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How well organized is your closet? Making an organized closet takes different areas all working together to allow you to access all your clothes quickly. If one of these areas is not included, you will be short of space for your items and need to find alternative storage places, like a chest of drawers outside of the closet, to hold the rest. To help you make this closet work better for you, I created four areas of organized closet guidelines below to help you figure out what areas you are missing in your closet.
Whether your closet is small or large all these areas should be included there for a more functional space.
Step by Step Tips To a Well Organized Closet
What should be stored on shelves in closets?
You can store several items in the shelving (Affiliate Link) area: Shoes (Affiliate Link), Boots, Sweaters and knit items, T-shirts, and more. Below I am discussing and sharing each closet organizer in detail. Feel free to check them out.
Ways to organize shoes in a closet
You can lay the pair of shoes (Affiliate Link) with one shoe toe facing you and the other facing away from you. This nests the pair of shoes closer together, saving about 2 inches per pair of shoes (Affiliate Link) per shelf.
Boot Organizers - have boots in boot boxes (Affiliate Link) stacked on top of each other or use the boot holders. Purchase extra long shoe boxes (Affiliate Link) to not damage the boots. Here are exciting products to hold up the boots that can fit on the shelves (Affiliate Link). (affiliate from Amazon)
How to Organize Tops in a Closet?
Sweaters and knit items - Make sure the stacked things don't get too high. Three or four sweaters high work nicely. You find dividers for shelves (Affiliate Link) to help keep these piles in order and not topple down on you when you store them.
T-shirts - Check out this video to help you fold shirts. Here's a video from eHow about How to Organize Your Clothes on Shelves: Storage & Home Organizing. Feel free to click through and check it out.
You can also use bins and fold them neatly inside of them for t-shirts. Try the Marie Kondo folding clothes method.
Other things that are organized on shelves in the closet.
Memorabilia - Use boxes (Affiliate Link) to hold memorabilia, so it doesn't get too cluttered and dusty. Keeping these things in the closet is very common. Ensure that you always have these items in a dust-free closed bin to protect them.
Bags - you can add all the bags to the largest bag by nesting them from largest to smallest. Another option is using clear soft plastic bags so you can see into them easily to find the bag you want.
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Hats (Affiliate Link) - Every guy and lady has at least a few baseball caps or other sunhats in their closet. Having a place for these items is super helpful and protects the hats (Affiliate Link) when they are unused. Stack the hats (Affiliate Link) from smallest to largest in a hat box. This will protect them from getting smashed. If you have a lot of hats (Affiliate Link) and want to store them on shelves (Affiliate Link), I found these on Amazon (affiliate) that may help you keep them organized.
Jewelry (Affiliate Link) - A place to put your everyday jewelry (Affiliate Link) or a mirror for you to put on makeup is helpful on a shelf. Feel free to click through and buy through Amazon. (affiliate)
Visit our 6 AMAZING WAYS TO ORGANIZE YOUR JEWELRY for more tips on organizing jewelry (Affiliate Link) in a closet.
Workout gear - Use a basket with a low front that will hold summer workout clothes and place them on the shelf. They don't need to be perfectly pressed so placing them on a shelf in a basket works fine. I like standing them upright on their side so I can easily access the stuff inside. If you wish to purchase this, you can do so by clicking below and buying from Amazon. (affiliate)
Or you can try this method I used for my own workout sportswear clothing; HOW TO ORGANIZE SPORTSWEAR ON A SHELF!
If there are other items you want to store on the shelves (Affiliate Link), it's helpful to store them in containers with lids so you can stack them up. It also reduces dust in the closet and removes things off the floor when you go vertical with bins.
What to hang on hangers in closets?
People ask me this all the time. There are lots of things you can hang in a closet. Here are just some of them.
Dress pants - you can store them over the pants hanger or store them upside down on a pants hanger. If you wear them often or don't have a lot of tall space to hang them, you can hang them on the bottom part of a regular sturdy hanger. If you do not wear them often, you can use a pants hanger like these below. This will reduce the fold lines on the pants. To do this, clip the pants from the bottom and let them hang down.
If you are short on hanging space, be sure to buy hangers that are space-saving options or ones that are thin to maximize the things you can hang.
Blouses/Dresses/Jackets/Blazers - I like puffy hangers (padded hangers (Affiliate Link)) that look like these. They keep the item on the hanger. Below are some hangers that work well for these items.
Suits - I like these suit hangers. It keeps the jacket and pants together. Suit hangers have wider ends to keep jackets in place. If you do not wear suits often, consider buying some plastic shoulder covers. They will protect the shoulder of the jackets from getting dusty.
