No matter how frugal or thrifty your shopping habits may be, whether limiting spending to within an allowance, meeting cost per wear thresholds, or simply mixing and matching fashion pieces from multiple retailers, it is vitally important that you maximize the use of your closet – this includes floor, shelves, and hanging space.
Organise your clothing according to sleeve length for easy outfit assembling, or store items using dresser drawer dividers and draw liners in dresser drawers.
Clean it Up
First step of closet decluttering: empty all drawers and shelves of clothing you no longer wear or that hasn’t fit properly for at least a year; as well as broken or obsolete accessories that you might be hoarding.
As you sort through each item, arrange it into one of four piles: Keep, Donate, Trash or Repair. Your Keep pile should contain staple items like T-shirts, Sweaters and dresses that will likely become part of your everyday wear routine, Donate should include anything still in good condition but no longer needed, Trash can contain items similar to Donate but no longer desired, Repair can contain holes, worn-out elastic or clothing which cannot be repaired as part of its contents, while Trash should contain similar things while Repair will contain items which cannot be fixed;
Once you have an understanding of what’s in your wardrobe, set aside time to organize its storage areas and sort items according to category. For example, if you use a dresser in your closet as an organizer for clothing storage purposes, arrange your tops alongside bottoms before tucking sweaters away into the vacant space above it. Organizing by color could make creating outfits simpler too!
Consider investing in a dresser organizer or bookcase to provide extra storage capacity. A designated spot for everything will save you so much time in the future, especially on laundry day!
Organize by Category
Once your closet is clean and you have separated out your keepers, it is time to start organizing it. One effective strategy for doing this is sorting by color – this allows you to see immediately which items belong in each hue and can save time when getting dressed in the morning!
Assemble your clothes into categories – shirts, pants, skirts and dresses. Within each category, organize by color: white, tan, pink, red orange yellow green blue indigo violet brown gray black (depending on personal taste) etc. For multicolored items including patterns you might also add another section and sort those according to their predominant hue.
If you want to take it one step further, categorize each color block by shade; dark-to-light or light-to-dark will help create an organized closet in every season and is especially helpful for those who like planning outfits in advance.
Another great way to do this is to divide up your clothes by type – such as shirts, pants, skirts, dresses or sweaters – then within each category organize by color (ie all black shirts or all brown pants or all red sweaters etc). This makes finding exactly the piece you want even easier!
Organize by Color
According to ThisOldHouse, color organizing your wardrobe can give a clear view into its contents and makes putting outfits together much simpler. Plus, this method saves you time both getting dressed in the morning and packing for vacation – everything can easily be found when everything’s arranged by color!
At first, sort your clothes into those to hang and those to fold, before sorting by color – either alphabetically (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue Indigo Violet) or any other way that works best for you. Any patterned clothing should also be separated out into its own categories for easy organization.
Once your colors have been grouped, the next step should be separating each category by garment type. For instance, separate tops into casual and dressy categories before further breaking them down by short sleeve and long sleeve length. You could do something similar when it comes to pants, skirts and dresses.
Also consider sorting through any accessories, shoes, and bags in your closet that could form part of the mix. Doing this initial sort will give you an accurate overview of what is in each season in terms of clothing available to you and help determine if more spring & summer wardrobe pieces need to be added or gaps filled in fall & winter wardrobe pieces need to be filled in as necessary. It will also identify any items that no longer fit or bring joy – perfect time to donate them before spring cleaning season kicks in again!
Organize by Season
One effective way to start fresh is to organize your closet by season. This easy step can help you locate items easily while saving money – and will make selecting outfits much simpler and enjoyable!
Begin by clearing out your closet or dresser and sorting everything into three piles: toss, donate and keep. Remember practical factors like weather and seasonal fashion rules – no white after Labor Day etc – as you go through your process of organizing clothing. If it is too warm in Florida to wear snow boots and you know they won’t get worn again soon then perhaps keeping these may not be worth keeping?
Organization of clothing should take place over two seasons: Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter. Although this approach requires more work than simply sorting by color or category, it is the most efficient way to manage your wardrobe effectively. Within each of these categories, sort clothing items by type-pants, skirts, shirts dresses sweaters cardigans.
Once your seasonal clothes have been divided up and separated, find a discreet space where you can keep them until the next change of season arrives. This will free up space in your closets and dressers to accommodate new items as well as provide you with an opportunity to review everything that may have become worn or damaged over time – this could also be used as an opportunity to change out summer sundresses for warmer sweaters and shorts that can bring winter fun!
Organize by Fit
One key step in the wardrobe reorganization process is purging clothing items that no longer fit, no longer reflect your personal style, or you simply no longer wear. Although you might find some gems you could revive later, it’s essential that you are honest about what doesn’t work so that your wardrobe reflects who you are as an individual and makes getting dressed easier than ever.
Once you have your keep pile, donate pile and toss pile sorted, it is time to organize them further. Start by pulling out this season’s clothing while storing last year’s. Next, sift through all items in your closet by size, color, fit or season.
If you prefer wearing dresses in winter months, storing your favorites separately from tops makes creating outfits for any event easier. In addition, keeping workout gear easily accessible means taking care of business when running or hitting the gym!
If your walk-in closet doesn’t provide ample hanging space, invest in storage solutions like drawers and shelves to house items that don’t need to be hung – this’ll free up space for more essential pieces and speed up morning prep time!
Organize by Accessory
If you find yourself digging through piles of clothing, shoes, and accessories only to be disappointed at what’s there or entangled in an ineffective system of storage, perhaps arranging by accessory and bag could help streamline things for better organization and decision-making.
Keep all your scarves together in one basket and all jewelry in another; or you could hang up a lazy susan to help organize and see all your items more quickly and make cleanup simpler.
Organization by season can also help save on wasted space. No need for your heaviest winter sweater to take up prime real estate next to a summer tank top; plus it makes planning outfits simpler!
Bear in mind, however, if your sentimental box becomes overstuffed with items that no longer bring you joy – this way your new organized wardrobe could reveal undiscovered pieces that could add that finishing touch to your look – this can be life changing so make sure that a system works for you so your closet stays tidy for life.