By Sarah Welch and Alicia Rockmore
Assess your “biggest closet problem”
first: Do you have too many shoes for the space? Get a
better shoe system like an over the door organizer or hanging shoe
rack. Do you have too many clothes for the space? Get thinner
hangers to make more room. Having trouble finding your items in the
morning, divide the t-shirts, dresses, jeans, etc. into separated
sections. Or is it that you have WAY TOO MANY EXTRA things in the
closet? Find them a new “home” or contain them in one “extras” box
in your closet. Whatever your biggest problem in the closet is,
attack that first. The rest will be easier by default.
Recruit the Troops. No matter
how much of a super mom or dad you are, the whole family should
help with this task. Not only should it be your spouse and kids’
responsibility to organize their clothes, accessories and toys but
chances are if you try to do it without them, you’ll throw away
something that seems insignificant to you but important to them.
Plus you’ll cut your cleaning time way down.
Schedule Time: Block off an
hour on your calendar this week or next to tackle the problem. When
you actually carve out out the time, it’s amazing what you can
accomplish in an hour. If you don’t have a free hour, you should at
least be able to break it up into two half-hour sessions. If you
need to, arrange for someone watch the kids. Better yet, have your
spouse take the kids out of the house for an hour while you go to
work and then return the favor when it’s their turn to hit the
closets.
Start from Scratch. Take the
time to pull everything out of your closet and then throw away and
donate what you don’t need. If you don’t take it all out, chances
are you’ll just move the same unnecessary or unwanted items to
another part of the closet.
Declutter quickly. The easiest
way to declutter your closet is to get rid of anything that is not
clothing, shoes, or accessories. Bank statements, insurance
information, or tax documents should never be in your bedroom
closets. Pick up a
Life.doc to organize all of your most critical
information in one, easily accessible binder. Then get a
File.starter to file away all of your
important loose papers in a file cabinet or milk crate.
Organize in Sections.
Designate areas of your closets specifically for shoes, hats,
sweaters, etc and stick to them. This will save you time in the
morning when you’re looking for that black cardigan. If you only
have areas to hang items, put in shelves as this will better
utilize your space
Apply the 80/20 Rule: The
majority of clothes you have probably go unworn. We don’t know if
it’s true or not, but we’ve heard the statistic that the average
American only wears 10% - 20% of the clothes they own. Try to
eliminate some of the extras. As you rotate in your new wardrobe,
put those items that you haven’t worn once in the previous season
in a bag to give to charity or swap with friends. And anything with
holes in it should be either thrown out immediately or put in the
rag bin. Be ruthless!
Try the One in One out rule:
For each new item you buy to put in a closet, force yourself to
donate one item (or pitch it if it is past its prime). This will
keep the pack rat in you contained!
Keep It Up: Use 15 minutes a
week to straighten and deal with your closet for every week after
the “big clean” organizing day. When you tackle it BEFORE it
becomes a nightmare, you save more time and will have less stress
over it later.
Reward Yourself: Give yourself
a treat when this pesky task out of the way. Do something to
celebrate the clutter free closets like buying a stylish hanging
sweater organizer or even a new shirt. You’ll certainly have room
for it!
For more ideas on getting your life Buttoned Up, visit our website
at
www.getbuttonedup.com.
