Whether you have a wardrobe, a built-in closet, or even a real dressing room in a dedicated room, storing and organizing your clothes and shoes is not always easy. Like many of us, you probably waste precious minutes every morning trying to find the right pair of jeans, shirt, etc…
With our 9 tips to organize your wardrobe or your closet, you will make your daily life easier, save time, be more serene, and be well dressed! (Yes, yes, we promise!)
1. Sort, throw away, give away!
Are your closets overflowing with clothes that have never been worn or forgotten for ages? Serious sorting becomes necessary.
One of the basic rules for knowing whether or not to keep a piece of clothing or a pair of shoes is the following: any piece of clothing or pair of shoes that have not been worn for a year will no longer be worn (except for clothing and shoes that are dressed up for rare ceremonies).
Good to know: you can put all your clothes in your closet on hangers stored in reverse. As you use them, you will turn the hangers inside out. A year later, all the hangers that are still reversed will tell you what you haven’t worn once!
Take courage (no, “you may not need it one day”) and sort:
Clothes in good condition will be donated to charity, and those in bad condition will be brought to the dumpsters provided for this purpose scattered around the cities for recovery.
Keep only recent clothes and shoes, those you wear often, and in good condition.
Good to know: a good rule of thumb is one garment in for one garment out. If you think you can’t do it, your closets are full enough!
2. The point about hangers
In a closet or dressing room, mismatched hangers look bad… On the other hand, by choosing matching hangers, you will have the impression that your closet is better organized!
So choose a unique model of a hanger in wood colour, black, lacquered, white, and solid!
Always hang them in the same direction.
Hang only one garment at a time.
The solution is both aesthetic and practical; you will find your clothes as soon as you open the door without having to rummage around or worry about them falling out.
3. Organize your piles of clothes
Some clothes, like T-shirts, sweaters, and even jeans, don’t hang on hangers but are stored in piles on shelves.
How do you organize them? Never put two piles, one behind the other, as you’ll end up with a mess when you want to get to the bottom one.
Organize your tops by sleeve length.
When you want to remove a garment from the pile, especially if it’s not on top, take it all the way out, remove the garment, and put it away.
This way, your storage will always remain perfectly aligned. No more piles at the foot of the bed!
4. Treat yourself to some pretty boxes
Some items essential to a perfect outfit, such as belts, scarves, and tights, have a bad habit of piling up and getting mixed up, which doesn’t make it easy to choose them when getting dressed.
Treat yourself to pretty storage boxes! There are several options for you to choose from:
Some of these boxes come with a clear side.
Attach labels to the boxes to indicate the contents.
Assign a box colour to an accessory, black for belts, white for tights, and green for scarves.
Note: don’t choose boxes that are too big and will remain 3/4 empty. The size of a shoebox is ideal.
Pretty wicker baskets will also do.
5. Some tips for your shoes
If you don’t have shoe storage, your shoes will probably end up piled on each other, and you’ll have a hard time finding the right shoe and the matching left shoe when you’re looking for them.
Suppose you have the space to set up dedicated shelves or a cubby cabinet. If not, get your camera out and fire up the printer:
Keep the boxes your pairs of shoes came in when you bought them.
Take a picture of the pair, stick a print on the front and another on the top, and stack the boxes.
Please note: to avoid damage, pairs of boots should have proper shoe trees holding them up.
Shoe trees are expensive, but they can be easily replaced. Empty mineral water bottles are ideal and rolled-up magazines tucked inside will also work well.
6. Think about lighting
When choosing a piece of clothing from your closet in the early morning or late evening, you can’t always turn on the lamp next to it, especially if your storage space is in your bedroom, and it might wake the person sleeping next to you.
A spotlight is then welcome. For example:
- Small adjustable spotlights are connected to an electrical supply specifically for this purpose.
- An automatic internal light that turns on when a closet door is opened and turns off when it is closed. The light halo remains limited to the area you are interested in.
Good to know: battery-operated self-adhesive LED spotlights allow for diffuse lighting if you cannot connect your spotlights to an electrical supply. They can be turned on with a simple on/off button.
7. Provide a seat
Because it is difficult to put on some clothes in a standing position or tie your shoelaces when you are not very flexible, provide a comfortable seat: put a small padded stool in your dressing room or a chair near the closet containing your stuff.
Don’t turn this item into a side table for clothes used during the day and taken off at night. A valet will be more suitable for this purpose!
Good to know: clothes piled up end up getting damaged, so avoid this bad habit.
8. Organize your clothes by season
In the middle of winter, you won’t wear light cotton dresses and T-shirts, and your cashmere sweaters won’t be useful in summer, so learn to organize your clothes by season!
When you open your closet or your dressing room, your eyes will naturally go to the ideal zone, and you will immediately have the most appropriate clothes at hand.
Either your dressing room is large enough to organize your clothes in this space, or you have a secondary storage space (under a bed, on top of a closet) where you can store unnecessary clothes.
Please note: some fragile clothes like furs will be placed in adapted covers, and bring mothballs for your wool sweaters!
Now that you know how to get organized, take action!