How to Organize Your Closet and Find Things Fast

Messy, messy, messy

According to Lesley Adams, owner of Declutter Design, disorganization costs Americans 15 to 20 percent of a family's budget per year. We can't find what we're looking for, so we buy another.

Use these tips to declutter and organize your closet enabling you to find your items FAST!

Things You'll Need

• Time
• Patience
• Clear tote bins/boxes
• Shoe rack/holders

Instructions

1. When you have some free time, or even if you don't, get ready to ORGANIZE your closet, eliminating clutter, waste, and making it EASY for you to find what you're looking for FAST!! Make sure that you have clear tote-bins/boxes (in different sizes) and enough shoe racks for the shoes you will keep on hand before you start.

2. Take all of the items in your closet out. Yes, I know this is a difficult process, but it really is necessary. You won't be putting it all back. Because of that, make sure you have some boxes ready to put in items you will donate, sell, or trash.

3. Now for the hard part, go through EVERYTHING! If you haven't worn it in over a year (some say 6 months), if its damaged, or you can't fit into it, put it in one of the 3 boxes (trash, donate, sell). If you really do plan on losing weight, you could keep a few of your skinny items, however, if they are out-of-date, get rid of them.

4. If you are keeping a clothing item, hang it in the closet. STOP right there, you will want to start a pattern/plan in your closet and put away all the clothes in it according to plan. My personal plan is to put all dress pants together in color order, making sure to separate the blue and the black with a lighter color so even in the dark I know the difference. These are also organized by length. Next all the skirts are together in order of color, dresses, long sleeve shirts, short sleeve shirts, .... etc. You get the idea. Make sure to continue your process as you put everything you keep away.

5. Now for your shoes.... If you are like me, you LOVE your shoes. But let's be realistic, if you never wear them, what good are they. Get rid of any shoes you haven't worn for six months. Toss the ones that kill your toes and you shouldn't be wearing them anyway. As you decide to keep a pair, put them on the shoe rack. You've got a couple choices for organizing... I do them by color but you could also put them in order by heel height.

6. Now for those clear tote-bin/boxes. You will organize all the other clutter in your closet by placing them in totes and stacking them in places in the closet so you can see what is in them. If your closet is like mine, you will put the totes on a shelf. If you do not have a shelf, they will have to go on the floor. Make sure to only put like items in the tote or you will defeat your purpose. Face the totes so you can see the items in them. Again, do not keep anything that is no longer useful or is broken.

7. 

   At last, your closet should be organized and clear of clutter. you can find your clothing fast and even get dressed in the dark if you have to.

Tips & Warnings

• You could buy slimline hangers or other specialized hangers to maximize the space in your closet.

• You can take your unwanted items and donate them to charity or use Freecycle.com

• Should you want to sell the unwanted items, and they have value, you can have a garage sale or try Craigslist.com

• Make sure you allow yourself enough time to finish the project, otherwise you might end up with a worse mess than what you started with.

• If you ended up with a lot of garbage, you may have to make a run to your local dump instead of trying to jam it all in your trash cans for local pick-up.

Resources

• Slimline Hangers
• The Container Store