some  good closet organizing tips

gather your thoughts first

• First decide how much time & physical space you have to devote to this project. Do you have the time & space to completely start from SCRATCH & empty out your entire closet before beginning the job? Or do you want to tackle certain parts at a time. This will determine the method in which you tackle your closet.
  

• Have an idea before you dismantle the closet as to what you will plan on keeping in it full-time. Is your closet large enough to keep all of your clothes—or will you be able to take out some seasonal clothing & store them elsewhere.
  

• Are you willing to put away (store) your "goal" clothes for now? If you anticipate wearing them in the future, can they be stored somewhere else?
  

• Do you have a place where you can keep things you only wear once a year. Can they be moved to another closet?
  

• Decide what's going to be on hangers and what's going to be stacked. Are you going to hang sweaters/t-shirts/light cottons or fold them?

• Have a general system in place for storing or getting rid of items. This doesn't mean you to need to know right this minute whether you're keeping an item, saving it for a rainy day, tossing it, donating it, selling it, giving it to a friend—or—you just don't know what you're doing with it. That's a category too! This just means you need some "holding" bins/containers/boxes/garbage bags/shopping bags to separate these categories until you make up your mind. That's the easiest & most efficient way to start.

So as you can see, this first step is a lot of thinking. Some empty boxes, shopping or garbage bags or even temporary bins for this next step can start the process for you immediately. And remember, mentally review your space before going out to buy most of your organization products. 

start with this

Get those trash bags/shopping bags/bins handy & put them on the floor outside of the closet. This is your staging area, so to speak.

Have a box or shopping bags for the following categories:

• Needs to be washed or dry-cleaned. Get to this first.

• Needs to be thrown out. Take out any ripped or stained clothing that you've been meaning to ditch—& ditch!

• Empty hangers. Take any empty hangers & put them in a shopping bag or box for now.

• You don't wear this anymore, but you're not sure what you want to do with it right now. Put this stuff in a bag/box.

• You don't know whether something fits & you need to try it on. Put that stuff aside into a bag/box to try on later. Doing it now will just slow down your process.l

• What you want to sell. Items you paid a lot for & you don't want to give them away now. Put these in a bag/box.

• Items you want to donate. Put these in a bag/box.

• Items you want to give to specific people. Put these in a bag/box.

• Do you want to retire some things temporarily? And maybe rotate them back in at some point? You don't want to give them away but you're not using them now. Take these out of the closet & put them in a box.

• Seasonal clothing options. If you are able to store your off-season clothing elsewhere, take that out of the closet. If there are hanging items & you know where you're going to hang them, do that now. That's easy. If you have seasonal clothes that you'll fold & pack away into storage boxes, take them out of the closet & put them somewhere for now. Even in shopping bags or temporary boxes until you have the proper storage boxes you want. If you have no other place to store your seasonal clothing, obviously skip this step.

So now you have "staging bags/boxes" that are separated into categories. & your closet "should" be somewhat emptier than it was when you first started. I know you're thinking "But now what am I going to do with all these boxes that are sitting outside of my closet?" That's true, but at least things are separated into categories & this is a good start! Move them to a place that's not in the way FOR NOW. THIS is also the time to re-access your storage needs & evaluate what storage/organizational supplies you need to buy.

some tips on how to organize your things

• Keep a slim step ladder or a short stool so you can put things away

• Choose streamlined, space-efficient organizing/storage tools

• Hang handbags

• Hang up scarves

• Use a hanging shoe bag on the inside of your closet door

• Use wasted wall space in the closet

• Try a boot organizer

• Use built-ins if you have the room

• Use wicker baskets. They keep things contained & look good on closet shelves

• Stagger your shoes

• Hang your closet rod(s) higher for more room (if possible)

• Add an additional rod as a closet doubler (if possible)

• Use slack hangers

• Store bulky items in boxes

• Store things under your bed—prime real estate

• Use clear storage containers so you can see what's in them

• Organize your drawers with drawer dividers for small items