Above is a video that I did for About.com to show you how to organize your closet. For those of you who’d rather read about it than watch the video, here’s some tips on “How to Organize Your Closet.”

  1. The first step is make sure that you have the right supplies on hand before you begin. You will need:
    1. Sturdy bags for donations or for those items that need to go to the dry cleaner.
    2. A full-length mirror so that you can try things on in the process to help you decide between “toss” and “keep.”
    3. A basket for loose change, papers, rubber bands, hair clips, and other things that you might find in the process. You don’t want to have to stop to put away these small items so just put them aside for now into your catch-all basket.
  2. You might also want to consider investing in:
    1. Over-the door organizers
    2. Stackable shoe bins
    3. Drawer dividers
    4. Under-the-bed bins. (You can store some of the rarely worn or used items that were in your closet under your bed and free up some valuable space).
  3. The next step is to empty the closet completely. Yes, completely. Everything out! It is best to have a clear, clean space to plan and visualize how you’re going to re-organize your closet.
  4. Next, you need to decide what to keep and what to toss or donate. To help you decide, ask yourself these three questions: Do you love it? Do you wear it? Does it fit?
    1. If the answer is YES to all 3 questions, then you can place those items into the pile of things to keep.
    2. If it doesn’t fit, put it directly into the donation pile along with other items that you no longer like or want.
    3. If you have haven’t worn something for more than 6 months, it is probably time to toss it, sell it, or donate it.
  5. The next step is to sort through everything and group like items together. For example, put all jackets together, all socks together, dresses with dresses, etc.
  6. Now you’re ready to put everything back. The important thing to remember is that you should put things back in a way that makes sense to you. This helps you utilize all of your available space and is easy to maintain. For example, you might want to reserve the front and middle of your closet for clothes you wear most often, making sure your work clothes are easily accessible. Lesser-worn items like formal dresses may be put towards the back of your closet, out-of-season clothes towards the back or on the upper shelves.
  7. Finally, I recommend completely re-organizing your closet once a year. Or, you can break it into smaller pieces by organizing seasonally. If you choose to reorganize once a year, choose a date that you’ll remember and make a habit of sticking to it the same time each year. If you choose to do it by season, the first day of each season should make things easy to remember!

Remember to keep it simple!

Call us today at (310) 560-5060 to help you get your closet organized.

Author: Dina Braverman