Best Way To Organize Closet- 20 Incredible Tips And Guides

Everyone dreams of having an organized closet. Whether it’s big or small, an organized closet will save you a lot of time in getting ready while also improving your mood for the rest of the day.

Unfortunately, there are those days when we simply can’t seem to find anything to wear. That causes us to dig through the pile of clothes – which eventually creates quite a clutter. And when our closet is cluttered, we end up living in a cycle of stressing out about what to wear every day.

To end this cycle, you need to learn the best way to organize your closet. And we’re here to teach you exactly how to do it.

Style Tip: Your Closet Can Make or Break Your Style

When we think of organizing our closet, we often think of it as a time-consuming activity. This is especially true if you have so much stuff to organize – and that can feel like such a drag.

But, did you know that an organized closet can help you make or break your style? That should be enough motivation to help you get started.

You see, when a closet is organized, you know exactly where to find all of your clothing pieces. That makes it easy for you to get dressed and express your style – so you don’t just settle for the first decent clothing item you find.

Also, since you get to see all the pieces of clothing you own, you can instantly get an idea of what you want to mix and match for the day. That can surely save you a lot of time in the process. And as a result, you will look more put-together.

Thus, it’s easy to see how an organized closet can make or break your style.

Organizing Your Closet: What You Need

Before we proceed to teach you the best way to organize your closet, you have to prepare the following tools and materials to ensure a thorough workflow.

Plastic bins, boxes, or paper bags. This is where you will pile up your closet items according to different categories.
Cleaning supplies like a damp cloth, a clean dry cloth, a vacuum cleaner, and other cleaning supplies that your closet may need.
A tape measure to help you fit in-closet organizers for your items.
A full-length mirror to help you decide if the piece of clothing is worth keeping or not.
And most importantly, you need the patience and willingness to start and finish this project.

How to Organize Your Small Closet: Steps to Take

Now that you know the importance of organizing your closet, let’s proceed to the steps you need to take to do so.

1. Prepare to categorize your items

Before we start, we recommend preparing piles or plastic bins where you can categorize all the items in your closet. Here, you separate the items into stuff you want to keep, stuff you can donate, stuff you want to throw away, and so on.

Once you have identified the categories you need for decluttering, we can now proceed to empty the closet.

2. Empty your closet completely

For this step, you simply take out the piece of clothing or closet item and toss it onto the category it falls under. Make sure to do this until you remove the very last piece from your closet.

During this step, you’ll be surprised by all the items you can find. You’ll find clothes you’ve forgotten about or those you’ve borrowed but forgot to return. This is probably the most exhausting stage, but it can also be quite exciting.

3. Get rid of what you don’t need

The toughest part about organizing your closet is getting rid of all the clothes you don’t need. In this case, you can either choose to donate them or throw them away.

Generally, clothes you’ve outgrown may still be donated. Whereas, clothes that no longer seem wearable should be thrown away.

While it’s hard to let go of your clothes, especially those with sentimental value, remember that there’s no use in holding on to them longer. It will only take up a lot of space in your closet, which only adds to the clutter. And in the long run, that’s not going to do you any good at all.

4. Clean your closet

Before putting all the clothes back, we strongly recommend cleaning out your closet first. You can simply do so by wiping it down with a wet cloth and leaving it to air-dry for a while. You can also vacuum the floor and make sure that there is no mildew growth anywhere.

This step will not only keep the closet clean but will also prevent your clothes from being soiled.

5. Plan how you want your closet to look

With your closet finally clean and dry, you can start putting back the clothes you have decided to keep.

But before doing so, we urge you to plan how you want to organize your clothes inside the closet first. That will make it easier to place things back. Also, that will make it look neat while also being easy to maintain.

The Best Way To Organize Your Closet: 20 Tips to Keep in Mind

1. Start by separating the items into three categories

If you don’t know where to start, we recommend starting with three basic categories: keep, donate, and throw away. This will make it easier for you to identify which ones to retain and organize in your closet.

2. Ask yourself: have you worn it recently?

If you don’t know whether to keep an item or not, a question that you should ask is this: have I worn it in the last six months? This is known as the 6-Month Rule, and if your answer is no, then it’s time to either donate or throw it away.

3. Categorize the remaining items

Another tip to remember is to categorize your remaining items. For example, you can opt to separate your workwear from your daily wear, or winter clothes from your summer clothes. How you categorize the items you want to keep is up to you.

4. Give your closet a thorough cleaning

With your closet now empty, the next thing to do is give it a thorough cleaning. Aside from wiping the shelves and walls clean, you can also use a vacuum to clean out other dirt and debris you weren’t able to pick up earlier. You can also paint it a new color as if to give it new life. But as a tip, make sure you’re using paint that resists the growth of mold and mildew.

5. Plan ahead

Before you put all your clothes back, make sure you have a concrete plan as to how everything should be organized. This will make it easier to identify where specific pieces of clothing are located later on.

6. Categorize items inside the closet

Earlier, we mentioned that you should categorize your clothes before placing them inside the closet. now, we recommend categorizing where you want to put all your clothes in. For example, you want to separate where you put all your undergarments, socks, shirts, dresses, and so on. This will help you prepare faster every morning.

7. Identify which ones to hang and which ones to fold

Generally, shirts, sweaters, and other daily wear can be folded. On the other hand, delicates and fancy clothes should be hanged to prevent them from creasing. This will also prevent it from being deformed while preserving the quality of the material.

