Organizing my closet is something akin to a favorite pastime. Anytime I feel the need to cleanse, purge, or redo something- and nothing of greater need is at hand- I tackle the closet and feel the better for it. My closet spans an entire wall- I guess instead of the traditional double closet, it would be considered a triple. There is clothing, accessories, storage, et cetera that could always use a little delicate (or not so delicate) organizing. In this post I'll show you how I organize by type and color and how you can too!
The first step to organizing any space is to rid yourself of what you do not need- or in this case- wear. Anything that hasn't been worn in the past year, clear out. Donate it; sell it. Get it out of your closet. If it doesn't fit- and hasn't for several months- add it to the discard pile. If you're not sure about an item, tag the hanger and if you wear it, remove the tag. As the months go by, and you still have tags on some of your clothing, you'll know that those articles need to go. They're not being worn and they're cluttering up valuable closet space.
Once you've discarded all of your unworn or ill-fitting clothing, it's time to organize. First by type, then by color. My closet is split into 7 sections. That may be too many for you, but it works great for me. For reference, if we split my closet down the middle, the following should be easier to understand.
On the left side of my closet I have a top and bottom bar. On the top left side are the shirts/tops that I wear "out on the town." The ones I love, but usually don't wear for everyday use. These are reserved for shopping, appointments, guests, etc..
On the top right side are all of my sweaters and outerwear that I generally pair with an item from the left side. On the bottom left side- under my dressier tops- are my casual shirts/tops. These I wear around the house. Opposite from these (bottom right) are all of my casual/jean skirts that I wear with either the dressy or the casual tops. Along with these is a section for undershirts. *gasp* In case a top isn't quite modest enough, this is the section where I find a compatible, thin top to wear under it.
On the other side of the closet (the right) I have one long bar. This is where I house my dress clothes. The ones I wear exclusively for special events or church services and functions. On one side are the tops/jackets/dresses and on the other side are the bottoms/skirts. Now, I do something different than color coordinating on this side but we'll get to that in a minute.
For now, follow my example or come up with your own unique style to organize your clothing by type.
So, now that your closet is purged and organized by type, it still needs to be even more organized by color! This is extremely simple do to and maintain! The easiest way to organize by color is to use the color wheel/chart as a guide. Below are your tertiary colors: the colors formed 'by mixing a primary and a secondary color.' We're going to use this chart to color coordinate our closets.
As you can see by the strip of grey I added to the middle, the colors go from dark to light, but we'll start with light and end with dark. Color coordinating each type separately, pull all of your whites and add them to the front. Next pull all ivory colors and add them behind the whites, continuing the colors all the way through to black using the above chart (black after green). Since clothing is obviously many more shades and tints of color than shown in the tertiary colors, you'll need to get a little creative. If you have light and dark blues, add the lights first, going from light to dark in each color and as a whole in that section.
Continue through each section of clothing you have. You'll end up with a well-organized, beautiful closet you can be proud of. I've had people notice my use of color and want to do the same. Some days you just feel like wearing white. Or mustard yellow. Or burnt orange. No more rummaging through hoards of clothing to find what you're looking for. Simply find the type you want to wear and then the color. Easy as that. All of your options are before you.
What I do with my dress clothes is different. I don't color coordinate them. Since I generally wear these items to church services alone and the same set of individuals see them on me each time, color doesn't really help me here. For this section, I organize by the item last worn. The top/jacket/dress I wore last goes to the front. As you keep doing this week after week, you'll see how efficient it really is. All of the articles toward the front were recently worn. All the ones toward the back haven't been worn in some time. This system keeps you from wearing the same thing twice together because you forgot what you wore last week... or the week before that.
No more excuses. Go, and make your closet beautiful and functional! Like me, you'll feel better for doing so.
