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How To Rescue A Messy Closet

Our bedroom has 2 closets in it that are both the same size. One for me, one for Todd. Todd’s closet always seems to stay nice a tidy. Mine…not so much. I’ve decided that I need to get rid of clothes that I do not love anymore, which will help, but the biggest problem was my closet floor. It was a mess. I am guilty of doing the quick ‘pick up and stash’ at one point or another and my closet was the perfect place to for the ‘stash.’ There were 2 bins of papers that have just grown and grown over the last year, and I just kept ignoring them. They took way too much precious space in my closet, and since clutter attracts clutter, they made it next to impossible to keep my closet as nice as I would like it to be. It was beyond time to clean it up!

Do you have a messy closet that is driving you crazy?

{BEFORE}

Below are the steps to take to clean it up. They sure helped me and hopefully they can help you to.

{CLOTHES TO HANG UP}

Empty the closet:

~keep hang-up clothes & shoes in the closet

~have 3 places to put stuff: Give Away Bin, Put Away Bin & Throw Away Bag

~as you bring things out, keep ‘like’ with ‘like’ (example: papers together, books together, belts together, scarves together)

~once all is cleared out of closet besides shoes and hangup clothes, purge clothes. Get rid of anything you don’t love.

~match and straighten shoes and put on a shelf or rack; getting rid of as many pairs as possible as you go.

~hang up all hangers. If you have too many, find another closet to put all of the extra hangers.

~put hats in one place

~hang up belts

~hang up scarves

~hang up bags & purses (hooks are a wonderful thing in a closet. I have a few. I’d love more!)

~put any clothes from the floor in a pile (clean with clean, dirty in hamper)

~make a paper pile to go through later

~dust shelves

~sweep out closet

{MY CRAZY PAPER PILES}

Start in on piles:

~you may need to split this job up and do a chunk each day

~hang up clean clothes or put into drawers

~sort through paper piles. Throw away or file away.

~take dirty laundry down to wash

{AHH….A CLEARED FLOOR!}

Tips:

Only keep what you love!

Work methodically. Finish one part before going on to the next.

Remember: you cannot organize clutter. Purge as you go.

If you have not worn it for a season, get rid of it.

Box up your ‘skinny’ clothes or those clothes you can’t bring yourself to get rid of. At least get them out of the closet.

You may need to split this job up and do a chunk each day. I did all steps up to ‘sort through paper piles.’ Like I said above, I had stuffed two big baskets of miscellaneous paper in my closet one day and this took time to sort through. Same with the pile of books that I had stored in my closet. They needed purged and put on a bookshelf.

Make a goal to finish all piles within a few days. Do a bit everyday.

Listen to a podcast, radio or a tv show while you do this. I listened to recorded Dr. Oz show while I worked. It helped the time go faster.

Don’t be a perfectionist. I would love to paint my closet and put more cute baskets and hooks in it for things, but I did not let myself get side-tracked. My pictures would have turned out nicer for you, but I would not have gotten my closet done in a timely manner. Good is good enough!