CLOSET SERENITY: 5 THINGS THAT WORK FOR ME
ONE: DON’T OVERSTUFF YOUR CLOSET
Make your closet a primary storage area, meaning you are only storing things that you use frequently. Store the other stuff somewhere else if you can. If your closet is too crowded it makes things harder to find. Make sure everything in your closet has a well-defined and confined home. I use bins, drawer dividers, and labels wherever I can. Make sure you are keeping the floor of your closet clear and not putting things up too high. You want to be safe when accessing things. You want to make things very easy to locate and quickly access.
TWO: MAKE THINGS EASY TO GET TO
Make sure you can put away and retrieve your clothing items easily. When you make things one-motion this will make your life so much easier. I don’t stack folded clothing, I roll it up and put it in drawers or hang it.
THREE: GET RID OF UNUSED ITEMS
Get rid of eighty percent of the things you are probably not wearing and keep only the items that you are wearing frequently and love. Ask yourself, “How many shoes do I need?” “How many pairs of socks do I need?” and so on. Make sure the items in your closet are earning their right to be there!
FOUR: SORT IT OUT
Divide your closet up into zones (drawers, shelves, etc.) and work with each one, one at a time. First, take everything out and analyze it by asking the following questions:
- Does the current me use and love this item?
- Why am I hanging onto this item?
- Do I need so many of these items?
- Have I used this item in the past year?
- Could someone else be using this item?
After you have sorted through each zone, store the items you will be keeping in easy-to-find places. And deal with your unwanted items promptly.
Make getting dressed in the morning an easy thing. Make putting dirty clothes in the hamper easy by not having a lid on it and having it in a convenient place.
FIVE: ESTABLISH BETTER HABITS
When you finally have your closet the way you want it, remind yourself of the need to keep it that way. I put up a sign that says “Chaos-Free Zone”. It serves as a reminder to put things where they belong and not just throw things in there haphazardly. I also work on the put-away habit and make sure I get “closet serenity” before I go to bed. This means all clothes hung up on a hanger or a hook, dirty clothes in the hamper, laundry put away ASAP, etc. New habits take time and must be consistently worked on to become a permanent life change.