Do you take forever to get ready because your closet is chaos? Check out ways to make getting ready a breeze.
One thing you will hear me say repeatedly is “A place for everything and everything in it’s place.” This was something that was drilled into me all my life. My mom was super organized and my grandmother’s favorite mantra was those words. Actually, my grandmother was a little OCD about it, but my mom was not – so I think I got the best of both.
What does your closet say about you?
I don’t mean what do your clothes say about you. Are you messy? Are you organized? Are you a little of both? Closets tend to reflect somewhat of who we are. If you are an organized person, usually your closet will reflect that. If you are messy, well you know what your closet looks like. As part of my design services, I offer organizing help. I have organized many a closet, and that is a good look into someone’s life. Do you have all the same hangers, or a mismatch of metal ones, plastic ones, and pretty ones? Are your clothes facing the same direction, or were they put back on the hangers however you happened to be holding them at the time? Are your clothes color matched, or do they have any rhyme or reason at all?
HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR CLOSET SO YOU LOVE WHAT YOU HAVE
Another part of closet organizing is making it so you can see what you have. How many times did you buy another pair of jeans because you forgot you already had 3 pairs of those same jeans because they were buried in a pile somewhere? Getting your closet put together properly helps you see what you have, and love things you forgot you had! Even if you have a small closet, all of the same principles apply.
Purge. Every year, go through your closet and get rid of things you do not wear. How many of you have clothes from college … and that was like 15 years ago … time to let them go! Only keeping clothes you wear gives you room to see the things you care about. You can donate your clothes to make it more purposeful.
Call me crazy … I match colors. I also have like things together – so summer sleeveless is together, sweaters together, dresses together, etc. Then within that grouping I keep like colors together. That way when I am getting dressed and know I want to wear a sleeveless shirt that is black, presto – I go to that section. Easy peezy.
When we built our house over 2 years ago, designing our closet was really important. We lived here for probably 6 months before the closet got built out. I designed it based on our needs (we only have a small dresser in our bedroom) and wanted to make sure everything fit practically and easily – so I drew it out and had my awesome hubs build it for me. The drawer units are purchased (ClosetMaid) but everything else is made from birch plywood. We matched the paint of the ClosetMaid pieces so it looks like it all came from the same place. I even measured my boots so we didn’t waste any space and could fit as many shelves as possible. I like to see my things (not have them behind doors) so open shelving is what I prefer. The drawers hold things I don’t need everyone to see (socks, bras, underwear), but I can easily see what options I have for the day.
Some people like baskets and containers, which are useful for some things that don’t fold easily (bathing suits, hats/gloves), but generally I do not use them as I would rather see what I have for options up close and personal.
I don’t wear much jewelry but I have enough that I need a place to store it where it is not a jumbled mess. This was a cool idea I found on Pinterest a long time ago.
Now don’t get me wrong … keeping a closet organized is not always an easy task, especially if you are busy busy busy. And it doesn’t have to be perfect – striving for perfection = feeling overwhelmed. Perfection is not realistic to most people. A good rule of thumb is to get in the habit of doing your laundry, folding your clothes, and putting them away all in the same day. And make a habit of hanging clothes/folding them before you rush off to start your day. Otherwise you’ll have big piles of clothes that may be clean or dirty and then it gets overwhelming. If you have a large enough closet, put a dirty clothes hamper right in there so when you take off your dirty clothes, they have a handy place to go. For me, every few months I need to refold and reorganize my shelves because things get a little messy. Sometimes this is also a good time to see what you have that you no longer wear.
I priced out closet systems, but they were crazy expensive (even the cheap ones!) and not customizable to what I wanted. Luckily I was able to get exactly what I wanted for a fraction of the cost. I would estimate this closet cost less than $1000 for everything. So if you are handy, consider building out your closet to be totally customized. Otherwise, store bought shelving, poles, and drawers are perfectly fine. Just have a place for everything so everything can have a place!
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