Quick Tidying of a Closet

This closet wasn’t in terrible shape per se; it was just a bit chaotic. Dedicating just an hour to the closet (and an hour to the shoe collection) we were able to give this closet a quick facelift.

The best way to handle this kind of project is to get right into it. We pulled everything out and edited the contents. There were great organizing products already being used, so there was no need to order anything new. Even though this closet is edited seasonally, we still wound up with a few bags of donations, which made a big difference. If we did purchase products, we would have added in shelf dividers to keep the stacks of clothes upright.

The closet contained different types of hangers - plastic tubular hangers in four styles and three colors and velvet hangers. Instead of buying all new matching hangers, we choose to group the different styles together within the closet. As Shannon’s mom says “like with like.”

Pro Tip: Grouping like hangers together in a closet is a budget-friendly way of taming the chaotic mismatched hanger situation without investing in new hangers.

We refolded everything on the shelves using the file folding method and rolling when applicable. Bulkier items were folded flat and denim was folded rather than hung. We contained as much as we could using the Y-Weave baskets from Target.

We noticed that plastic garment bags (even the nicer ones from The Container Store) attract mold after a few years so we recommend cotton hanging bags for storing formal wear. They come in various sizes for coats, suits, gowns, etc. We used the coat and gown size.

Finally, we wiped down all the shoe boxes (using Grove All Purpose Cleaner) and relabeled the boxes using chalkboard stickers, leftover scrapbook paper and oil based sharpies. The previous labeling system (post-its) was not working and looked very messy.