Do you have a closet full of clothes and nothing to wear? Do you look in your closet and feel defeated? You can change that!
Organizing your closet is magic! You will be able to easily coordinate outfits, mix and match colors and patterns, and wear things you had forgotten you even had! You can enjoy all the wonderful things you bought and were excited about when you bought them. As a bonus, you can bless someone else by donating the clothes you aren't wearing.
My desire/dedication/obsession (whatever you want to call it) to organize my closet came from watching my mom and aunts struggle with their multiple, jam-pack full closets. They had closets full of clothes they hadn't worn in years, in multiple sizes. For decades they had kept clothes in sizes they had cycled through - the heavier times and the thinner times. Styles of clothes from several decades, all packed into multiple closets that were never opened. I can remember my mom staring into her closet muttering "I don't have anything to wear" (me: eye-rolling). She couldn't see all the beautiful clothes she had in her closet because everything was tightly packed in.
I tried a couple of methods over the years, I'll share what has been successful for me. I have had different closet sizes over the years - from a standard 1950's closet (read: small) to a large, walk in closet. My current closet is a small walk in. I have used this same method in all of these closets.
- I separate my tops into spring/summer and fall/winter. Everything else I consider long-hanging clothes (pants, dresses, blazers)
- When i first began this process - I got rid of things I knew immediately I didn't want or wasn't going to wear.
- I organize my clothes by color. I start with white, then black and continue by decreasing hue. This is my method - but use whatever color organization works for you.
- I turn all of my hangers around backwards. I typically do this at the beginning of the season - but it can be done anytime.
- After wearing, when I return the item to the closet, I turn the hangar around the right way.
If you follow the above steps, at the end of the season you will easily see what you haven't worn. Is there a possibility you will wear in the next season? If not, and the clothes are in good shape, consider donating. If they need repairing, will you actually repair? If not, consider discarding.
I organize my "long hang" clothes the same way, grouped by category (dresses, pants, jeans, cardigans/blazers etc.) and color, with hangars initially turned backward and then turned around correctly once worn.
As you purge your closet of things you don't wear, don't fit (you know - the ones the dryer shrank), out of style, or don't fit your personal style any more - you will begin to enjoy what you do have more. By organizing by color you can easily pair items - because you can actually see and find them!
Do you have organizing tips? If so - please leave them below.