The Closet Organizer That Saves My Sanity

With the change of seasons come many different projects around my house. Thankfully for me, one I would dread taking on the most usually falls upon my wife to accomplish since it primarily effects her way of life. Removing the clothing from the closet that was worn last season and replacing it with the clothing to be worn this season appeals to me not at all. But thanks to a functional closet organizer this project seems to be completed with minimal interruption to my life style.

When we moved into our home, we found the closet in the master bedroom much in the same way I am sure many of you found yours. There was a long rod running the length of one wall with a shelf above. I am still amazed that no more thought is put into the design of a closet when these homes are built. Since this would simply not do, one of my first projects upon moving in this home was to install a closet organizer that would allow my wife to store her seasonal clothing in such a way that it could be easily accessible.

I first took measurements of the closet and along with my wife did a rough sketch of how she would like her newly designed walk-in closet to be. Armed with this information, I was off to my local big box home improvement store in hopes of locating a closet organizer kit that would fit our needs. These kits are usually easy to configure and install and come with most, if not all, the necessary hardware. Once I entered the aisle containing the materials for organization, I found a plethora of different style closet organization systems. There were wire units, laminated units, as well as wooden units. There were units with a variety of different shelves, rods, drawers and other storage bins and containers. The possibilities for different configurations are limited only to your imagination.

Once getting through the initial feeling of being overwhelmed with all the choices, I was able to locate a system that would fit my wife's needs almost perfectly. Since the closet we were redoing enabled clothing to be hung on two sides, I purchased two kits and headed home for an afternoon of what I hoped would be a relatively smooth installation. The kits I purchased contained laminated dividers and shelving as well as enough rods to allow upper and lower rods on both sides of the closet. In addition, there is a section with a rod that allows the hanging of long items such as dresses and robes. The closet also has a section of shelving on each side with six shelves each allowing for the storage of folded sweaters and other items.

If we had attempted to utilize the closet we found upon moving into our new home, my wife would spend each morning digging through what I am sure would be a jumbled mess of unorganized clothing and I would have to incur the wrath of an unhappy lady. Those of you that have witnessed such a spectacle will surely agree that the time I spent planning, purchasing and installing that closet organizer was indeed time and money well spent.

Using Closet Organizers Requires Organization

While there are several closet organizers available to help you reach your goal of a really neat and well organized closet where everything is readily available, like most good things, nothing comes without a little bit of preparation and hard work. Before closet organizers can be installed, you need to clear out the closet. While everything is out, you might as well do a little inventory and evaluation prior to putting the items back. Professional organizers advise you follow a few rules that will help you with the reorganization of your closet. We will discuss this process using a bedroom clothes closet as an example, but you could use the same process for a food pantry, kitchen cabinets, garage storage areas, etc.

Sort and give away. Closet organization begins by removing everything from your closet and placing the clothes on the bed. Separate the items that you wear often and those that you do not. The items that you no longer wear should be further sorted into a pile that you will throw away (worn out) and a pile that you will give away. Place these items in bags or boxes and immediately remove them from the area.

Sort and group. Go through the remaining items and group like items together. Place pants with pants, tops with tops, skirts with skirts, dresses with dresses, etc.

Group by color. Now sort each group of items by color and place together. This places all your color choices together which will allow you to choose a matching top and pair of pants for example much more quickly.

Inventory and sort small items. Sort your small items or accessories such as belts, shoes, ties, scarves, etc. into groups of like items. These items will be candidates for over the door organizers, shelves, boxes or other types of closet storage containers.

Now that you have taken the time to dispose of items you no longer utilize and to sort the things you will use, you are now better able to visualize what type of closet organizers will allow the most efficient use of the space you intend to use.