Time Tidbits: Why You Need to Overhaul Your Bedroom Closet Immediately

It’s incredibly frustrating to start your morning with a closet full of clothes and nothing to wear. You just want to get dressed and go, but instead, you’re trying in vain to find your left shoe or pants that fit.

Besides banishing frustration, there are some really great reasons to overhaul your bedroom closet immediately. You’ve spent hard-earned money buying clothes, so you should be able to find and wear them. An organized closet means saving money, since you can see everything you own at a glance and will no longer purchase an item of clothing only to find an identical piece buried in your closet a week later.

Keeping your clothes organized also means being on time and reducing your stress level, as you can dress quickly and efficiently. The more often you can leave home on time, in a relaxed mood and looking good, the more often you’ll have a great day.

As a professional organizer, I’ve discovered that too often closets are organized to mimic a department store—all of the shirts are hanging together and all the bottoms are stacked together. This creates a hide-and-seek game where clients are sorting through everything they own just to find an outfit for work or clothes for the gym.

Fortunately, there are some much easier solutions. Try some of these great techniques for getting your closet organized and keeping it that way.

The Pro’s 5 Easy Closet Overhaul Steps

1.     Remove all the clothes from your closet. Starting with an empty closet is the easiest way to get organized. As you remove garments, sort them into preliminary piles: one for warm weather clothes, another for cold weather clothes and a separate pile for things you don’t wish to keep.

2.     Stow off-season clothing out of sight. If your closet is large, you can place them in a storage bin in the back of the closet. Or, move them to a guest room closet. Another option is to use under-the-bed storage boxes. Moving and separating winter items from summer items will help you stay organized, because you won’t have to sort through your winter sweaters to find a summer dress in July.

3.     Sort your current-season clothing by use into the following categories:

·       Work

·       Casual

·       Dressy

·       Exercise

·       Gardening or housework

·       Uniforms

·       Any other special category you may have

4.     Hang up one category at a time. As you do so, put like items together. For example, hang all your work slacks and skirts next to each other. Using this method, you’ll only have one section of your closet to hunt through as you match outfits.

5.     Be sure to eliminate items that do not fit, are out of style or need repair. Make it a habit to only hang up garments that are ready to wear.

The Pro’s Three Favorite Closet Tricks

1.     Baskets and Containers: Since stacks of sweaters tend to slide to one side or off of the shelf, I love to keep them contained. It is much easier to keep your closet neat when you can take a basket down, find what you need and put it back. It’s impossible to do that with loose items on a shelf.

2.     Dresser in the Closet: If you have a walk-in closet, consider adding a small dresser in one corner. That way, you won’t have to go between two different places to find the pieces you need. Having your folded items right by your hanging items puts them all in one spot.

3.     Clip Hangers: Clip hangers save my life—and my frustration level. They are great for holding so many items that slide around on or fall off regular hangers. I fold scarves in half and clip them to clip hangers. They are never wrinkled and always ready to wear. I also clip tank tops and undershirts by their hem, since they always seem to slide off hangers.

You can use these tricks in one afternoon to get your closet organized. You’ll save time in the morning and start every day in a more peaceful, efficient manner.

Lea Schneider has major experience planning closet rehabs, advising many homeowners in her role as a professional organizational expert. Lea writes her advice online for The Home Depot. For storage solutions that can help you better organize your closets, you can visit the Home Depot website.