BEST TIPS EVER FOR AN ORGANIZED CLOSET

Organizing a closet isn’t as daunting a task as you might think. The hardest part is getting started—focusing on the project and staying with it until it’s complete. Yes, it will take some time initially, but you’ll recover all that time plus more when you’re able to quickly find all your wardrobe faves in a newly organized space.

Rod extenders, slim hangers and hanging shelves are easy ways to gain more storage space from your closet.

It all starts with the three Ps—purge, plan and personalize. Remove everything in your closet, and divide it into three piles. If you love it and wear it all the time, put it in the keep pile. If it no longer fits or you haven’t worn it since the last presidential election, put it immediately into bags to either donate or toss. If you’re indecisive about a particular item, keep it for now, but when you place it back in your closet, turn the hanger backwards. If the hanger is still backwards in six to 12 months, you’ll know you haven’t worn it and it’s time to give it away or say goodbye.

Now look at what you have in the keep pile, and plan how you’re going to stash your stuff. Invest in slim hangers, which take up half the rod space of thick plastic or wood hangers. Another way to double your space is to hang a closet rod extender on an upper rod to create a lower rod.

For delicate blouses and dresses, use padded hangers to avoid hanger stretch marks along the sleeves or shoulders. Sweaters, especially heavy sweaters, should be folded, not hung. If your closet doesn’t have built-in cubbies, look for hanging shelves that attach to your closet rod. If your closet has built-in shelves, shelf dividers will help keep sweaters neatly stacked.

Now it’s time to personalize your closet. Make it easy to find anything by organizing your clothing by category—long-sleeve and short-sleeve work tops, long-sleeve and short-sleeve weekend tops, dress pants, dresses, jeans and date-night apparel. Then within each category, organize by color. Arrange your shoes in the same manner.

What you see is what you’ll wear, so put your favorites at eye level, and store your shoes in clear plastic boxes. Put your occasional go-to items below eye level. Hang your rarely worn pieces up high.