Overcoming Busy

Organizing My Closet

March 1, 2010 by Marci

My big organizing project for February was my master closet.  Right now, I have the largest closet I’ve ever had.  In fact, my closet is about the same size as the bedroom I grew up in.  It is 8X9.  Having closet space is not an issue.  I have space for my clothes, shoes and accessories.  The problem is since I have all that space, I tend to store stuff in the closet that doesn’t go there or just not get rid of stuff that just needs to go.

To start, I took everything out of the closet except the hanging clothes and laid it out in my bedroom.  That helped me see what was really on those shelves and covering my floor.

all the stuff that was in my closet

The next step was to get rid of stuff.  I went through the hanging clothes and the clothes on the shelves.  I had a large box and two garbage sacks of clothes for Goodwill and a local mission and a good stack of dress clothes for Dress For Success, along with a bag of purses and accessories.  There was also a garbage bag of stuff not even worthy to give away.

Next, I started to look at some things that were stored in my closet.  Did they need to be stored there?  Were they stored in a way that didn’t look cluttered?  Were they stored correctly? I needed to decide what actually belonged in the closet and make sure those were the only things taken back in.

First, my purses were stored on a high shelf in this box.  I had to reach up over my head to get the box down if I needed a purse.  Sometimes my grip on that box wasn’t so great and it would come tumbling down and I would just jump out of the way.

I purged some of the purses and put the rest on the shelf where I can see and reach them all.  Much better.  I, also, stored my black firebox with our important papers and my little stash of gifts up on that shelf.

My jewelry was stored in either a shoe box or on these panels I made a few months ago.  But, I never had a space to hang the panels.  I moved some clothes around and mounted the panels on the wall.  The other jewelry is now stored in a photo box that looks much better than that shoebox.

jewelry storage

After de-cluttering the shelves, I had room to store my photo boxes.  Actually, these are new.  I had some miss-matched photo boxes cluttering my floor before.  I went to Michaels craft store last week and caught photo boxes 3 for $5!  I grabbed three matching boxes.

my cluttered closet shelf

photo boxes on my newly de-cluttered shelf

When I walk in my closet now, it feels like it is even bigger!  Everything is organized.  The shelves aren’t cluttered.  Nothing is stored on the floor anymore.

the cluttered closet floor

my clean floor!!!

my husband's side of the closet

The pictures of my side turned out blurry and yucky and it is too late tonight to take anymore!!

I love my clean, organized closet.  The pictures may not tell the entire story.  My closet is so much better than it was.  I can see everything now!  To keep it that way, I need to be choosy about what I store in my closet and not use my floor as a storage area!

What area of your home needs organized?  Get some great inspiration at the 28 Day Organizing Challenge at Organizing Junkie.  There are lots of great befores and afters.  Who will be chosen as the winner?  We will know in a few days.  I think I should win!  My clean, organized closet makes me want to just sit in there and lock the door!  I bet I could fit a chair in there now!