Cleaning Your Closet? When In Doubt, Toss It Out

Your closets can be the most intimidating part of your home to organize, as you may or may not have already realized. If you’ve tried to keep your closets tidy in the past to no avail, don’t give up just yet! The tips below can help you turn even the most chaotic messes into pristine homes for your clothes. I teamed up with Reminder Media, see the link at the bottom.

RESIST THE URGE, AND PURGE.

When it comes to clothes, it can be so tempting to hang on to shirts, pants, and shoes you never even wear. It might have sentimental value or you might think it will come back in style, but rest assured, you’ll probably never wear that bedazzled denim jacket from your first concert.

Remove everything in your closets first, and then separate into piles based on what you currently wear, what you aspire to wear, and what you’ll never wear again. Go through the “never wear again” pile, and place anything worth donating into a bag.

CATEGORIZE.?Once you have a pile of clothing you want to keep, come up with a system of categorization that works for you. If most of your pants are jeans, for example, you can have a section devoted entirely to your denim collection. Below are some ideas to help you get started:

Long-Sleeve Blouses | Short-Sleeve Blouses | Dress Pants | Dresses | Denim | Lightweight Jackets | Winter Coats | Suit Jackets

Once you have grouped items into your chosen categories, you can start coordinating a section of your closet for each. Keep categories that you’ll need to pull from more often toward the front, and rotate as the seasons change.

CHOOSE THE RIGHT HANGERS AND STORAGE.

It might seem like extra work, but if you want your closet to look polished, you need to invest in quality, uniform hangers. The popular home-organizing brand The Home Edit specializes in closet organization. (They’ve even created special hangers for purses and hats!) Avoid wire hangers, which can damage your clothes, and opt for plastic or fabric hangers to help keep the integrity of your garments.

If you own a lot of shoes, acrylic storage boxes are a great option to keep pairs of smaller shoes together and easily accessible. For boots and taller shoes, utilizing boot shapers will prevent your boots from hanging over, potentially creating long-term damage. You can also consider purchasing stackable shelving to organize your footwear and keep it off your closet floor.