6 Ways You’re Making Organizing Your Closet Way Harder Than It Has to Be
Are you plagued by a constantly out-of-control closet? Chances are you might be making keeping your closet organized more difficult than it has to be (yes, even if you were cursed with a particularly tiny one!). Here are six ways you’re over-complicating keeping a closet clean — and what you can do to make things easier on yourself.
You’re trying to fit way too much in there
This is pretty simple, yet something we all do from time to time. Quite honestly, if you’re having trouble keeping everything in your closet contained and neat, it may be because you just have too much stuff in there. You can probably guess what we’d suggest: Cut down on clutter by regularly donating clothes and accessories you don’t wear as often. We really like incorporating the hanger trick so we know exactly which items we wear often and which ones we barely touch → Control Closet Clutter: The Quick & Easy Hanger Trick.
- Organization Inspiration: 10 Neat & Beautiful Closets
You don’t switch out your wardrobe for the seasons
Related to the suggestion above, another way to keep a handle on how much stuff you stuff into your closet is having a plan for switching out seasonal clothes. It could mean packing up your winter wear to put somewhere else entirely, or it could mean switching where it’s located in your closet (and perhaps even condensed to take up less room, too).
You don’t make use of all your space
From the hanging space behind the door to utilizing any wasted space up high thanks to extra shelving, just because a closet is a traditionally small space to work with doesn’t mean you can’t find extra room if you look hard enough.
You don’t micro-organize
In the same vein as the above suggestion, you can reclaim more space and make your closet more functional by really digging in and micro-organizing each specific space in your closet. So instead of just creating a spot in your closet for your shoes, your clothes, your bags and your scarves, you come up with very efficient, workable and organized solutions for each specific spot, so that all space is used wisely.
- 10 Clever Closet-Organizing DIY Projects
You don’t make daily items easy to get to
Simply put, if you wear your tennis shoes every day but have your heels in the front, make some simple changes that will spatially prioritize what you use the most. The way you set up your closet may have made sense at the time, but after using a space for awhile, you can get a better read of what you need to do to make the items you use on a daily basis much easier to access. This can help keep things organized by not requiring you to dig out half your closet every time you want to get to just one thing.
You don’t have a put-things-back-up plan or routine
This is one of my biggest personal organizing monsters to slay. How my closet vomits so much of my clothing out across my bedroom and home is a mystery to me, but I suspect it has something to do with the fact that I try out about 50 different outfits every time I go out and never, ever put things back up when I reject them for the day. You might have a similar problem. Or you might rush how you put things back, stuffing socks where they don’t belong and just kind of tossing bags in the general direction of your closet when trying to quickly tidy up. What if instead you made a pact with yourself to not take anything else out unless you put something back in? Or you made room in your daily schedule to include a five-minute put-the-closet-back-together moment?
- ‘Landing Strip’-Style Solution for Clothes?
- 5 Ways to Keep Worn (But Not Dirty) Clothes Organized
What’s getting in the way of you keeping your closet organized? Share your secrets and issues.