8. Categorize hanged items with coordinating hangers

For those clothes that you have to hang, it’s best to use coordinating hangers to help you identify what’s on them. You can designate a specific color for a type of clothing item, like black for dress jackets, or red for fancy dresses. That will surely make it easier to find what you need, especially when you’re in a hurry.

9. Group bulky items

As much as possible, fold all your bulky items and stack them on top of each other on the shelves. This includes thick winter wear, jeans, denim, and other similar pieces of clothing. By doing so, you’re freeing yourself a lot of space for what should be hanged.

10. Take advantage of storage boxes

To help you categorize your clothes even better, you can also make use of storage boxes. Here, you can keep clothing that you wear for specific purposes, such as workout clothes, sleepwear, and cotton shirts.

11. Make clothing you usually wear readily available

Let’s face it – we all have go-to pieces when we feel like there’s nothing else to wear. To save you the time in getting ready every morning, make sure that these go-to pieces are always easily accessible as soon as you open your closet.

12. You can also try color-coding

If the thought of storage boxes seems too boring, you can also categorize your clothes according to their color. This tip is especially useful for those who love wearing colorful pieces daily.

13. Don’t forget to maximize the vertical storage

If you have a small closet, the best tip to maximize what you have is to use vertical storage. You can build shelves or use hanging organizers to give you that extra space you never thought you had.

14. Separate your undergarments with dividers

To keep our undergarments from being soiled easily, you should take advantage of drawer dividers. These dividers will keep these smaller clothing pieces separated to prevent them from becoming deformed or to keep them from getting snagged against hooks.

15. To save up on space, you can opt to hang scarves instead

When you hang scarves on a hanger, you’re only using a single hanger for multiple scarves. Aside from being a space-saver, this tip also makes it easy to locate the scarf that will look best for today’s outfit.

16. Make the most of empty wall space

Just like making the most using vertical storage spaces, you can also make the most of the empty wall space inside your closet. You can use these walls to hang your accessories to help them retain their shape without all the clutter.

17. Organize your drawer contents chronologically

By chronologically, we mean this to be in the order that you usually get dressed in the morning. You can arrange your clothes on the right and keep your accessories to the left and start getting ready from right to left. This will make getting ready more efficient every morning – especially if you have a large or walk-in closet.

18. Use the hangers as markers

We all have clothes that we wear for regular use. To help us identify where these clothes are, you can put a marker on the hanger to make them stand out. You can opt to put a sticker or tie a ribbon on these hangers to serve as its label.

19. Always keep your clothes collection in check

Sometimes, the biggest enemy we can have in keeping our clothes organized is ourselves – we may be too tempted to hoard items to ensure a growing clothes collection. Unfortunately, we don’t always wear these pieces, so they all end up being cluttered.

As a rule, we recommend following the one-in and one-out rules. This means that for every piece of clothing you add to the collection, you have to say goodbye to an old item to prevent it from being another pile of clutter.

20. You can avail of MakeSpace’s services to easily store the clothes and shoes that just won’t fit in your closet.

If there are too many items you want to keep, then the next best thing is to ask MakeSpace for help. The company offers full-service storage spaces where you can keep all of the stuff that could no longer fit in your closet.

Dilemma: Which Ones Should I Keep and Which Ones to Throw Away?

If you’re having trouble with letting go of some of your clothes, here are some pointers to help with your dilemma.

If it no longer fits, then it’s time to say goodbye to it. ideally, you can donate them to charity or give them to younger siblings.
If you have clothes that you haven’t worn since you bought them, then there’s a big chance that you’ll never wear them at all.
Get rid of heavily stained clothes, ripped, torn, or are simply unwearable.
If the item is beyond repair, then it’s best to part ways with it.
For items you don’t want to wear anymore but still look great, a good option is to donate them to charity.

Tips to Maintain an Organized Closet

To make sure that your newly-organized closet stays organized, here are some tips that you should bear in mind.

In the case of clothes that are stacked on top of each other, never pull the clothing piece out of the stack, especially if it’s located at the bottom.
In the case of color-coded hangers, always make sure that you put them back to their original color group.
Decide what you want to wear ahead of getting dressed. This will keep you from taking clothes out of your closet.
But most importantly, build the discipline to keep all your clothes neatly organized every day.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the best way to organize your closet?

The best way to organize your closet is to only keep items that you truly require and discard the rest. Categorizing and color-coding your items will also help in making more space.

2. What order do you hang clothes in a closet?

The best way to hang clothes in a closet is vertically.

3. How Do You Organize a Cluttered Closet?

The best way to organize your cluttered closet is to color-code all your items and store extra items in boxes or racks.

4. What to fold, and what to hang?

You should fold thicker and woolier clothing items, while hanging up fancier and more delicate clothes.

5. What is the fastest way to clean out a closet?

The fastest way to clean out a closet is to take out all the items, de-clutter and separate old clothes from new ones, and categorize according to usage, brand and size.

Conclusion

Without a doubt, an organized closet can make our lives easier. Aside from helping us get ready faster, it can also make us feel more in control of our lives. Fortunately, you now know the best way to organize your closet and live a clutter-free life.

As long as you observe all of the steps and tips we’ve listed down, you’ll be on your way to a highly organized closet.

But, remember that at the heart of it all is self-discipline. Always remind yourself to stop hoarding new clothes – and make sure that your closet is always neatly organized. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself falling into the clutter cycle all over again.