If it’s really too small, get rid of it.

Once you organize your closet, it really isn’t that hard to keep it that way if you create a schedule of closet maintenance practices and stick with them. Organizing is a way of thinking and forming good habits as much as it is a physical action. You’ll find as you repeat habits, it becomes like second nature, and you’ll enjoy the benefits that result from your improved closet organizing and maintenance routines.

You may want to check out our huge closet accessories selection, as well as our freedomRail closet systems.

freedomRail pear closet system shown. Photo courtesy of Organized Living