Imagine, you open your closet doors and all of your items are displayed neatly on shelves and hangers. You can see everything and simply select the items you want. This article contains three easy steps to help you get the closets of your dreams!
Step 1: Start by purging. Pull out everything you haven’t worn or used in a year. Consider flipping around the hangers of the clothing that are left in your closet (hanging the hangers on the rod backwards). As you wear each piece put it back with the hook of the hanger facing in (the normal way to hang items on a pole). At the end of a year you will know exactly what you haven’t worn because the hangers of those items will still be backwards.
What to do with the clothes and items you have purged:
Have a Clothing Swap — Invite your friends to clean out their closets, bring over their unwanted clothing and accessories along with a dish to pass. Lay out everyone’s clothes. Eat, mingle and shop – for FREE! You’ll probably leave with at least a couple of new fun pieces to add to your wardrobe, and you’ll have a fun and free night out. Simply donate all of the left over items to charity.
Consign — Why not make some extra money? Some consignment stores will accept all seasons of clothing all year around which makes it easy to consign. A select few consignment stores pay upfront for clothing, although, those types of consignment stores are generally hard to find.
Consignment stores typically sell clothing on the same season schedule as regular retail stores. At the end of each retail season they will donate the items that did not sell for you and pay you a commission on your items that did sell. But you are usually in charge of knowing when a retail season ends and collecting your payment. Most stores do not automatically mail you a check. To make it easy, just put a note in your calendar on each of your deadline dates to call them so that you can pick up your check.
Step 2: Install a Closet System — A simple rod and pole does not do the job in most all closets. Putting in a built in system of adjustable rods, shelves, drawers, hooks and accessories usually doubles or even triples the amount of use-able space in your closet and makes it easier to see and find your items. There are many great options available from do-it-yourself systems to having a Professional Organizer / Closet Designer out to your home to design a system for you and have it built and installed for you. Closet systems are surprisingly inexpensive and usually make a big impact on your life, bigger than you may think.
Installing a Closet System is easy and will: Make your life easier by saving you time and money Double or even triple your closet space Make your home tidier because it’s easier to put things away Add value to your home
Step 3: The final step is the most fun step! Get matching hangers in your wardrobe and coat closets. It will give your closet a clean uniform look and will save space.
The best hangers to get are the sleek thin velvety soft hangers, usually known as Huggables. They come in a variety of colors. Your clothing “sticks” to the velvet so even tank tops and silky shirts won’t fall off the hanger. They have a thin space saving design and the best part is they prevent “shoulder bumps”. You can even hang sweaters and lightweight knit shirts on them.
In your non-wardrobe closets clear shoebox bins work well. Sort all of the items in your closet into categories, such as, shoe shine supplies, first aid supplies, nail polishes, travel sized products and so on. Separate items into individual bins and label the fronts of the bins. This makes it easy to put things away and find things. You can label your bins by just using blank white labels from any office supply store and a magic marker or getting a label maker. Label makers are great household tools. I recommend getting an inexpensive handheld one.
Start by just organizing one closet every week in your home, or even every month. Once you get your first closet organized you will be inspired to get the rest done.
