Shopping for new clothes is fun, but you know what’s even better? Making sure you have the room for them once you get home. Cleaning isn’t everyone’s idea of a good time, but after spending an afternoon organizing your closet – you’ll feel so much better. Organizing your closet doesn’t have to be over complicated or expensive. Here are simple DIY ways to keep your closet spacious, clutter-free, and – as always – on budget.
Store or get rid of what you don’t wear
The first step is the most basic, but it’s incredibly important regardless. Empty out your entire closet and organize your clothes, shoes and accessories into two piles: what you wear and what you don’t. For seasonal items, store them away, so you can make more space for your in-season wardrobe. If you haven’t worn in in the past six months, it goes into the “don’t wear” pile. (Goodbye, old bridesmaid dress!) Later, you can sort what you don’t wear into two smaller piles: donate, sell or recycle.
Stock up on supplies
In order to keep organized, you’ll have to do some DIY architecture. This is where it often gets complicated and expensive, but we’re here to tell you those complicated wooden closet systems are not necessary -especially when you’re on a budget. Instead of dropping $300+ and spending an entire day assembling, go to your local craft or home goods store and pick up tension poles
, closet doubling rods, spare hangers
, shower rings, and chains. These are effective and don’t require complicated assembly.
The tension poles and closet double rods will allow you to hang shoes/clothes on a different level. The shower rings can be placed on one hanger to hold multiple accessories at once. The other hangers can be layered on a chain so five hangers can take the vertical space of one.
Decide on an organization system
What works for your bestie won’t necessarily work for you, so when it comes time to put your clothes back in the closet look at what you own and figure out how you want to organize it. Organizing by color, season, frequency of use, or another system is totally fine – just make sure you commit to it.
Use your bags as extra storage
Do you need access to your winter scarves in July? Probably not, so store them inside of a handbag you only use in winter. You’ll give yourself more space and only have what’s seasonally appropriate in front of you.
Label everything
If you’re putting something in a place where you can’t tell what it is by quickly looking at it, make a label
for it. Aside from looking great aesthetically, it’ll save you time when you’re searching for your next outfit on a time crunch.
Use your door
Putting temporary hooks on the back of your closet door
opens up several more organization opportunities. Since you won’t see the space unless your closet is open, you won’t be adding any additional clutter. It’s a win-win!
Embrace (and utilize) the awkwardness
Unless you’ve built your own closet from scratch, it’s likely that you have one or two awkward features in your closet; that shelf that’s too high to reach, the corner that seems like a waste of space, etc. Instead of ignoring it, figure out how to make it work for you. It’ll take a bit of brainstorming on your part, but adding a tap light to illuminate your closet or some pegs to hang accessories you rarely wear are good starting points. Also think of ways you can utilize the wall space inside your closet. That empty space could be used for a shoe rack
, accessory hooks
etc.
Invest in a stylish laundry hamper
Whether you choose to keep inside of your closet or out, you’ll be okay with laundry if the container
it’s in looks nice! You can thank us later.
