Closet Organization Systems

We have all seen those fantastic-looking closet organization systems that you can purchase at your local department and home improvement stores. (You can get even more expensive ones from a closet organization company.) They look great and are actually wonderful pieces of equipment. However, that is all that they are—equipment. These systems are nothing more than a tool that has been designed to help you out when it comes to what is truly important to closet organization—a mindset.

A closet organization system is actually a mindset that you use to help you organize your closet in such a manner that it works for you. This means that your system will not necessarily work for another person, but it is one that will keep your closet nice and organized, where you can find things that you need at a moments notice. Use these guidelines to help you create a closet organization system that works for you.

• Remove. When you first begin organizing your closet into a system that will work for you, you need to remove everything from the closet. I would suggest placing everything onto your bed, but wherever you want will work, as long as you will be able to sort through everything later on. Removing everything allows you to see how much storage room you actually have and to plan accordingly.
• Sort. Once everything has been removed from your closet, it's time to begin sorting. Separate everything so that like items are with like items. For example, place all your blue jeans with each other, your t-shirts with each other, your long-sleeved shirts with each other, and so on. This will make further sorting a whole lot easier.
• Season. After you separate everything into general clothing categories, further sort your clothes according to the season—heavy sweaters and coats off to one side, your spring clothing in a different location, and so on. This allows you to know what you have by way of seasonal wear. For whatever is not currently in season, package it up and store it for later use. This step alone can save you tons of room.
• Color code. Once you have your clothing separated according to season, go ahead and separate everything according to color, within the same general clothing categories that you created earlier. This allows you to more easily mix and match your outfits and makes it possible to find the particular color shirt and tie that you have been looking for.
• Limited space. There are times when you will still find yourself faced with limited storage space for your clothes. Two ways that you can dramatically increase your available space are through the use of a second hanging rod and "folding" hangers that can hold several pieces of clothing (usually pants, but other versions are available) at one time.