How to Organize Your Closet

Co-authored by Joanne Gruber

Last Updated: January 31, 2023 Approved

Having an organized closet is the gateway to having an organized room and an organized life. To organize your closet, you'll have to sort through all of your clothes to determine what you really need and find the best way to reorganize your clothes and other belongings. If you want to know how to organize your closet, just follow these steps.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Sorting Through Your Clothes

1
Remove all of the clothes from your closet. Take all of your clothes off their hangers and out of any bins or drawers in your closet. Fold them in piles on the floor or on your bed. This includes your shoes as well. It may also include other accessories such as belts, scarves, purses, or ties.
2
Decide which clothes you will keep. You may have the urge to keep everything, or toss everything. But go through systematically and piece by piece to really scrutinize your clothing. What you want in your closet are clothes that you wear on a regular basis, that fit you and are functional, and fit in the space available.
- Does the item fit? Clothing in the closet should fit you properly, neither too loose nor too tight. It typically means it is comfortable, not pinching, clothing can button easily, and no red marks left on the skin. It may also mean letting go of items no longer in fashion, such as skin tight skirts you really should not wear to your professional job.
  - It is usually best to let go of "inspirational items" such as the jeans you hope to someday fit back into; trends being what they are the item may well be out of fashion when you do lose the weight. One pair of "fat pants" may be OK to remind you of your weight loss accomplishment.
- If your weight is fluctuating up or down (such as in growing young adults, pregnant women, or dieters) this may be tricky. Still, get rid or store items that clearly do not fit you.
- Do I wear this? Have you worn the item in the last year? How often do you wear it: once a week or only once this year? If you have not worn the item in a long time, that may well indicate it is time to let go.
  - Special use items may be OK to keep even if used only periodically. You might have a Christmas sweater, or interview outfit, or formal dress that isn't used often but still worth having available.
- Do I like this? If you really don't like an item, do not keep it. In general, do not hang onto items out of guilt--such as that shirt your father bought you but you just do not like.
- Do I have multiples of this? Work or school uniforms are one thing. But if you have seven black almost identical t-shirts, that might be a sign to let go of a few.
- Make a "Keep" pile for the clothes that you will keep and wear on a regular basis.
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3
Decide which clothes you will store. You should store the clothes that you won't be wearing for a while because they aren't seasonally appropriate. If it's the middle of summer, you can store your winter sweaters and scarves, and if it's the dead of winter, you can store your tank tops and summer dresses.
- You can also store clothes that may have sentimental value for you, such as a shirt your grandmother knitted for you, or an old t-shirt from your high school tennis team that no longer fits. Try to keep the sentimental value clothes to a minimum, though. Clothes are meant to be worn, after all.
  - Consider displaying beloved clothing instead of keeping them in your closet. Consider framing your prized concert T-shirt, or creating a shadow box of your Boy Scout uniform and awards, or make a T-shirt quilt of your old marathon shirts.
- When you're done sorting through the clothes you will store, put them in a plastic bin or a clear bag marked keep. You can either store them in the back of your closet, under your bed, or in a storage unit or a different part of your home if you have the room.
4
Decide which clothes you will donate or throw out. This is the hardest step, and the most important. If you want to have a truly organized closet, then your goal should be to get rid of as many items of clothing as possible. This doesn't mean you should throw out your favorite things - however, it does mean that you should take a long hard look to ask yourself which clothes you will actually ever wear again.
- If you haven't worn something in over a year and it has no sentimental value, it's time to donate it.
- If you have an item that is so worn, covered in moth holes, or faded that you and anyone else will never wear it again, then it's time to throw it out.
- If you have a few items of clothing that are just way too small, stop waiting for the day that they will fit and donate them.
- Donate all of the clothes you don't need that are in good condition, or give them to a sibling or friend.
5
Clean the inside of the closet. You should do this before you put back your clothes. Vacuum or sweep the floor, wipe the walls down with all-purpose cleaner, and sweep away any cobwebs that may have accumulated there.
- If you want to make any changes, such as painting the inside a different color or adding and removing some shelves, do it now.

Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Organizing Your Clothes in Your Closet

