Maybe you don’t have the time right now for a big closet reorganization project. You may or may not need to do a big purge and reorganization at some point, but it can wait. In the meantime, there are small and simple steps you can take right now that will start bringing your custom closet organization under control. The idea is to set yourself up for success with little actions that will lead to a big payoff.
Here are some small actions you can take to start getting your closet neater and tidier:
- Have a Toss/Sell/Donate Box
- Make Reaching High Shelves Easy
- Hang Necklaces on Hooks
- Use Dividers To Separate Items
Take a look at some small changes you can make to achieve better custom closet organization
Have a Toss/Sell/Donate Box
Nearly everyone winds up with things in their closet they just don’t wear anymore. You come across a shirt, a pair of pants, a dress, or something else and notice that it doesn’t fit anymore, or that it’s damaged and not worth repairing, or that you just don’t like it anymore. Do you immediately remove it from the closet?
Almost certainly not. You’re busy! You have to get dressed and go to work or school or perform whatever other obligations you have that day. That’s completely understandable. Do you deal with it later, though, or do you forget all about it until this has happened so many times that clothes you don’t want are taking up a bunch of space on your hanging rod and in your drawer, or you have a large pile on the floor?
If you often forget to take care of these items, there’s an easy solution. Just put an empty box in your closet. The next time you pull out a clothing item that you’re definitely not going to wear anymore, place it in the box. When the box starts to fill up, take some time to go through and separate things to be thrown away, sold, or donated. You’ll be purging unwanted items from your closet a piece at a time, rather than having to do it all at once.
Make Reaching High Shelves Easy
An intuitive way to organize your closet is to put the things you use often on the most easily reachable shelves and put the things you don’t need very often up high. This method works well – at least until it’s time to put something away on one of those high shelves.
If you’re not tall enough to easily reach the items that you don’t need that often, putting them away will be a point where the organization system breaks down. When you need them, you’ll go get a stepladder or stool to reach them. When you’re putting them away, though, you won’t feel the same urgency. It’s easy to just set those items down on the floor or shove something on a lower shelf aside, undoing your organizational plan.
Do yourself a favor and bring a small stepladder into your closet. Hang it on a hook or stand it in a corner. That way, when you need to put something away up high, your height boost will be right there – no need to go search for something to stand on. This makes it a lot simpler to maintain your organizational plan even if you’re not feeling very motivated.
Hang Necklaces on Hooks
A jumble of necklaces that have knots in the change and are stuck together isn’t the best look for your surfaces or jewelry trays in the closet. They can also get caught up with other jewelry, like bracelets or dangling earrings, making even more of a mess.
Better Homes and Gardens has several suggestions for better jewelry organization. One great idea is hanging your necklaces on hooks. They’re not big, so any blank spaces on the wall are fine spots for your necklaces to go. This way, they can’t get tangled, and they provide decorative flair to your closet walls at the same time.
Use Dividers To Separate Items
Stacks of folded items tend to collide and get mixed up on shelves or in drawers. This happens when you open and close drawers and when you disturb things by looking through stacks to get what you want. The items hanging in your closet can also get mixed up this way – when you’re in a hurry to put something away, you may put things back anywhere on the rod, and pretty soon your hanging clothes are a mess.
Dividers are simple solutions for both folded and hanging clothes. Use divided drawers and shelves or make your own dividers to separate stacks of shirts or keep socks in one part of the drawer and underwear in another. Hang cardstock with a hole big enough for the hanging rod between different categories of clothes to help maintain separation between different kinds of clothes. Dividers are a simple addition that can make a big difference.
Conclusion
A major closet project may be too much to handle right now. Try taking small steps instead. Give yourself a place to collect unwanted clothes and an easy way to reach high spaces. Hanging your necklaces on hooks instead of letting them get snarled, and use dividers to keep clothes separated and prevent them from becoming jumbled and mixed up in your closet.
