You must hang your clothes by color.
You must hang your clothes by size.
You must hang your clothes by season.
You must hang your clothes in outfits.
You must hang your clothes by the occasion you’ll wear them.
You must hang your clean clothes and keep the dirty clothes on the closet floor.
You must hang your clothes in order of cleanliness.
You must put all your sports bras in drawers.
You must put all your sports bras in baskets.
You must hang all your sports bras on the hangers they came with.
You must fold your shirts.
You must roll your shirts.
You must hang your shirts.
You must hang your jeans in order of color.
You must fold your jeans and keep them on the top shelf.
You must roll your jeans and put them in a basket.
Your shoes must go on the floor of the closet.
Your shoes must go in boxes.
You shoes must go on a shoe rack.
Are you ready to tear your hair out yet?
The secret to an organized closet is to throw out all the rules you’ve picked up along the way from magazines, mothers, blog posts, TV shows, movies and catalogs. And then think about what sort of clothes you have, how you’d like to keep them, and what’ll be easiest for you to maintain. Here are a few non-binding suggestions that’ll help you figure out what works for you.
You’re more motivated to get something than to put it away
Go with whatever makes it easiest for you to put clothes away. We’re motivated to get things out, but putting them away is more tedious.
Baskets are easy to toss clothes into. Hangers are fiddly.
Hooks are easy to use, dressers are where clothes go to be forgotten.
If you have to jam the hanger into the rail, there are too many hangers on the rack. Either take out the empty hangers, or declutter some clothes.
Hanger hacks
The easiest way to feel like you have an instant closet upgrade is to use uniform hangers. Whatever kind you like, use all the same color or style or material.
Banish any hangers you got from the dry cleaners.
Velvet hangers had so much promise but wrestling clothes on and off them gets old fast.
Five years is enough time to see if you’ll wear something again
Decluttering all the clothes you never wear will make things easier. You may have iron clad reasons for keeping them but if you haven’t worn them in five years, you really aren’t going to.
READ MORE >>> How to declutter and organize
Keeping sentimental clothing elsewhere will free up some space. Why keep your college t-shirts in the current pile of t-shirts if you know you’ll never wear them?
READ MORE >>> How to handle sentimental clutter
What are clothes for, anyway?
Remember, clothes are functional and/or fun. You either wear something because you need to or because it makes you feel good. Preferably both. If you’re keeping anything for another reason, please think twice before allowing that item space in your closet.
by Lucy Kelly