If you want to make your closet more organized, you have come to the right place. This blog post dives into life-changing organization ideas for closets that will save you a lot of time in your everyday life!
I used to have a super messy closet where I couldn’t find anything to wear. A couple of years ago I dedicated some time to do a deep clean and decluttering session in my closet, an it has made my life so much easier.
Once I had decluttered and made a system, my closet felt SO organized. I could actually see everything I owned.
In this blog post, we are going to take a look at the best organization ideas for closets. I have gotten a lot of inspiration from Marie Kondo and what she calls the Konmari method, but I have also added some personal hacks that work really well for me.
Organization Ideas for Closets
Start by Decluttering
The first step in your closet organization journey is to declutter. Take everything you own out of your closet, and I mean everything. Shoes, summer clothes, work clothes, dresses, you name it. Put all the clothes you own on your bed or another large surface.
Create three different piles of clothes. One for items you no no longer want to keep, one for items you do want to keep, and one for items you’re not sure about.
This can be a very overwhelming task. It can be a good idea to ask yourself these two questions in the process:
- Does this item serve a purpose in my life?
- Does this item give me joy?
If the answer is yes to one or both of the questions, it goes in the keep pile.
Once you are finished separating all your clothes, shoes and accessories into the three piles, go ahead and put everything from your “keep” pile back into your closet. Don’t worry about perfect organizing just yet – we’ll get to that part.
Go Through Your “Not Sure About” Pile
Now it’s time to have another look at your “maybe” pile. These are clothes you might like, but never really wear. They may be clothes that are too small, but have a lot of memories attached to them.
Don’t be too hard on yourself here. You can keep as many clothes as you like, it’s entirely up to you. Go through everything once more and really ask yourself “does this serve a purpose?” and “does this bring me joy?”.
If you come across items that are sentimental to you, like T-shirts from concerts you’ve been to or a dress that mean a lot to you, but that you no longer wear, you can put them in a separate pile. These are clothes that you want to keep, but that don’t necessarily need to be hanging in you closet in your everyday life. You could store these items in a nice box for your sentimental items.
Donate Clothes You No Longer Want to Keep
The next step is to donate the clothes you no longer want to keep. I would highly recommend doing this as soon as possible. I know from experience that it’s super easy to just let those bags of clothes sit there. Then it will get tempting to have another look at the clothes and regret your choices. Aand you’re back to having an overstuffed closet.
Drive to a local thrift-store or a place they take in donated clothes as soon as you can. You’ll feel lighter afterwards, and you’ll be ready for the next step in your closet organization journey.
Consider Creating a Capsule Wardrobe
Now that you have gotten rid of items you no longer wear, and have put away your sentimental pieces, it’s time for the fun part! Now we can really get organizing.
I live in a place where the weather changes a lot throughout the year, so something I have done is to create seasonal capsule wardrobes. If you’ve never heard of a capsule wardrobe before, it’s really simple:
A capsule wardrobe is a collection of essential clothing items, shoes and accessories that fit the current season. Preferrably the clothes should all go together. If you want to learn more about how to create a capsule wardrobe, this is a Youtube video that explains it really well:
Like I said, I personally enjoy creating seasonal capsule wardrobes. So, one for Summer, one for Spring, one for Autumn and one for Winter.
Let’s take my winter capsule wardrobe as an example. I have about 7 pairs of pants, 3 skirts, 3 pairs of tights, 2 dresses, 6 thick sweaters, 4 long sleeve sweaters and 4 cute shirts in my winter capsulte. In addition to this I have 3 bags, 4 pairs of shoes and 3 coats for different occasions. Lounge wear and underwear come in addition to this.
I put all the clothes that are not in the current capsule wardrobe in storage. I like using the Skubb storage cases from Ikea for this purpose.
Storage Ideas
Now it’s time to look at closet storage ideas.
My recommendation is to put dresses, nice shirts and structured pieces on hangers. I would fold T-shirts, sweaters and pants. I have all my jeans, T-shirts and lounge-wear in drawers, and it has kept me very organized.
One of the best tips I got from the Konmari method was to fold my clothes in a specific way and put them vertically in the drawers. This way, it is possible to see every thing I own at once. I never stack clothes on top of each other anymore.
This hack saves so much space and it keep everything looking super tidy.
This video explains how to fold your clothes so they look good and organized in drawers:
Shoe Storage Ideas for Closets
If you have a lot of shoes I would reccommend storing them on individual shelves so that you can see all of them. You could also consider getting a shoe storage cabinet for flat shoes and sneakers. The Hemnes shoe cabinet from Ikea is a great and quite affordable alternative. Shoe cabinets are really great if you want to save space while also keeping your shoes organized.
How to Store Purses and Bags
Consider placing your bags on individual shelves, so that you can see all of them. If you do not have the space, you could also get command hooks and hang them on the inside of your closet doors. I also love this hack of putting wire baskets on the inside of the closet doors. It saves space and keeps you organized.
Displaying your bags on shelves like this looks great if you have the space.
Storage Hacks for Sweaters
I heard somewhere that it’s better to fold knit sweaters than to hang them. They keep their shape longer if you fold them, so I try to stick to that advice. I personally keep my sweaters in drawers, but if you don’t have drawers in your closet, I love the idea of these hanging closet organizers. You could fit so many sweaters in these!
How to Keep Socks and Underwear Organized
If you have drawers, I’d store socks, bras and underwear in them. You could alternatively get some nice-looking baskets to put on shelves in the closet. To keep your socks and underwear looking their best for a long time, it is recommended to fold them. I don’t always take the time to do this because I have two kids and I also have other things to do. I match socks, roll them into a ball, throw them into a pretty basket and call it a day. Bras and underwear go in separate drawers.
Keep a Laundry Basket in Your Closet
Now that your closet is all organized, how do you keep it looking it’s best? If you have the space, try putting a laundry basket in your closet, or next to it. This will prevent your clothes from ending up on the floor, or from just being thrown into the closet at the end of a long day.
Do your best to put you clothes back where they belong right away. This is easier said than done, and it won’t look perfect all the time. That’s ok! Now that you have a great system in place, you’ll know exactly where to put what when you’re cleaning.
Happy Organizing!
This blog post has been all about organization ideas for closets. Having a tidy closet is a great feeling and it makes it so much easier to get dressed in the morning. I hope you found some inspiring tips. Good luck with your closet organization! Looking for more organizing ideas? Check out my other blog posts on the topic here.