Stay at Home Organizing Tips – Closets and Clothing
There are many benefits to organizing your closets and clothing. Organizing your closets and clothing can help you reduce stress, save time, find what you need when you need it, do less laundry (believe it or not), avoid the over-buying cycle (or buying things you don’t need because you didn’t know you already had them), enjoy the clothes you have, and just plain feel better!
As professional organizers in Boston, closets and clothing are the things we organize the most. Follow these tips to let us help you to whip your closet into shape while you’re at home.
Assemble the Proper Supplies
Bags for donations Hangers for consignment. New hangers for clothing (I recommend you get the huggable hangers and have all of the same color). You really gain space and it looks great!
Clear Everything Out
Don’t panic! Clearing everything out is ideal, especially if your closet is really cramped, but if that’s just not going to happen, clear as much space as you can to allow you to sort and assess your clothing. As you clear out, sort like items together so you can make decisions on what to keep sweaters with sweaters, pants with pants…(i.e. did you know you had 10 black sweaters?) Rolling garment racks are ideal but you can also use bed or floor space. Just make sure you have enough time to complete your project before you have to go to bed!
Assess Each Item
Do you need, love and use it? If you haven’t worn something in a year, it’s time to say good-bye. Good quality items in really good condition may be candidates for consignment. Other items in good condition can certainly be donated. If you have ripped or stained items, find a donation center that accepts textiles for recycling – like Planet aid or Goodwill.
Sort Clothes into Categories
As you assess, sort the keepers into categories. Decide what makes most sense for you – work clothes vs. weekend clothes, sort by style or color. Think about what will make it easiest for you to get dressed each morning.
Maximize Your Space
Go vertical and maximize the space – add a double closet rod, extra shelving and drawers to make the most use of your vertical space. Consider a closet system makeover if your budget allows. If you have a deep closet, store less often used items like luggage and off-season clothing in back.
Set Up Your System
Put the clothes you are keeping back in your space in categories that make sense to you. Store off season or infrequently worn items up high, or elsewhere. Use labels to help you maintain your system.
Avoid Over-stuffing
An over-crowded space will quickly become disorganized. Go back through your clothes and eliminate more items until you get to a comfortable amount or store off season/infrequently worn items in another space.
Short on time? Do a Quick Fix!
Our Quick Fix solutions are designed to help you whip your spaces into better shape in one short session. You may not get to tackle everything, but you will improve how each space functions and chances are you’ll build momentum to keep going and take it to the next level. Organizing is like a puzzle; sometimes just getting one or two pieces in place helps you see that whole picture more clearly.
Closet Quick Fix
Set your timer for 30 minutes Get rid of dry-cleaning bags and hangers Hang up or fold and put away any items that are on the floor Throw laundry into the hamper Weed out clothes and shoes to donate Sort remaining items by category Clever Closet Tricks
Sometimes you need a clever little trick to help you with an honest wardrobe review. Here are a few tricks we love that might help if you get “hung up.”
The “backwards hanger” trick - Hang all of the clothes in your closet the "wrong" way, so that you are hooking the hangers from the back of the rod. If you wear it, hang the item back up the right way. Anything still left on a backwards hanger at the end of the season should be donated or consigned.
Assign an expiration date – If you’re having trouble deciding whether to let something go, give it an expiration date (anywhere from a month to 6 months) – literally write the expiration date on a colored dot sticker, stick it to the item and move on. If you haven’t worn the item by the expiration date, let it go.
Stow the “maybes” – Similar to the expiration date trick, pack all your maybe items in a box and put an expiration date on the box. If you haven’t been tempted to get any of the items out by the expiration date, go ahead and donate the whole box.
Give the underdogs a chance – We all know that we tend to wear a few favorite items all the time. Give your other clothes some love and make a game out of trying to wear your underdogs instead of just your favorites. You will find some new favorites or some major “oh, that’s why I never wear this” items you’ve been holding on to – you won’t know until you try. This trick pairs really well with the backwards hanger trick.
Pack your bags – Another great trick is to pretend pack for a week or two long trip. What would you take with you? This gives you a chance to put together your best and most versatile outfits and pieces. Now take a look at what’s left behind – if you didn’t want to pack it, why? And why are you holding onto it if it didn’t make the travel cut? This will help you get rid of items you may be holding onto for no reason.
Follow these stay at home organizing tips to get your closets and clothing ready for this season!
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