Easy Steps to an Organized Life in 31 Days: Master Closet (Day 16)
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Day 16: Master Closet
No matter the size, closets can quickly become organizational disasters. With an abundance of clothes and shoes, not to mention accessories, they can quickly become cluttered chaos without a storage system.
Even without a closet system, there are steps that can be taken to streamline closet organization.
With a simple step-by-step plan, you can have a functional closet and find what you need.
Calendar
The next three days…
• Day 15: Master Bedroom
• Day 16: Master Closet
• Day 17: Master Bath
5-Step Plan
Step One: Empty the Closet
Designate a staging area and empty your closet. This step is critical and in order to be effective, it’s important to remove everything (hangers and all), leaving it completely empty.
If you have a collapsible or mobile clothes rack, this makes the job a lot easier to see exactly what you have. Having a partner makes this job a whole lot more fun.
Step Two: Sort
You will need:
- A Put Away Box – for items that belong in other spaces
- A Donation Box – for items that are wearable but no longer needed or wanted
- Trash Bags – for items that are no longer wearable
Group items into specific categories and sort them appropriately. If you are keeping the item, place it in a box or bin with like items (handbags, shoes, accessories, sweaters).
Step Three: Eliminate
This is one of the most difficult parts of organizing a closet and deciding what to eliminate. As always, begin with the easy choices and graduate to the more difficult ones.
For instance, discard items that are unwearable, have holes, shoes that have lost their mate, and so on.
The idea is to eliminate down to a manageable amount.
If you have room, at this point, it’s nice to separate out-of-season clothing if you can store it elsewhere. Large bins under the bed, high shelves fixed with storage containers are excellent ideas to store out-of-season clothing.
Related Articles:
- How to Store Seasonal Clothing
- How to Switch Out Seasonal Clothing
Experts advise donating clothing not worn at least twice in a season, or that no longer fits, or that you don’t love. One method, dubbed “The Discardian Trick,” is to turn all hangers the wrong way with the hook facing you. Once you wear an item, return it to the closet with the hanger hook facing the right way. Apparently, at the end of the season, it’s easy to then discover which items you didn’t wear. All hangers with the hook facing you.
Sometimes, clothing, however, can be an investment. Quality construction and fabrics can outlast many seasons. I like to buy simple and classic clothing that can be wardrobe staples for many seasons.
It all depends on your shopping and style personality.
For items you’ve designated to the elimination boxes, immediately remove them to another area so that you can concentrate on what you’ve decided to keep.
Return items from the Put-Away Box to their proper home before continuing on.
Step Four: Organize
Now that the unwanted items have been removed, it’s time to concentrate on organization.Take a look at the keeper bins and clothing you will be returning to the closet.
It would be nice to have a custom closet organizational system where every item has a place. But if that dream is still in your future, you can organize your things by first grouping like items together and then finding creative storage solutions to manage, especially, accessories.
Most home and organizational stores have innovative specialty storage features you can easily incorporate into your closet. The Container Store, Home Depot, Target, Walmart, and even Amazon.com. are easy places to shop.
Think verticle. Most closets have a tall headspace and are a perfect solution for out-of-season clothing or items rarely used. Don’t neglect this important use of space.
Throw away wire hangers. Although they’re convenient as dry cleaning items always return home on them, invest in some sturdy hangers and even padded hangers for delicate items. You’ll be glad you did.
There are several ways to organize the clothes in your closet. Some prefer to organize by outfit, although this doesn’t lend a pretty look to your closet and can be more difficult to mix-and-match pieces. Another way is to organize by color, which lends itself to a streamlined and organized look and allows you to know how many pieces you have in each color, avoiding duplication when shopping. And finally, most popular is to organize by type – all pants together, skirts, dresses, blouses, etc. Personally, I like a combination of color and type. But find a system that works best for you.
Simple Closet Organization at Amazon.com
Step Five: Clean
You’re almost done. Don’t skip this important step.
Clean the closet itself. Wipe down the closet walls and vacuum or mop the floor.
Return clothing, accessories, and storage solutions to your newly cleaned and organized master closet.
Checklist
DOWNLOAD: 31daily-easy-steps-to-an-organized-life-master-closet-day-16
Objective: To organize the master closet with 5 easy and simple steps.
- Designate a staging area for closet contents.
- Empty the closet. (Even the hangers).
- Sort items and group by function.
- Eliminate items using either a “Put Away” Box, a Donation Box, or a garbage bag.
- Return items to their proper home from the “Put Away” Box.
- Consider putting away seasonal clothing to help eliminate mass in the closet.
- Find simple yet functional storage for items like belts, ties, scarves, handbags, and so on.
- Clean the closet (walls, floors).
- Return items to the closet and organize as makes sense to you: by outfit, color, type — or a combination.
Tomorrow
GET THE BOOK:
Easy Steps to an Organized Life in 31 Days or Less (Amazon.com)
Primary Closet Inspirations
Dream Closets
Smart Storage Solutions
Closets on Wheels
