Welcome back!! This week I'm talking about our closets. I have an entire rant about my drawers. If you're interested, check out the video HERE!! Alignment is connected to our ability to deal with tough situations and let go of things that no longer have any, or the same value. For me, no other space in my home is more connected to this statement, than this space, the closet. The space that I can close, shut-tight, turn off the lights and lock the doors if a lock is available. Let's be honest, life is hectic. And it is such an easy option to shove something in a closet or drawer, just to get it out of the way really quick and come back to it later. Unfortunately for most things, I never come back to it and "later" is the elusive unicorn that never comes. There have, however been a couple of tips and best practices that have benefited me in those moments where I needed to avoid a mess or quickly hide one. So this part of the alignment series is will focus on dealing with what we'd prefer to cover up. As with the other posts in the alignment series, I'll be including some of my Amazon finds that have served my quest to find order and organization. Just a note, the links below are affiliate links. That simply means that if you choose to make a purchase using the links below, I could get a small commision.
Here we go...
Closet Organization
Whenever I'm ready to clean out the closets, I try to make sure I separate things by priority. I categorize them in 1 of 2 ways. 30/60/90 days or Keep/Sell/Donate. This helps me figure out how I can move forward with all of clutter and determine what happens to it. Here is how I break things down:
30/60/90 - Have and will I use this in the next 30 days? Do I plan to use this in the next 60 days? Will I use it in the next 90 days?
30 day items are actively used. These are in season clothes, probably small appliances, vacuum cleaners..things like that.
60 day items are probably active items but used less frequently. This is probably kitchen items like a blender or stand mixer. Maybe you have a humidifier or portable fan that you use during the warmer summer months. It's useful, but not USED every day.
90 day items are usually seasonal. Holiday items that live in a storage closet, heavier curtains in my linen closet, winter coats and sweaters vs. lighter jackets.
Keep/Sell/Donate - this works when I'm doing a closet purge. Getting rid of gently used clothes or household items. While I do love this method, to be honest, I don't like selling my personal items. I have, I can and I will. But it's not my preferred method to free myself of excess. I know it's weird but whatever.
Once I h- I gyet rid of random hangers and pick one. Right now, our closet has these/60/90 grouping works best and covers a range of spaces in our home. It helps me wrap my mind around why things even exist. The hardest piles end up being the 60 and 90 day piles. A lot of the 30 day pile ends up being things that just need to be put away. 60 day piles get usage, but it's just a matter of me figuring out what level of storage they need because it's probably something I'll need to grab and I don't want to forget where I put it. The 90 pile is the emotional pile. This is the stuff that is not related to the holidays or beach vacations, and I haven't seen it since I don't know when. This pile is really stuff I want to keep just because I want to keep it. Or I'm telling myself that I need it, knowing I'll never use it again. This is the pile that I really have to ask myself the hard questions, and remind myself of some hard truths. You know...like "girl, this has been your size for the past 3 years. If you aren't able to fit this now"...or, "you didn't like this when they gave it to you. Keeping it doesn't make you nice, it makes you a hoarder. Re-gift or donate". That's usually how this goes. Fortunately for me, I don't like clutter. So this isn't a "too major" issue for me and it doesn't disrupt my life too bad. There are a couple of things I like to do in my closets (linen, storage, clothes) to make it easy for me to be able to find things and track them. Yes, I'm that person. But here are some pain points for me and as a result, I'm starting here...
Hangers - I get rid of random hangers and pick one style. Right now, our closet has these black velvet hangers. I priced them at my local Homegoods and these were actually cheaper. You can get them from your local TJ Maxx, Marshalls or some store like that anywhere from a 30-50 pack. They'll cost you from 19.99-25.00. The ones below from amazon are18 for 30. It's totally preference, but getting rid of the random, colorful hangers just makes your closet look more aesthetic. What I like about these velvet hangers is that blouses and dresses don't' slip off the edges. The gold hook is just a cute addition, but you can get the standard silver hook.
Shelving - I use shelving in areas like my laundry room, mud room or larger closets that need some additional shelving. I love the Ikea style cube shelving, but I also love a simple wire storage system that you can build how ever you want. The Cube Storage below is a great shelving system for books, clothes and sturdy enough to hold speakers or a small table lamp. My daughter loves this, we ended up getting her 2 sets. I also like a sturdier storage for the garage and some sort of organizer for shoes. This one worked perfectly for my husbands work boots and old sneakers. This seemed to be fine for my daughters closet. When I needed to find a home for my holiday decorations, we opted for a heavier storage solution. We found ours at our local Walmart, but I'm attaching some comparable items below. I will say, my husband can't remember the brand, but ours are black and yellow like shown. We also got the set of storage bins..we totaled roughly 150 for the 4 bins and shelving. Maybe a bit more because we ended up getting extra bins when we moved. This amazon option is comparable based on the reviews and dimensions. I haven't' used this one...if you do, let me know how they work out for you.
Open and Closed storage bins - so these are my favorite closet organizer. These are great for macro organizing and quickly tossing stuff in a container. The good thing is that this is STILL ORGANIZATION!!! It's just a simple toss into its designated container and I move on with my life. These are my go to..I even gift these with different prints, handles and lids. I usually go for the open bin like these on amazon. I love the variety of prints, colors and textures you can find. These are awesome because they fit on a shelf, in a cube, or in a drawer (don't forget if you want to hear my rant on drawers, go HERE).
My final closet tip are these shelf separators that I stumbled upon by mDesign. These are great on the typical builder grade wire closet shelf, since they have the undermount hooks to keep the shelf in place. I will say there are cheaper acrylic versions, but unfortunately I don't know how well they work with the wire closet racking. What I appreciate about these separators is keeping some sort of order for those folded items on my shelves. Sweaters, sweatpants..things that can easily get a little wild, these are perfect to keep the sections neat. Not only in clothes closets, but I think these would be great in pantries or linen closets as well to help organize towels and sheets.
Okay...that's a lot for the closet..and this post is quickly going past a 4 min read. So, lets wind it down.
Alignment is all about order, organization, rest and peace of mind. When your spaces are in order and your home feels functional, all of those things come easy.
You owe it to yourself to create a peaceful organized space for yourself and your family. Let me know if you try any of the storage solutions in this post.
Stay tuned. As always, these are absolutely my thoughts.
~ratedpg.