Go Organize: Conquer Clutter in 3 Simple Steps (12 page)

If you store your shoes on the floor, I recommend placing them on a shoe rack. You can see your shoes more easily, and having a designated place to store them will take care of the problem of shoes being scattered everywhere. If your closet has wood shelves or cubby holes, shoes can be stored there. Shoe organizers that fit over the closet rod or those that fit over the door are great containers to use for shoes. Clear, plastic shoeboxes can hold shoes, keeping them free from dust and making them easy to see. It is your preference as to how you store your shoes.

Take a break, or at least take a breath, and a drink of water, and we'll move on to phase two in the closet.

Tip:
Plastic shoeboxes can make perfect pull-out drawers for underwear, sweaters, shorts, jeans, or other clothing, and they can fit under hanging clothing.

Closet Rod:
Take everything off the closet rod. If your closet is divided by his and hers, I recommend you do one side at a time. These instructions and ideas work for both sides.

I like to lay out a sheet on the bed to lay the clothes on that I remove from the closet. I know the clothes are clean, but I just like to protect nice quilts or duvets. As you take clothes out, keep likes together as much as you can (shirts, pants, skirts, belts, etc.). It will save you time when you start putting things back.

Now you can assess how much space you have in your closet. If you don't have enough shelving, suspend a hanging rack from the rod. There are canvas units that hang from the rod that can be used as drawers, which are useful for socks and underwear, sweaters, or scarves. Or suspend a hanging rod that hooks over existing rods. They are inexpensive and instantly create extra room for hanging short clothes. Shelf dividers that can be placed on the shelf above the rod can be used to prevent leaning towers of sweaters or other items stored there.

Tip:
There is a good reason wire hangers are free: They are worthless. To increase the life and shape of your clothes, don't keep them on wire or flimsy plastic hangers. Wooden and padded hangers are the best kind to maintain the shape of a garment. A cotton-padded hanger helps prevent slinky shirts and camisoles from slipping off, and there is no risk of fabric snagging or ripping. The elongated hook and curved shoulders of a padded hanger provides support for shirts and suit jackets. For pants and skirt hangers, have some kind of fabric barrier to protect clothes from clamps.

Your closet is premium space, so only those clothes you like to wear, that fit you, and are in good repair should be using this space.

As you put your clothes back into the closet, look at each article and evaluate each item using these three criteria:

 


1. If you haven't worn it at least once in the last year, donate it. (Obviously you won't miss it.)
   

 


2. If you are hoarding clothes waiting for that weight to come off,
   stop
   — that is part of the reason your closet got into this mess to begin with. I recommend only keeping clothes you can wear right now. If you must, only keep sizes one size larger or smaller than your present size. Move the smaller or larger clothes to a different space, either into another closet or fold and store them in labeled bins you place on a closet shelf or in the storage room or garage. Donating clothes will save you a lot of space, and when you get in shape again, you can buy new, stylish clothes.
   

 


3. Check each article to see if it is ripped, stained, missing a button, or has a zipper that doesn't zip. If it is completely unsalvageable, it goes into the throw-away container. However, do not throw it away just because you think it is ugly — those items go into your donate bin. Give as many things as you can to charity. You will be helping someone else. It will make you feel good. It will create space in your closet, and you may get a tax deduction.
   

After you finish this process, you should have fewer clothes than when you started. If you don't, then the laws of physics apparently do not apply to your closet. You will now divide the clothing into three categories. This is the fun part of closet organizing.

 


1. The Season Category
   (unless you live where there is only one season): If it is an off-season article, put it with your seasonal clothes. Either fold and store them in labeled bins on a closet shelf or hang them in another closet. If you don't have other closet space, store seasonal clothes in the back of your closet.
   

 


2. The Type Category:
   Arrange all blouses together by long sleeve, short sleeve, and color or by casual (T-shirts), dressy (church), sweaters, and hoodies. Place all skirts together, separated by length; hang dresses all together, all suits together and then sport coats, slacks, and dressy pants. Hang all clothes facing the same direction and have the hangers all facing the same way (the hook facing the wall). You can sort by arranging professional clothes together, including any outfits you might wear on office-casual days. This will make getting dressed so easy you can push your snooze button one extra time in the morning. Separate your special occasion outfits and hang them together. By now, you have gotten rid of your junior prom dress (at the very least you have moved it to a different closet), so returning the clothes to the closet should be pretty easy to manage. Organize casual clothes together. These include your weekend wear that only your cat should see you in.
   

 


3. The What-on-Earth-Is-This Category:
   You have all the clothes you love and wear neatly arranged in the closet, but you are left with a pile of odds and ends we will call “accessories.” They are a mixture of belts, scarves, suspenders, and ties. Hang the ties from a rack made for ties. The belts and suspenders can be hung from a hook or a special rack for belts. They can also all be hung together using a hanger. If you use them often, this is a pain as you have to take off each belt to get to the other ones, but it is another option. Scarves can be folded in a drawer or hung up using a scarf organizer.
   

Cece lived in a one-bedroom condo that did not have any storage space, and she didn't have a dresser. She added a wire shelf on top of the existing shelf in the closet because there was a lot of unused vertical space above the shelf that she could use for storage.

