How to Organize a Closet in 5 Simple Steps
Want to make your life easier? Clean out, clean up, and organize your clothes closet. With an organized closet, you can see what you have, what fits, and the clothes you love to wear. Even better—everything is easier to find!
What’s behind your closet door? Orderly rows of shoes, stacks of folded t-shirts, and hanging clothes arranged by color and season? Or do you have a situation that could be declared a national disaster? If the latter, you might ask the President for federal disaster relief funds, or you could get organized.
Knowing you would feel guilty taking funds from disaster victims, here are simple steps to find calm in all that chaos. By the way, these same principles for organizing a clothes closet apply to linen closets, utility closets, and your food pantry.
Here’s the best part: You can do this without spending a dime—using items and tools you have already.
Tools You Need to Get Organized
Large bags, boxes, or bins
You’ll be sorting all your clothes—those that fit and you love, items to consign or sell, things for donation, and those for the trash.
Labels
If you have a label-maker, great. If not, don’t run out to spend money. You can easily make appropriate labels with plain paper, markers, and tape.
Full-length mirror
Yes. It’s time to decide which items to keep.
Trash can
You’ll find all sorts of little items for the trash, such as the contents of pockets, stray rubber bands, price tag bits and pieces, receipts, and so forth.
Step 1: Everything out
That’s right. Remove everything from the closet—every last hanger, belt, shoe—everything. This will let you see exactly the space you have to work with. Prepare to be shocked by the pile of stuff that comes out of that closet.
Step 2: Deep clean
Now that you can see the light of day, give that closet a good cleaning from top to bottom. If, after thorough cleaning, the space still looks a little grungy, follow with a fresh coat of white paint.
Step 3: Separate
Most people hate this step because it means getting rid of everything you do not use or wear. But what choice do you have now that you’ve hauled it out? There’s no way you could get all of this back into the closet, so buck up, and let’s get this job done.
Label five containers (see Tools, above) to separate everything you took out of the closet.
Box #1: Keep
Here comes the part of this process you’ve been dreading. Or longing for? Regardless, this is the most crucial step in this whole process. The goal is to keep only those items you truly love, fit well, and wear (or will wear now that you have found them!).
Keep anything you love and wear often. What’s the test? Try it on! Stand in front of the mirror. Does it fit well, giving you that “spark of joy?” Be honest with yourself. If it doesn’t make the mark, out it goes.
Put only items into this Keep Box you have worn or used at least twice in the past year. Be brutally harsh. If it doesn’t fit today, it’s not likely to fit any time soon. Get rid of it. If in doubt, do not put it into this bin.
Box #2: Maybe
This is one of the best ideas ever from one of your fellow readers. It’s not easy to say goodbye permanently. You will come across items that you’re just not sure about. Putting them into the Maybe Box is an easy way to transition. It’s not so much procrastination as empathy and kindness. Trust me; this works. The Maybe Box may be the one thing that keeps you motivated and in charge of this process.
I can tell you from personal experience that while the Maybe Box is very important in this process, it loses its importance as it finds its way to the garage or basement. Trust me on this: After six months, you will not remember what’s in that box. You have not mourned any of its contents; in fact, it might be a year or longer before you recall it even exists. But for now, it’s like a binky that brings a great deal of comfort. Let it do its job.
Box #3: Consign or Sell
Clothes and other items that are not right for you (as evidenced by the fact that you never wear them) but still have a valuable life for someone else should go into this box. These should be either new items with tags or pieces that have been worn seldom. Consignment shoppers are typically looking for name brands.
What you consider ugly may be perfect for someone else. What no longer fits you will fit someone else. Take those items to a consignment store or schedule a yard sale.
Box #4: Donate
Consider donating your good used items to the Salvation Army or another thrift store. You may get a tax break, but more than that, you will feel good. Put all of these items in the garage, the back of the car, or some other way to get them out of the house.
Your local animal shelters and veterinarian offices may be overjoyed to receive towels and sheets that are not suited for resale in thrift stores but have a useful life for animal care and comfort
Try to donate and consign as much as possible, while trash is only for items beyond repair or use.
Box #5: Throw away
Clothes and shoes worn out, hopelessly stained, broken, or in some other state of calamity go into this bin. Work quickly to ease the pain. Empty this bin often to keep the process moving.
Once you’ve divided everything you took from the closet, move Boxes 2, 3, 4, and 5 to the garage or somewhere else. Just get them out of your way for now.
Step 4: Divide, sort, group
Divide and sort the Keep Box’s contents by season, type, and use. If possible, store out-of-season items in another place in your home.
Next, separate your work or professional clothes from your casual attire. Now divide each pile into common wear and infrequent wear, arranging them so the items you wear most often are the handiest.
The goal here is to group like items—belts, sweaters, T-shirts, long-sleeve shirts; shorts, long pants, jeans, socks, and so forth. Search for easy hacks for folding and “filing” things like socks.
