No matter how out of control you’ve let your closet get, it’s never too late to give it some attention and organization. You guys might have seen how I organize my closet on Snapchat, but in case you missed it I worked with Julie Naylon, professional closet organizer of No Wire Hangers to get my closet under control. I decided to do a formal Q&A with Julie to give you all a few tips on how to have your most organized closet ever.
Julie has been helping me organize my life for about a year now. I’ll be honest it just isn’t something I’m good at. But after working together, Julie found new places to put things and how to fold and store them to maximize the space in my closet and drawers and now I *try* to stick to what she started. I very often do closet clean outs and thats the one thing I’m good at on my own. But if you want some help from a professional, I asked Julie to give her advice on how to organize like a pro.
So you’re standing in front of your closet, it looks like a hurricane hit and you’re pretty sure it’ll take about half and hour to find a pair of matching socks. How do you even start?
The first thing to do is make your bed. This will serve as the staging place to sort your clothes. Take everything out and sort by category. Some category examples would be “short sleeve tops”, “sweaters”.
If you could simplify organizing your closet, what would the steps be?
- Take everything out of your closet.
- Sort by category.
- Go though each category and pull out anything that you don’t love or won’t wear.
- Look for stains or any clothing that need repair. Everything in your closet should be ready to wear.
- Clean and vacuum out your closet.
- Put clothing back by putting away what you wear the most in the most accessible areas.
- Make it easy.
- Hang clothes by category and then by color.
- Bag and donate your discarded item and donate them within 24 hours.
We’ve all seen plenty of covetable closets on Instagram, but how can we get a (semi) luxe look on a budget?
Don’t buy a thing! You can create a killer looking closet by just the way you hang or fold your clothes. There are also some great repurposing hacks if you are on a budget. Reuse shoeboxes as drawer dividers.
What are absolute no-nos? Any common mistakes that make organizing your closet harder than it has to be?
Make sure you have the time to commit to it. I find that a lot of people underestimate how long the process can take. If you’re not working with a professional organizer you might want to break the closet down by category. So start by just organizing your shoes one day.
Some of us can get pretty sentimental when it comes to our clothes, any advice for well-meaning hoarders?
You should love and wear everything in your closet. Just because you loved it once does not mean you have to hold onto it forever. One of my favorite quotes I often refer to, “Holding on to a bad buy will not redeem the purchase”.
If a major closet cleanout is in order, what items should we splurge on? The right hangers? Stackable containers?
No Wire Hangers!!!! Great hangers are a must in my book. I love the slim line velvet hangers. Streamlining your closet with these hangers will give it a uniform look and will also create more space.
How do you know what to keep and what to toss?
There is only one question you have to ask yourself. “Do you love it?” Yes, do you love it? And remember, love is different than loved. One question I always ask myself, when it comes down to it, will I always choose to wear something else other than that piece? We only wear 20% of our clothes, the other 80% just hang there to make us feel secure.
How often should you do a closet clean out?
There are a number of approaches: seasonally, whenever it gets messy or you could practice the one in one out rule. Whenever you buy a new pair of jeans, one pair has to leave. This way you never have to do the overwhelming closet clean out again!
What are the best tips to keeping your closet or clothes organized everyday so it doesn’t pile up? (Everyone has a pile!)
Yes, everyone has a pile. My advice would be to make sure you schedule a time, like before you go to bed, to hang up and put away all of your clothes. When you have an organized closet it’s much easier to put everything away.
If this inspired you to give your closet a makeover, snap a pic and tag me so I can see!