7 Mistakes You Are Making Trying to Organize Your Own Closet

Closets provide convenient storage areas, but they can also become cluttered all too easily. While you can try to tackle these areas on your own and make them more organized, you might not be doing this as efficiently as possible. In fact, you could be creating more work for yourself in the near future. Before you begin, be sure to have a clear vision and plan in place and have an understanding of how you would like your closet to flow and function. Preparing for this project is just as important is the goal. Ask yourself what you are hoping to accomplish and make sure that your strategy for organization helps you achieve the desired outcome.

Keep the following mistakes in mind, so you can avoid making them as you’re working on getting your closets in order.

Rearranging Instead of Going Through Items

While it’s true that you can make a closet look tidier by simply rearranging items into neat stacks or rows, this is a temporary solution that doesn’t solve the problem of having too much in there. Eventually, you’ll need to sort through all of the items to free up space and get rid of things you don’t want or need anymore. Otherwise, things can get spread out between multiple closets in various rooms or drawers. This makes it more challenging to grab the items you need when getting ready for the day. There are plenty of local community organizations who would generously accept your donations and provide clothing to those in need.

Hiding Items

A well-organized closet should allow you to easily see your clothing and other items without having to dig. Otherwise, you’re likely to forget what you have in there. Instead of stashing things in corners and other hard-to-see spots, consider using products such as pull-out shelves that give you easy access to everything you’re storing. Wardrobe items like sweaters and tee shirts can be folded and stored on shelves rather than in deep drawers. Not only are they more cost effective, but you can see everything at a glance. Consider doors over the shelves if dust is a concern. If garments are in a deep in a drawer or folded below the first level or two, chances are you will not see or wear those items. In addition, if items are not easy accessible or visible, you will not have a clear idea of what items you have or those you may need.

Storing Without Organizing

Bins and baskets offer convenient ways to store a variety of items, but it’s important to group them first. Otherwise, your closet will look organized without actually being so. Instead of putting random items together in storage bins and baskets, sort through them and group similar items together. You might also want to label bins, so you’ll know what’s inside them at a glance. Make sure the bins truly provide value and function to your closet space, otherwise it can become just another bulky piece to store more clutter.

Ignoring the Seasons

Keeping the same clothing items hanging up all year round means less work in terms of organizing, but it also makes it harder for you to find what you need. You might even forget about certain items you have if you need to dig through rows of clothes to find them. Instead, keep out-of-season clothing items stored away in a bin on a closet shelf until they’re needed again.

Not Taking Inventory

Organizing your closet gives you the ideal opportunity to take stock of what items you have. If you’re rushing through, you might be tempted to skip this step, but you shouldn’t. Doing inventory means you’ll know exactly what you have, so you won’t end up with additional clothing and other items that you don’t need taking up closet space.

Not Organizing Often Enough

Treating closet organization like spring cleaning means you’ll have a big project to tackle each year. Make things easier on yourself by organizing your closet a few times a year. For example, you could organize on a seasonal basis, which lets you focus on putting off-season items away and taking seasonal items out of storage.

Purchasing Organizers Before Knowing Exactly What You Need

Think of this as a prime example of putting the cart before the horse. If you not able to clearly identify the items you are planning to organize, how you would like things organized and the vision for the space, how would you know what to items to purchase? How would the organizers you purchased be utilized to help you achieve your goal? If you do not know these answers to those questions, your budget is not being utilized effectively and you will wind up settling for purchased items that you will either not use or that hinder the functionality of the closet.

If you’ve been making these organization mistakes, you might want to turn this project over to the pros. Feel free to reach out to us for a no obligation free in-home design consultation. A professional custom closet company can provide you with a variety of options which ensure that you end up with a closet system that is organized and efficient.