1
Hang up your clothes and organize them. Try to hang up as many of your clothes as you can. This will make it easier for you to find your clothes and to conserve space. You should not only hang up your clothes, but you should also organize them in a particular way so you can easily find them whenever you need to. Here are some ways to organize the clothes you hang up:^{[1]
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- Organize your clothes by season. If you've stored away some of your seasonal clothes, organize your clothes by season just for half the year. If it's summer, hang up your summer clothes first, followed by your fall clothes.
- Organize your clothes by type. You can separate your tank tops, shirts, pants, skirts, and dresses.^{[2]
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- Organize your work and casual clothes. Separate your work clothes from your casual clothes so you can easily get dressed for work in the morning.
- Organize your clothes by how often you wear them. You can choose any method of organization, but hang up a few key items, like your favorite hoodie or the pair of jeans you wear all the time, in the most accessible place.
- If you really want to step it up a notch, you can use differently colored hangers to mark a different type of clothing. For example, you can hang your tops on pink hangers, or your work clothes on green hangers.
- Colour code your clothes. example in rainbow colours
- You can also think about installing another pole to hang up your additional clothes.
2
Put additional clothes in other parts of your closet. Once you've hung up all of the clothes fit on your pole, you should find other parts of the closet to store the rest of your clothes. The clothes that you put in the bins should be used less frequently than the clothes you hang up, or they should be clothes that don't need to be hung up, like your workout clothes. Here are a few ideas:
- Don't waste the space under your hanging clothes. Put a few plastic bins of clothes under the hanging clothing.
- If you have room for a dresser, consider putting one in your closet. It will save you time and space.
- Consider installing a closet organizer to find a more efficient way to store your remaining clothes.
- If you have overhead space, make the most of it. Use it to store bulky sweaters, sweats, and other items that are thick and easy to spot.
3
Organize your shoes. Your shoes may take up a lot of the space in your closet, so once you've chosen which shoes you will keep, it's important to make the most of your space by storing them in the most organized and efficient manner. Here are some ways to organize the shoes in your closet:
- Organize them by type. Separate your dress shoes, sandals, and boots.
- Organize them by how often you wear them. Keep your favorite pair of boots, flip-flops, or sneakers in the place with the easiest access.
- Invest in a shoe rack to place on the floor of your closet. This will make it much easier to find the pair of shoes you want.
- Try storing your shoes in your overhead space. This is another easy way to save space.
- If your closet has a door that opens instead of a sliding door, consider getting a hanging shoe rack.
- If you have a front hall closet, consider putting the shoes you wear the most often there instead to save space in your personal closet.

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Organizing the Rest of Your Closet

1
Organize any boxes in your closet. If your closet is big enough, then it's likely that you've stored things other than clothes in it, such as big boxes filled with mementos, old photo albums, and CDs you haven't seen for ten years. To finish organizing your closet, you should go through these old boxes to see what you should keep and what you should toss. Here's how to do it:
- Get rid of any papers or items you've kept for over a year that have no sentimental value.
- Consolidate the boxes to save closet space. If your closet is already cramped, consider putting some of the items in a different place, such as putting your old high school yearbooks on the bottom of your bookshelf.
- If you've been using cardboard boxes, trade them up for plastic bins. They will last longer and will be more visually appealing.
- Label the boxes or bins so you know what's in them next time you move or organize your things again.
2
Organize any additional items in your closet. Take the time to go through any additional items in your closet to make sure that you still need them and that the closet is really the best place for them. Here are some examples:
- If you find any towels, sheets, or blankets, put them in your linen closet.
- If you've had an old lawn chair or another piece of furniture you don't really need hanging out back there, it's time to throw it out.
- If you've had to pick up an item and spend at least fifteen seconds trying to figure out what the heck it is or why you would need it, it's time to throw it out.
- Make sure that all of the other items you find belong in the closet and not another part of your home. For example, if you find a box of light bulbs, a box of comic books, or a box of chocolate, ask yourself if those items wouldn't be more logically organized elsewhere.
3
Make your closet more visually appealing. Turn your creativity loose and think of ways to add pleasure to the routine of getting dressed and looking through your closet every day. If you spend more time making your closet look nice, then you will be less likely to let it get messy in the future.
- Paint your closet a soft pretty color.
- Add mirrors for sparkle.
- Hang jewelry and scarves where you can see them -- as long as they don't get in your way.
- Hang up a small poster or painting that makes you smile every time you open your closet.
4
Enjoy your newly organized closet. Take a step back and admire your hard work! Hopefully, your closet is organized now so that all of its contents are easy to find and its overall appearance is to your liking. If not, take a few more minutes to make any minor changes that still need to be made.
- From this point forward, try to keep your closet organized as you add to it, or remove and return its current contents. Doing so will prevent you from needing to do another large overhaul on your closet in the future.

Expert Q&A

Question

How do you hang clothes in a closet?

Joanne Gruber
Professional Stylist
Joanne Gruber is the owner of The Closet Stylist, a personal style service combining wardrobe editing with organization. She has worked in the fashion and style industries for over 10 years.

Joanne Gruber

Professional Stylist

Expert Answer

Arrange your closet based on the seasons. Hide those big winter coats away in the summer and store all your shorts and flip-flops in the winter!
Question

How long does it take?

Sarah Flores

Community Answer

Depending on how big your closet is, and how deep of a clean you want, it can take from half an hour to a full day to finish cleaning your closet.
Question

What do I do if I share a closet?

Sarah Flores

Community Answer

Split the closet in half, or between however many people you're sharing with. Use multiple trunks or boxes to separate the clothes, or have a standing drawer for each person and organize your clothes that way.