Closet Organization: Make Mornings Easier

Every woman I know, at one time or another, has stood in front of her closet in frustration and claimed, “I don’t have a thing to wear!” When your closet is unorganized, with clothes that no longer fit the body you are in today, or contain things you haven’t worn in years, dressing in the morning becomes a challenge. Did you know that the average woman only wears 20% of what is in her closet?

Follow these four tips to organizing your closet and you will find that you’ll not only be better organized, you will become more efficient when dressing each morning. This will reduce your stress level, and allow you more time to have that sip of coffee or read the paper before you begin your day.

1). Organize it

Your closet needs to be a storage area for your clothes and accessories. Go through your closet and remove all the items like golf clubs, exercise balls, and luggage. Relocate these items to another area of your home. After you have removed all non-clothing items, you want to separate the closet into two different sections; work attire and casual clothes. This will save you time in the morning to only consider the items in the work appropriate section of your closet. If you can, only keep the current season’s wardrobe in your closet and relocate the other season to another closet. This allows you to just select items from the current season versus having to look through all of your clothes each morning.

2). Keep It or Purge It

Before you start merchandising your closet, it is a good idea to make sure every piece works for you. Try on each item and then stand in front of a full-length mirror and ask yourself these questions:

• Does it fit?
• Do I love it?
• Is it still in great condition and in style?
• Do I feel fabulous in it?
• Does the color and the silhouette of the item flatter my coloring and figure type?

The answers you get will help you determine whether you keep the item or purge it. As you try on each item, if you really want to keep it, you can also assess if it needs to be dry-cleaned, repaired, or have some minor alterations. When I work with a client on this process I always recommend sorting into three piles: dry-cleaning, alterations/repair, and charity or consignment store. The items we decide are keepers go back into the closet, but only if we love them, wear them routinely and feel great in them. If the item no longer fits, or we don’t feel beautiful in it, it’s time to retire it. Giving something to either a charitable organization or a consignment shop will allow someone else to enjoy wearing the item, which is a great gift.

3). Merchandise It

Go through each section of your closet and merchandise all like items together: jackets, tops, skirts and pants. Be sure to separate your suits and sort each piece separately. By hanging your suit pieces by category, you will see more mix and match options. Perhaps you might find another skirt to wear with that suit jacket. After all items are grouped together by classification, be sure all hangers are facing the same direction. Colorize each type of clothing from light to dark, from left to right. When you colorize your closets you will see more color options to create some new outfits. You will also be able to quickly access if you have too much black in your wardrobe and need to add a splash of color for interest.

4). Categorize It

Be sure that all of your accessories are organized and in full view. Whether you own twenty pairs of shoes or a hundred, it is important to organize them so that you can quickly select a pair when dressing. You have several options: organize them into hanging shoe bags, floor shoe racks, plastic shoe boxes, or hang a photo on the outside of the original shoe box. This allows viewing the color and styling at a moment’s glance. For belts, try a hanging belt rack that affixes to the wall, or one that hangs on the closet rod. Separate the dressy belts from the casual ones and sort by color. Scarves can be merchandised together by rolling them up and storing them in a storage box or hanging them on a plastic scarf hanger by color tones. Sort your handbags by dressy vs. casual and store them by color on either a shelf or bin in your closet. Jewelry can be kept either in jewelry boxes, or in a hanging jewelry storage bag that fits over your closet rod. A great tip is to store long necklaces on a hanging belt rack on the wall. This keeps your long necklaces from getting tangled in drawers. With everything organized you will use a wider range of your accessories more often, and consistently add accessory magic to your outfits!

If you follow these four tips, you will be well on your way to a more organized closet. It will truly represent the clothes you feel great in today, allow you to see more mix and match alternatives, and dress with greater ease and confidence each morning.