Okay, so I am new to blog writing so please bear with me and
my poor writing skills. I believe in
time and with the more entries I write they will improve. I am the Queen of Neat and I am an aspiring
professional organizer. What I want to
achieve with this blog and eventually my professional organizing business is to
provide people with the tips, tools and service to create and maintain a
clutter free, functional living environment.
This blog will focus on tips for organizing various areas of your home,
office and life through my personal experience from organizing my own areas and
as well as from organizing others through my business. I will also provide tips and guides from
others that I have come across through researching.
This first blog is going to be about organizing your
closet. I recently re-organized my
closet a few weeks ago after moving into a new apartment. I am going to share with you how I made my
closet into a clutter free and manageable space.
First, start by emptying everything out of your closet. This
allows you to see exactly how much space you have to work with. If you are planning to install shelving or
storage containers this would be the time to measure the closet and insure you
purchase the right size.
Next you are going to want to start going through everything you
removed to see what needs to be kept and what can be purged. Courtesy of “How to Organize a Closet in 5
Steps” by Elizabeth Larkin, ask yourself these 3 questions when deciding what
to keep:
1.
Do you love it?
2.
Do you wear it?
3.
Does it project the image you want to project?
This third question was especially important to me. When going through my closet I found old
notes, letters, even clothes from middle school and high school. As a 23 year old recent college graduate who
appears to look younger already, high schooler really isn’t the image I want to
project anymore. Also, when purging make
sure to keep a bag or box on hand to contain all discarded items. It makes the job easier when hauling the
stuff off later. A little financial side
note: If you want to make extra money towards the new shelving or storage
containers you will be purchasing for your new closet try selling your unwanted
items to a consignment shop or throw a yard sale. If money isn't a concern you can also just
donate your stuff to your local Goodwill.
Once you have determined what you are keeping it is time to reassemble
your closet. If you are fortunate enough
like me to have a walk-in closet try lining items like shoes, suitcases,
containers, etc. all up against the wall.
This allows you to be able to view everything clearly and you aren't un-stacking,
re-stacking or moving items around to get to the things you need. You also
won’t lose the walk-in aspect because everything is out of walking space. For
shoes eliminate as many show boxes as you can this will clear up a lot of
space. Invest in a hanging shoe rack,
floor shoe rack or cubby shelves. Make
sure to group like items with like items.
For example all jeans together, all dresses together all shirts
together, and etc. Also, if you are like
me and a bit O.C.D. you can color code your clothes as well. This makes it easy to identify what is you
are looking for and provides a polished, professional look to your closest. Store your most-used items in plain sight
(i.e. work clothes), less-used items below and least-used items up high. (“20
Ways to Organize Your Bedroom Closet, apartmenttherapy.com) To keep accessories and folded clothes neat
and organize use self-dividers or cubby shelves. If you are like me and think this will allow
your stuff to be to expose to house guests, you can use a standard dresser or a
chest. If you already have open cubby
shelves and want to be more creative with keeping your items covered try
getting pieces of fabric and nailing them to cover over each individual cubby. Make more room in your closet by storing out
of season clothes in boxes or vacuum space saver bags up high or under your
bed. This works great if you have a
smaller closet.
Now you have finish creating the perfect organized closet
but it’s important to remember that you must maintain the organized space. The more you do it the less time it will take
you. In the past I would go through my
closet maybe once a year. However, after
reading Elizabeth Larkin’s article I am going to take her advice of going
through my closet every season. This is
a great way to remove out of season clothes from the closet and placing them in
storage boxes or bags until the season comes back around. Also, you can do quick closet revamps once
every month but do make sure to do a full one re-org once or twice a year.
This was my closet before....
....And this was my closet after!