She divided her closet shelf into sections using shelf dividers. In one section on the top shelf, she stored extra sheet sets. In another area, she stored holiday dishes (in a labeled container), seasonal sport clothes, and reference magazines placed in attractive magazine holders. This is the shelf she used for things she needed to keep, but didn't use often. This shelf was her secondary space.

On the bottom shelf, she stored hand and bath towels, pants, T-shirts, and anything else she would normally keep in a dresser.

If you keep purses in your closet, here are some storage ideas: Place them in a basket and store it on the top shelf. If you have a walk-in closet, place them in a basket and store it on the built-in shelves. An over-the-door purse organizer with adjustable hooks for each purse size makes it easy for you to see what purses you have and makes them easy to reach. Another option is to install a hook to hang purses from. Decorative hooks can be attached to a wall behind the bedroom door if you don't have a walk-in closet.

Tip:
After you have worn an article of clothing and you are hanging it back on the rod, place it on the rod backwards (with the hook facing forward) so you can tell which clothes you actually wear. If you find you have clothes that you never wear, donate them.

Top Shelf:
To start, take everything off the shelf. Get a short ladder, step stool, or chair to stand on so you don't pull a muscle trying to get things down.

The top shelf is space you use for items you don't have room for in other places in your home if you have limited space elsewhere. Use containers to keep this area organized. Types of containers to use are: sturdy mesh, plastic, canvas, or cloth boxes and shelf dividers with sides used to contain stacks. You can use various sizes depending on what you are storing on the shelf.

In a small home, in addition to clothes, closet shelves can hold containers of CDs, jewelry, games, magazines in holders, gifts to give away, or craft supplies.

The key to organizing the closet shelf is to use containers that are attractive and that fit on the shelf. Organize so things don't fall on your head when you open the door. Make it an attractive part of your closet.

Dresser

Take everything out one drawer at a time. Wipe out the drawer. It is surprising what stuff falls in there. I recommend organizing one side of a his-and-hers dresser at a time, not going back and forth. Keep in mind, you are going to go to bed tonight without tossing anything from the bed onto the floor. If you get out a lot of things all at once, it could be too overwhelming. That is the reason I recommend doing one drawer at a time.

Start with the top drawer and take everything out. Put containers in the drawer to hold lingerie or socks. Clear plastic ones are my favorite because they can't be seen, and it looks mysterious to see everything staying in their respective stacks.

Inspect everything you put back in the drawer (i.e., Does it fit? Do you like it? Is it in good condition? Do you give it a 7 or above on the wattage scale?). If you answered “no” to any of these questions, get rid of it or get it fixed before you put it back in the drawer if you want to keep it. (Put it in the BE basket.) Once the top drawer is organized, systemically move down to the other drawers and organize these in the same way, keeping like things together and using containers. Or, if your dresser has a lot of smaller drawers, organize all the top ones and then move down to the larger ones. Fold each item and place it in its home. If your sock drawer is out of control, a sock container where you can toss your socks is one way to contain them. These containers also work for underwear, or underwear can just be folded and placed in stacks.

Now clean off the top of the dresser. Put things that don't belong here in the BE basket or the trash, or donate items you are not keeping. Some things to keep on the dresser could be framed photos, a jewelry box or a jewelry tree, a special figurine, a container for change, and your wallet.

Nightstand

The top of the nightstand next to the bed is used to hold a lamp, phone, alarm clock, and other things such as books, tissues, and possibly a remote control.

When you think of a nightstand, do you think of the traditional small piece of furniture that sits demurely by your bed? Nightstands don't have to be limited to this type of furniture.

If you love to read and have books galore on your nightstand and the books are always falling onto the floor, maybe a small bookcase would work better for you. You could stack your books on the shelves and still have room for a lamp and other items you need close to your bed. Things you would usually keep in a bedside drawer can be kept in a storage box or wicker basket that sits on a shelf.

Are you short of space in your bedroom? A chest of drawers next to the bed could hold a lamp and other items. Tissues, books, and hand lotion could slip into the top drawer. Additional drawers can hold clothing, bed linens, blankets, or towels.

Another type of nightstand is a round table with a tablecloth on it. Only keep things on top that are useful. Store other items you need in a basket and put it under the table where it will be handy but out of sight.

Whatever kind of nightstand you have right now, if there are drawers, take everything out and decide if these things belong in these drawers. Ask yourself if you have a use for the item, if you like it, and if it lights you up at a 7 or above. Only put back things that fit that criteria.

To organize your nightstand, set your timer for fifteen minutes and play beat the clock. I bet you will be done before the fifteen minutes are over — or close to it. Reset the timer if you need more time.

Under the Bed

Take everything out from under the bed. Look at each thing you pull out and decide if you want to keep it or get rid of it. Use the wattage scale (see page 15) to help you decide. Use the BE basket when you find things like dishes, books, or toys; do not leave the room yet, stay in the Green Light.

If you need to store things under the bed, there are cloth containers for out-of-season clothes, extra quilts, extra bed linens, and other items you may need to store in this space. Other containers that fit under beds are plastic and have rollers. This makes them easy to access as they slide in and out easily.

Other Furniture

Armoires are useful for holding extra linens or quilts and even serving as a place to put clothes that traditionally are kept in dressers. Take everything out, wipe out the shelves and drawers, and refold whatever is to be returned (it weakens cloth to be folded in the same place for a long period of time). Only put back those things you have a use for and that light you up. If you use this as a dresser, containers could give you more space and keep things tidy.