How to Maximize Your Closet Space

If you’re like me, then a major complaint about your home is the lack of adequate closet space (a girls worst nightmare!).

While in some cases this is a legitimate annoyance, for many people it’s simply a matter of poor organization.

The old saying, “out of sight, out of mind” is often the culprit behind the problem of too little closet space.

Things end up in our closets in a haphazard fashion – which of course ends up cluttering things up and robbing us of space we need later on.

The answer for those of us who actually do have enough room in our closets is to get things organized.

Fortunately, this isn’t difficult to accomplish – even if you have a true disaster area going on in your closet, it can be done in one weekend.

A Simple Blueprint to Make More Room

To avoid feeling overwhelmed, work on one closet at a time. The first step is to remove everything from the closet. Just take it all out. You need a blank space in order to visualize how things will best fill up the available space.

Adding More Space to Your Closet

Standard closets have a shelf above the area where you hang clothes. For many of us this combination offers plenty of room for our clothes.

For others, it’s just a starting point and additional shelves are needed to make better use of the space we have.

Don’t underestimate the power of adding shelves to a closet!

Shelves are easy to install and they can really help store your things in a more orderly fashion.

Any home improvement store (Lowe’s, Home Depot, even Wal-Mart) will have everything you need to do this yourself. And, there are many varieties available depending on your closet space.

My Daughter’s Closet Makeover

My daughter just did something interesting and different (because she’s an original kind a girl).

She added shelf space to the bottom of the closet. It runs the length of the closet and sits up off the floor enough to keep shoes underneath.

I thought this was a very unique idea and it works great for the pants and shoes she wears most. The lessor worn stuff is still on the top shelf.

There was enough room on the bottom shelf so she bought a little shelf system that has basket storage. The baskets are perfect for her scarves, under garments and miscellaneous storage.

Installing Closet Shelves

Look for basic wood closet shelves in kits that include the brackets and screws you’ll need to hang them.

Or, if that’s not available, all you need is one or two planks of wood (depending on how long your closets are), some metal “L” brackets and dry wall anchors and screws.

One-inch thick pieces of planking that are 10-14 inches deep should suffice for most closet designs. Ask a salesperson to help you find the appropriate brackets and screws.

Putting up the closet shelves is very easy, and can be done using just a level, a pencil to mark where the bracket screws go into the wall, a drill and a power screwdriver.

Purge Unwanted Items

Now is the time to go through everything you took out of the closet and purge your clothing items. Things you should pay special attention to:

• Unwanted items
• Anything that looks horrible on you
• Out of style clothing
• Old, ragged items that need to be thrown away

Don’t hang onto things you don’t have a connection with, they will just take up much needed space.

Compartmentalize

Once you’ve got the closet set up as you want it, it’s time to organize what you had in there before it all goes back in.

The way to think about it is to compartmentalize your closet space. Basic closets have two flat surfaces (floors and shelves) above and below the main clothes hanging area.

Hang your clothes in a way that works best for you. Some ideas are:

• Hanging your clothes by color within types like: shirts, pants, skirts, blouses, dresses, etc.
• Hanging clothes by category such as: work, play, going out, etc.
• Hanging the hang-able clothes and using shelf space for jeans, shoes, baskets, etc.

Decide what best suits you and go from there. If you’re taking the time to organize the closets, don’t put everything back all willy-nilly or you’ve not accomplished much.

Don’t Forget the Floor

Floor space is your best ally! Instead of having your shoes lining the floor from end to end, get and use a revolving shoe tree. This lets you better utilize the empty space from the floor to the hanging clothes, freeing up the floor space for other uses.

With the extra space you can always store additional items in containers instead of taking up valuable closet or drawer space.

Use Stackable Bins and Drawers

If you have a lot of bulky clothing that you used to hang in the closet, use closet drawers or stackable plastic bins instead. Things like sweaters should go there during the warm months instead of hanging and taking up space. When the cold months arrive, switch out the sweaters for shorts and t-shirts.

Organizing Your Keepsakes

If you have space left on the upper top shelf space, many people will keep business papers, home insurance policies, family keepsakes, and other miscellaneous items there.

This is all fine and good, but instead of keeping these in an old box with no lid, put them in a small storage container for files. Or you can consider purchasing a fireproof filing cabinet.

Push them to the corner of the shelf so they’re out of the way. Use the central space for items you actually use, such as folded clothing (that isn’t worn much), hats, etc.

Don’t Drift into Old Habits

Avoid drifting back into those old messy, no closet organizational ways by keeping up-to-date on how you do things.

For instance:

• If you typically try on clothes for the next day’s work, school, walk in the park, whatever – it’s important to remember to hang them up as soon as you have finished trying them on.
• As soon as you have finished washing clothes, hang them up. Not only to keep a room clean, but keep the clothes wrinkle free.
• When you come home, don’t hang your coat on the banister or the back of a chair, hang it where it belongs.
• Go through your closets occasionally and purge the items that are not worn or used.

Set yourself up right from the start to make it easier every day to keep things organized!