Inside My Closet

Have you ever wondered how a professional organizer organizes their own stuff?  Today, I’m sharing my closet with you!

It’s not as picture perfect as Martha Stewart’s would be.  I have a limited budget and need to be realistic about what I can spend it on.  I think it’s a good reminder that we don’t have to have lots of money to spend on organizing gear to have an organized home.  You just need to use the space you have and don’t over crowd it.

Let’s start on the floor of my closet.

Tall in the back, short in the front.  It doesn’t just work for picture taking, it also works for your shoes! When a new pair of shoes is purchased, make sure you donate or trash an old pair. Our closets only function if we store the amount of things that it can hold.  

I use rolled up magazines to keep my boots upright and in the right shape. Nancy shares some other great tips on how to keep your boots looking great in a previous post!

Now on to hanging items!

Several years ago, I purchased wooden hangers.  I like the uniform look and it makes me think my clothes are in a boutique.  We should feel happy to open our closets, not stressed or fearful of what’s going to fall on us.

I have my hanging clothes sorted by color, from dark to light.  All my scarves are draped on hangers.  I fold my sweaters, tees and tanks using Marie Kondo’s process. She also suggests storing your clothes like books.  Vertical storage optimizes your space and Kondo believes your things don’t like to be stacked.  My tops are stored from heavy to light, i.e. sweaters to long sleeve tees to short sleeve tees to tanks, left to right.

When we bought our home three years ago, the closet already had this side shelving.  It was probably used for clothes.  I didn’t find it particularly useful for clothing.  As I couldn’t see the clothes closest to the back because the hangers were in the way.  Instead I use it for my luggage.  I started to think about how we pack and unpack in our bedroom.  Makes sense to store the bags in here.  The spacing worked flawlessly for our pieces too.  Tip!  Stuff your bags, especially designer ones, with newspaper to help keep their shape.

I do share a closet with my husband, but I’m fortunate enough that we each have our own side.  Our territory is claimed and it’s not to be invaded.  I suggest using a physical barrier to avoid creeping from one side to the other.  We have inexpensive white stack-able shelving as a divider.  I use it to store my clothes.  Each cubby is sorted by category: jeans, capris/shorts, casual skirts, exercise wear, pajamas and paint clothes.  I don’t use Kondo Folding for these clothes.  I don’t  have a particular reason why.  I honestly don’t have enough clothes to do a season swap so my clothes are available year-round.  Plus Vermont’s weather is so unpredictable.

My husband is a casual man so he doesn’t need as much closet space.  Luckily, I was able to fit our hampers on his side.  I personally don’t like to see things.  I’d rather hide them behind a simple and clean surface.  Our laundry sorter is probably one of my favorite things.  Since I naturally like things sorted, it’s perfect.  Once each bag is full, I know I need to do a load of laundry.  The wicker basket is for delicate clothing.  We don’t own a lot of clothing so it’s obvious when laundry needs to be done.  Piles are limited and overflow rarely happens.

As I mentioned, my husband dresses casual.  Rarely does he dress up.  We parred down his button-down shirts and got rid of his tie rack.  Instead I took two ties per shirt and hung it with the shirt on the hanger.  Bonus: It eliminates my husband asking if it matches!

Most of his daily clothes are stored on the top shelf in the closet.  Again, we used the three-shelf organizers, to divide the clothes and keep piles from toppling. My husband can be resistant to some of my organizing changes, which I why I don’t use Kondo’s folding for his clothes. When I explained the book’s theories to him, he just laughed.  I did go a little OCD and labeled the cubicles.  I don’t know how many times I asked my husband to help put laundry away and he’d say, “I don’t know where it goes.”  Well, problem solved!

There it is – my closet!  I hope to share more of my home with you.  In the meantime, happy organizing!