8 Organization Tips You Probably Already Know

I reorganized my closet this week.  I am so excited to have it done that I find myself making excuses to go in there.  Hmmm.  I think I need to vacuum the closet...again.  or   Let's see, have I counted the hangers yet today?  On these made up errands, as soon as I  open the door to the closet, I can't help but smile.  I take my time and let all of the cleanliness and organization soak into every pore.  I think it may become my new reading spot, just so I can spend as much time as possible looking at the neatly folded clothes and straight rows of shoes. 

Here are a few things that I learned during this organization project:

1- Put important things at the back of the closet.  If I put things that I know I need to get to everyday (like my shoes) way at the back of the closet, I have no choice but to keep the path back to them cleaned up.  I like to trick myself like that.

2- I love having my clothes hung up in rainbow order.  Is this ridiculous?  Absolutely.  Is this necessary?  Absolutely not, but it makes me happy so it's worth it to me (I like it so much I even hung Kedar's that way too).  Look how pretty it looks! 

3- Organization gadgets work (for me anyway).  Having a place for everything makes a huge difference.  Kedar has a tie hanger for his ties and a belt hanger for his belts.  We have hanging shelves for our hats, scarves and other random things.  The shoes have their own shelves and hanging shoe organizer.  If each of these things didn't have a place to go they would end up shoved into a corner or thrown haphazardly onto a shelf  (I know this from experience).

Oh, and the brown and cream drawers in the middle picture below?  Those are my newest organization love.  "Itso" from Target.  They are modular bins that can be configured in any way that you need and come in tons of different colors (my bedroom is brown and creams, so now my closet matches!  Oh, happy day!).  I keep my sweaters in the big drawer and my workout duds in the two smaller ones.  I love these!

4-  Use lots of bins and baskets.  Not only are they great for organizing things (swimming suits, seasonal clothing, etc) but they are cute and look better than piles or stacks.

5- Get creative.  There were somethings that I knew I wanted a certain way but there are no products that would help me out, so, I improvised.  I put my nylons into plastic zippered pouches that I had from some curtains that I bought awhile back.  I was tired of digging through my drawers looking for nylons every Sunday. It's perfect because I can see what color they are without taking them out, and they are hung right under my skirts.

You know those baby outfits where the pants and shirt are hung together?  That's how I hang my skirts.  I've been doing this since my nine year old was tiny.  Instead of throwing those clipped hangers away I slip the loop over another clippy hanger that can hang on the rod, that way I can hang two skirts from one hanger.

The white pouch in the bottom right picture is the packaging that some pillow cases that I got from Wal Mart came in.  All of my slips are in there instead of crowding up my drawer.  Yay!

6- Space bags rock!  I bought a few space bags from Wal Mart.  They are bags that zip closed and have a valve on the side.  Stuff your stuff in there and attach your vacuum and "wah-la" your stuff suddenly shrinks to a ridiculously small size.  See the picture in the top left with the wrinkly looking blobs?  The top bag is full of 9 cream and white throw pillows!  These pillows used to occupy a whole shelf in my closet, now they take about a fifth of the shelf, plus I can stack them up (try stacking fluffy pillows, it doesn't work very well).

7- Have a step stool and have a specific spot for it.  This makes a big difference for those of us who are "vertically challenged."

8-  Have two baskets for dirty clothes.  Sorting dirty clothes by color makes laundry a little bit easier, and I'll take all the help I can get when it comes to laundry.
 

So, there you have it, more information than you could possible need about my closet.  I am so happy to have this done, and now I feel motivated to do some more organizing.  Laundry room, here I come!