Step 5. Organization helpers
While not completely necessary, acquiring a few good organizational items will make this project turn out even better—things like a sturdy shoe rack, good hangers, and shelves in addition to your standard hanging rod.
Shoe rack
You have lots of choices, but it all depends on the space you have to store shoes. If your closet just can’t handle shoes and clothes, you might want to consider storing your shoes in another area. This shoe rack is really nice, affordable, and sturdy. But it’s just one idea.
Hangers
I can tell you from experience that when you have matching hangers throughout your closet, you’ll be more likely to hang up your clothes and keep things organized. Again, you have lots of choices. I love these hangers; they’re in our closets because they save space and keep clothes from sliding off.
Pro Tip
An over-the-door shoe rack can turn your door into the perfect place to store shoes or accessories.
Shelves
A good shelving system that optimizes the space in your closet will make all the difference when it comes to keeping your closet organized. Depending on the size and configuration of your space, there are many options.
This all-in-one organizer kit by ClosetMaid, which includes a small shoe rack, is just one way to use shelves to turn an inefficient nightmare of a closet into a well-organized dream come true.
Investing in a few good organizational pieces will make organizing your closet—and keeping it organized—a snap!
Let me assure you that it’s easy for me to tell you what to do! Just do it, okay?
- MORE: The Chair
Truth be told, these steps are not as easy for me as I might have led you to believe in the title of this post. But I have done them, so I know just how cleansing the results can be and the sense of peace that comes with a well-organized space. And it’s a routine I must repeat at least twice a year to keep it that way.
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Check with your local hospital to see if there is a ‘clothes closet or clothes room’ where clothing, new underwear, slippers, a sweater or jacket, etc. (in various sizes for men and women) are kept…..because there are some patients being discharged from the hospital who have nothing to wear home. Perhaps their clothing was so damaged on admission to the hospital that it could not be salvaged to wear home. A robe and slippers would be helpful too for the person who is ‘challenged’ to wear regular clothing home from the hospital.
This article should point out that the items in box#5 should not be throw into a landfill. Big metal boxes are present in parking lots all over every community take these stained, worn, etc. textiles and recycle them. Whoever owns this box profits from this, often it is a charity. More importantly keeps all of these unusable items out of landfills.
Box #5: “Clothes and shoes worn out, hopelessly stained, broken, or in some other state of calamity go into this bin.” These days thrift stores and donation bins clearly state they accept only serviceable items. That means they can be resold. “State of calamity” should be understood that they are not serviceable. They are worn out, stained, have reached their useful end.
Where I live the city council is now recycling textile fibres. There are containers in which to leave textile for actual recycling of the material.
There are drop off boxes in ou parking lots with lettering implying they are our country. I was told by a pick up man that they are shipped out of the country and sold. I know where’s best places to donate I’ve checked out
Does anyone have an easy, inexpensive way to store photos? I have a bin full and have already shared many picture with my family. Now what?
Some of us have weight that varies with time. That makes it really difficult.
I, too, have that issue. I have bins on the top shelf for clothes I can’t wear right now and only keep out what fits. I like these because they can be stacked and have zippered openings (and clear windows) on the front so I can see what’s in there. Furnhome Clothes Storage Organizer Bins Containers, Stackable Storage Bins-Foldable Oxford Cloth Steel Frame Storage Box for Clothing Storage with Clear Window & Reinforced Handles (Navy Dots, 22L,3PCS)
As always, thanks for the useful info. I know what I should do, now I just need to do it! I’ve been working on my kids’ closets, and it feels so good to get stuff out of the house. I did an online search for a place to recycle textiles that cannot be donated or sold (used socks, underwear, t-shirts with logos or names, items that are torn or stained, etc.) and I make regular drop-offs at their bin. They also take sheets, towels, fabric, shoes, etc. I am totally willing to get rid of this stuff if I know it isn’t going in the trash, as they will give usable items to charity and recycle the rest into insulation. Also, the bin locations get a donation for a charity, so this all seems like a win-win situation. Towels that can still be used go to the animal shelter.
I always donate my clothes to The Rescue Mission, our local homeless shelter. They have a similar style retail store like the Salvation Army. They take ripped, stained, any type of clothes. What they can’t sell in the retail store they sell for rags
Thanks, Mary. You might add a reminder that textiles can go to the Goodwill to be recycled – that has helped me a lot since I hate to add fabric items to the garbage stream. They should be bagged up, labeled as textiles, and can be dropped off separately from other donations.
When I was growing up, my mom would dump the contents of my closet and chest of drawers on my bed if she felt everything was too messy. I had to clean it all up before I could go to bed that night! Also, my dad had the rule one thing in, one thing out. I went to Catholic school and wore a uniform but always felt I never had enough clothes! My closet is very neat and clothes are color coordinated, but I definitely could get rid of a few things, and the cooler weather is very motivating.