Keeping Closets Organized

Many homes are built with small closets. Homeowners need to find new and creative ways of either using their space more wisely or expanding their closets to suit their needs. The closet is the space in most homes that is in the most need of organization. Since this is an area of the house that is used daily, it is important to find a system that works for you.

An ideal closet system would have a space for everything that you use daily, plus enough room to store things that you don’t need all the time. We definitely need our closets to store our clothes that we wear every day, but some people need to also store their out of season clothing, linens, socks, jewelry and more. Things end up just crammed into spaces where they cannot be easily accessed, or thrown into boxes where you are likely to not see them for a few months or even years.

You may be thinking that even when you get it organized, it will be a challenge to keep it that way. Keeping the closet neat once you get it organized can be a challenge for most folks. But, by following a few simple guidelines, you can make it easy on yourself. One way to keep it clean is to come up with a system for making sure that everything goes where it is supposed to the first time.

When you fold your laundry, do you do it in the laundry room or in your bedroom? A lot of people find it easiest to keep their closets straight if they hang and fold their clothes as soon as they come out of the dryer. You can use a rolling garment rack near the dryer to hang everything on clothes hangers as soon as they come out. They won’t get wrinkled and they’ll be ready to go directly into the closet.

You may need to mount a permanent hanging rod above your washer and dryer. Stock it with enough clothes hangers that you do not constantly have to return to your closet for more hangers. You can get an inexpensive hanger rack for easily transporting empty hangers from the closet to the laundry room without getting them tangled up.

Hang the things that you use often at about eye level. Avoid storing items that you use a lot lower than your knees or you won’t be able to see where they go very easily, and you’ll end up putting them in another place where they don’t belong.

Use buckets, bins and shelves to store other items around the outside, top and bottom of the closet and label the container. You are less likely to put something into the wrong container if the label is staring you in the face telling you that you are doing it wrong!

Use a sturdy coat hanger or wood hanger that is thick enough not to get tangled or crossed up on the bar. If your clothes hangers stay straight, your closet will have that nice organized appearance that you are looking for.