Closets have always been the bane of my existence.

It can be hard to keep them organized, it’s easy to just throw clutter in them and keep the door shut and when things aren’t organized it’s easy to wear the same three pieces of clothing over and over again because digging is too much of a hassle. I’ve always felt like as soon as I got my closet organized and functional it was pretty much ruined by the next laundry cycle.

That was until I came up with my system: CHEAP. Color, Hanger, Evaluate, Purge.

Now I will say I don’t do everything in that order, in fact it’s completely backwards, but I like acronyms, they make it easy to remember new systems you want to implement.

STEP ONE:

I start with purging what I actually wear and I get rid of any stained, damaged or old clothes I just don’t wear anymore. Then I look at what I have and get rid of any doubles that I’m not actually using. Donating is the way to go unless you have nice enough stuff that a consignment shop will take it. Purge whatever you’re getting rid of without a second thought. If you think twice you’ll tend to hang on to everything.

STEP TWO:

Then I move on to the evaluating stage. I lay out my clothes in the order I want them going in my closet. The items that are closest to the end are what I use the most. This is based on season and convenience. Right now my order is robes & pajamas, t-shirts, dresses, rompers & jumpsuits, cardigans, long sleeved shirts, sweaters, jackets, coats. As fall and winter approach I’ll switch them around based on my updated needs.

STEP THREE:

My third step is choosing hangers. A recent step in the system I figured out is choosing different hangers based on the category. So for example I’d use a black hanger on my t-shirts, a white t-shirt on my jackets, wooden hangers on my coats- and so on. This is because a. I don’t have the money to buy all new hangers to make it look uniform and b. this makes it look uniform and it’s easier to find your items because they’re sectioned off. So when you look at your closet you have easy, identifiable sections. You’ll see in the video.

STEP FOUR:

The fourth and final step is to organize by color. I’ve been doing this since before the Home Edit was popular, so, there. Hah, but anyways, I go in the order of Black, Grey, White, Pink, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple. By hanging in order of color you can see what you have a lot of, in my case, army green shirts. This also allows you to utilize all of your clothing because you can easily see what you have.

As for the rest of your closet, look around and see how you can utilize the rest of your space. I like to think vertically since you typically have more space that direction. I love these hanging closet organizers from Ikea that are $5!

I also love floor shoe organizers with multiple layers so that you can utilize all of your shoes. The rule of thumb is that if you can’t see it, you’re not going to use it.

As far as anything else that needs to go in your closet look for ways to hang or stack. Put shelves up above your curtain rod, utilize the back of the door with command hooks for purses or hats and utilize side wall space with hooks or nails. This will keep your items off the floor and easily accessible!

I hope you found this post and video helpful and that you’re inspired to do your own little closet refresh!

Happy organizing!

xoxo - Ry