Cleaning Out the Closet

I am a naturally organized person, but living in a 100+ year old home with limited closet space, has made me develop a very specific approach to storing and organizing our clothing.  I thought I may inspire one or two of you by giving some helpful hints in organizing this area in honor of our changing seasons.


Consider the season: Start with a very dedicated approach to specific seasonal clothing.  Sweaters, wool pants or skirts, heavy dress shirts and such should be removed from the closet and stored in totes either under the bed or in another area of the house.  Keeping in mind as you swap out these items that the rule around my house is "if it hasn't been worn in a year it gets donated."


Analyze your current storage: Now that we can see what type of storage we have, this gives us the opportunity to analyze your current storage before filling it up with all of our spring and summer clothing.  Do you have enough shelves vs. hanging?  Would some drawers come in handy? There are many local suppliers of closet organizing systems, so contact a professional if you need some different options to your current closet.  They should come to your house and discuss the particular way you like to store items and make recommendations as to where you may have some space that could be changed to suit your needs.  Girls, take into account your shoes and handbags.  Scarves are also very hot right now, so look at some additional hooks for them.  Do you have a full length mirror for viewing your whole outfit? How about the ironing board and iron? Would it be best to have it located in the closet vs. laundry room so clothing can be ironed as it's getting ready to be worn?


Develop a system: Lastly, as you are putting your clothing away develop a system.  My closet is organized by separating tops from bottoms.  The tops are then hung by color and sleeve length.  My bottoms are set up in a fashion of 2 pairs pant then 1 skirt or dress.  This makes my work week attire so much easier to decide at 6 in the morning, when all I need is to pair up the next bottom piece in line with a top. Shoes are in the shoe closets, and easy to grab, scarves and jewelry is organized in drawers with specific compartments, quick to complete the look.