Outer jackets and trench coats - I like to keep these items near the door if possible. But, if I need to keep them in the closet, I like to use hangers. They are more sturdy than plastic or thinner hangers. Usually, they are wood and may have thicker parts for the shoulders of the jacket. Below are images from Amazon (affiliate), if you click through and buy something, I will receive a referral commission. Thank you.
Here's one more tip for the hanging area. When setting up your hanging area, measure your longest item and move the rod up so that the item doesn't drag on the floor or over another hanging rod.
What to place in drawers in a closet?
Not everyone has drawers in their closet but this needs to be said. If you do not have built-ins in your closet, you may want to add a chest of drawers to help organize undergarments and other smaller items. Here are some types of items that can be stored in the drawers.
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Socks (Affiliate Link) - you can either fold socks (Affiliate Link) or wrap socks (Affiliate Link). Either way, having a space in the drawer designated for socks (Affiliate Link) is helpful when you need to grab a matching pair in the morning. These images are from Amazon (affiliate).
Visit our HOW TO ORGANIZE SOCKS ONCE AND FOR ALL {SOCK ORGANIZATION OPTIONS} post with lots of information and tips on organizing socks (Affiliate Link).
Undergarments - This would include bras, underwear, and other items for under your clothes. If you have a lot of a particular item, try to weed it down. Only keep what actually fits you well. The image below is an affiliate link from Amazon.com.
Jewelry (Affiliate Link) - In drawers, you can also place jewelry (Affiliate Link) to hide them from other people who may be in your closet. Drawer organizers (Affiliate Link) for jewelry (Affiliate Link) are great if you have extra drawer space. To protect your fine jewelry (Affiliate Link), you can install a locked drawer. These images are from Amazon (affiliate).
Other small items like sunglasses and perfume - You can use a bin to store small items. Shallow bins work better because you can see everything.
The last place in the closet is your hooks section. This area is usually a catch-all area and helps you keep those small items organized.
Should I have a hook in my closet?
Use a hook for your daily outfit prep area - this can be a sturdy hook mounted to the wall that can hold some weight. Place the pieces you plan on wearing tomorrow on the hook. I like to use a hanger and place the necklace or scarf around the hanger. Then, I have it all together and no thinking is necessary for the morning.
WHAT TO PLACE ON HOOKS?
Hooks can be used throughout the closet for smaller items that need a home. Here are a few I like to hang on hooks.
Belts - you can find many decorative hooks that you can attach to the door or on walls to store belts.
Necklaces/Scarves - I like to use a jewelry (Affiliate Link) organizer and hang it on an unused wall. Here are some I found on Amazon. (affiliate)
After you have organized each area, labeling is key (Affiliate Link) for keeping it organized. I know you are all brilliant and can remember everything but this is one area you really don't need to remember. Labeling will get rid of any doubt about where things go. It will also help other people who may use the closet to know where the items go.
If you are organizing the closet for someone else, be sure to run through where everything is stored with that person. And, mention to them that the labels (Affiliate Link) are there if they forget where something goes.
I hope this gives you many tips and inspiration to organize your closet. Now, it's your turn. Did I miss anything that you may have in your closet? Do you have any tips you want to share? Please leave a comment.
Please note these are affiliate links through Amazon, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn affiliate fees if you decide to make a purchase.
Read more about organizing closets from our collection of posts.
Visit our clothing organization posts below.
Janet Schiesl says
I prefer sweaters and workout clothes on my shelf. I'm short and it's a challenge getting stacked shoe boxes off the shelf for me. One example of how it can be personal. I also have a bunch of hooks holding necklaces inside the closet. Since they are right up front I wear them more often.
Linda Samuels says
There's nothing quite as satisfying as an organized closet. I like your chart with the quadrants. A product I really like for those piles of shirts or sweaters on shelves are the shelf dividers. They slip easily onto a shelf to create sections and also help the piles from falling over. Here's a link to one example: http://www.kitchensource.com/laundry/ci-shd.htm
Sabrina Quairoli says
I love those shelf dividers. Thanks for sharing, Linda.
Ken Dowell says
Wow! My closet needs a lot of work. Thanks for some good ideas.
Janet Barclay says
My wardrobe is also pretty simple now that I work from home, but you've helped me to see that I'm not using my closet's full potential!
Seana Turner says
I like the idea of a basket for either workout clothes! Workout clothes are notoriously difficult to fold, so don't bother - just keep it easy!
Julie Stobbe says
Great ideas for organzing a closet with a really helpful infomatic to summarize. If you have extra pant hangers you can use them to hang up boots instead of buying the specialized boot hanging clips.
RoseMary Griffith says
Wish I'd had this blog when I was working in corporate and had to wear suits, owned multiple pairs of shoes, etc. Would have been very helpful!
Life is easier now when dress clothes are in the back of the closet, casual clothes and hiking shoes are up front. I like the simplicity.