Let's Sort It Out By Deb

Closet organization can save time, reduce stress, and even save money by helping you avoid buying things you already own. When you organize your closet by category and color, it’s easier to find what you need and see everything at a glance. These closet organization tips will help you create a simple system that’s easy to maintain and works for your lifestyle. As a professional organizer, I help clients create organized closets and functional spaces that simplify everyday life. Learn more about my organizing services.

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 Closet Organization By Color Coding

When I look in my closet, I either know exactly what I want to wear or I’m looking for inspiration. Either way, I need to see what I have before I get dressed. It’s practically impossible to find an outfit when everything is jumbled together. Whether you’re looking for tops, dresses, skirts, jackets, or pants, color coding makes it much easier to find what you’re looking for.

Some organizers say to take everything out of your closet and put it on your bed… but I’m not a fan of that. If you ask me the definition of Overwhelming — Well, that’s it!! Why make a tornado when you only have to deal with a rainstorm?  I can’t even think about doing it that way — talk about daunting!! The most important thing when you organize your closet is to sort everything into categories.

Organize Your Clothes into Piles

First, go through your clothes and separate your items into different piles such as throw out, keep, donate, and try on.

When I go to a client’s house, I pull things out one by one and we decide which category each belongs in; but most importantly — I put the keepers right back into the closet to keep our plan as clear to us as possible. As you go through your closet, put any donations into a bag, and anything to try on into a pile that you will do your best to deal with that day!  It’s best not to add anything to your “to-do” list.

Now you may be thinking, “okay, got it, that sure sounds easy!”  Well, now I want to share with you my trick, which will help your organizing go as fast as possible!

Remove Everything From Your Closet

Before you start, push everything to one side of your closet.  As you pull things out, don’t just put the keepers back where they came from.  Instead, hang similar clothing together: tops with tops, pants with pants, dresses with dresses, and so on. That way, you are organizing and categorizing at the same time. Killing two birds with one stone! Deciding and categorizing!

Another trick: If you don’t have room to push everything to one side, go through all the tops, pants, dresses, skirts, etc. by category, each time only putting the item back next to their friends, the ones in the same category and color. I also love the cohesive look of having all the same hangers.  These are my favorite, things don’t slip off, you don’t get hanger lines on your pants, and they take up so much less room!

Once you have your categories set up, putting everything back in your closet becomes much easier.

Putting Everything Back into Your Closet

At this point, your closet organization is all about placement and which categories go where in your closet.  This is totally up to you.  I like to put my most used items towards the front, but you have to find your own helpful visual aid. It’s obviously ideal if you can finish everything in one session, but with my way of not taking everything out and dumping it all on your bed, you can come back to it at another time.

You and I both know we don’t always have hours to devote to organizing on a daily basis.  Sometimes you have an hour or so, sometimes you only have half an hour or even 15 minutes. So instead of scrolling through Pinterest for an extra 15 minutes, take the time and tackle your tops, then the next day your pants, and soon, before you know it, you’ll have everything organized, all the way down to your purple, floral, mid-spring-summer shirts ☺. I truly believe starting the job is more than half the battle.

Most organizing projects don’t get started because we have the feeling that there isn’t enough time to finish them, or we can’t devote hours to the project, and therefore it just doesn’t seem doable. Working this way solves that problem.  There is nothing wrong with breaking tasks down.  It’s actually the key to organizing; the important thing is to just do it.

Closet Organization by Category

And here’s an extra little tip that I’ll throw in to take you one step further.  The categories I use are:

• Pants — Everyday long, everyday capris, then dressy pants — by color in each category
• Tops — Everyday shirts and sweaters, then extra dressy blouses — and within those two, I separate by color
• Little jackets — Sporty and dressy — and then by color
• Dressy dresses and skirts — by color
• Casual dresses and skirts — by color
• Coats — Hopefully in a different closet, but if not, I do that by season and color.

And that’s it!  Give it a try.  You will be so happy and satisfied when you’re done.  Let me know how it goes.  I can’t wait to hear all your success stories.  Take a peek at my resources page to see all my favorite hangers, baskets, and accessories.

Oh! Try and take before and after pictures.  You’ll be so proud of yourself, and please share them with me; I’d love to see the transformation!

Any questions along the way, contact me – I’ll be happy to let you know what I think.

Do you have any closet organization tips that work well for you?  If you do, please let me know.  You can drop a note in the comment section below.  Share tips with all of us.  I’m always looking for new ideas!

 P.S. I’d love to connect with you! Follow me on Social Media for more organizing tips, inspiration, and ideas. If you’d like help organizing your closet or any other area of your home, I’d love to help. Contact me here.