Closet Rules to Live By

Last week, we talked about the elements of an organized closet and I gave you some tips and tricks I use in my own closet. Hopefully you were inspired to make some changes in your closet too! But the fun doesn’t end there - after you’ve whipped your closet into shape by purging items you don’t love or need and maximizing the space you have, you must follow some key rules to maintain it or your closet will slip back into chaos. Here are some closet rules to live by:

Store like with like. For most people this means sorting your closet by type of item – shirts with shirts, pants with pants, etc. Do what makes sense to you (some people like to sort by color) and maintain the system so you know where to find things and where to put them away.

At the end of the day, put it away! Taking time to put away your clothes at the end of the day is the most important step you can take to prevent closet chaos. Put dirty clothes in the laundry hamper and hang, fold and put away anything you plan to use again. It is NOT easier to leave something out because you are going to use it again soon – it will get buried or dirty if left out.

Fold and put your laundry away immediately. This is typically an issue of project completion for most people, but leaving folded (or worse – unfolded) clean clothes out will only cause more work later, not to mention causing confusion and making it hard to find what you need. Carve out some uninterrupted time to get it done and enlist the help of other family members to take care of their items - just make sure they actually put things away. The good news is, folding laundry is fairly mindless which allows for easy multi-tasking, such as hands-free phone calls or catching up on your favorite TV shows.

Follow the “one in, one out” rule. Having a closet that is not over-stuffed is key to being able to put things away and find what you need. But closets follow the basic laws of physics - stuff just doesn’t disappear and space can’t be magically created. To maintain order, the best policy is that if you get something new, you should discard something that has fallen off the favorites list. If you do enough regular weeding (at least twice a year) you may give yourself a little room to grow your collection throughout the season, but if you’re having trouble sliding hangers or closing drawers, it’s time to reconsider what you have.

Take a look at what’s causing your closet clutter – hopefully it can be managed by implementing some of our recent tips. If not, let us know what other closet issues are bugging you so we can help!