Simple Tricks to Organizing Your Closets with Ease

If you are like most people, then you could always use more space in your home – and more space, in particular, in your closets. We tend to use closets as a catch-all for anything the belongs hidden away, including clothing, jewelry, coats, hats, shoes, and boxes filled with old items and keepsakes. Over time, the multitude of objects can take over the entire space, leaving no room for new additions, and creating unruly havoc that is difficult to browse through.

With just a bit of expert advice on organizing your closet, and the help of a closet organizer or two, you can easily add more room to your closets. Here are a few space-saving, and space-creating, ideas you can use in your closets, either to prevent things from getting out of hand, or to fix an existing clutter problem:

• Hanging vs. Folding: Depending on the setup of your closet, you may be able to increase space by either hanging up your folded clothing or visa versa. For instance, while at the moment you may have all of your button-down shirts hanging, it may be a good idea to fold the more casual ones instead, which will leave you more room on the closet rod. Alternatively, you may want to hang all your pants on a special closet rack rather than folding them, to create more space in your drawers and shelves. A good rule of thumb is to hang bulkier items, as they tend to take up a lot of shelf and drawer space.
• Switch to Drawers & Pull-out Closet Baskets: Traditional closet shelving units do not use closet space efficiently, since we usually place our items on the part of the shelf that is closest to us. This excludes all the valuable space behind those piles, which we don't use because it is difficult to see or reach. This problem can be easily solved with drawers and closet baskets that pull out. Pull-out wire closet baskets enable you to see all your folded clothing and to use the space behind that first pile, as well. Closet baskets also come in wood, metal, and other materials, depending on your tastes. These closet organizers are a wonderful way to increase space and accessibility.
• Remove Out of Season Clothing: If you have clothing that you only wear during the hotter months, store these away during the winter, and visa-versa. You can purchase storage bins that fit under the bed, in the basement, or even on those hard-to-reach shelves in your closet that are usually reserved for un-opened holiday gifts.
• Add a Rod or Two: if your closet only has one row of hanging clothing, purchase another closet rod, to add an extra layer of space. One idea is to place one rod high up and the other lower down, so as to separate between your shorter and longer garments.
• Organize Your Shoes: Although they are on the floor, shoes tend to take up more space than you realize. With a shoe organizer, you can store more pairs in one place, while also seeing the different pairs. You can then use your extra closet floor space to store other things, or insert another storage basket or two.

Enjoy these tips as you start organizing your closets. You’ll be amazed to see how much difference just a few changes can make!