Organize Your Clothing in 3 Simple Steps

If it's time to go through your or your family’s clothing, but you find yourself wondering, "where do I begin?", this step-by-step guide is for you!

Step One:
It’s time to purge! Go through your closet and dresser item by item. Decide what you need, use and love out of your clothing. The items that you no longer want might be worn out, out of fashion, or the wrong size. Decide if you should throw them away (think stains and tears) or donate them (think new or gently used). Create a bag for each, and make a plan for getting the donations out of your home. Decide where to take the donations, when and at what time. Create an appointment on your calendar and stick to it!

Step Two:
As you purge, sort the items you’re keeping like-with-like. Create piles (for example, on your bed) for each type of clothing: pants, shorts, sleeveless tops, short sleeve shirts, long sleeve shirts, etc. This will give you an inventory of what you own, and you may get rid of more once you see just how many pairs of jeans you have.  
If you’re keeping clothing in sizes not currently being worn, sort those items together by size. Store these items in the closet on high shelves or in bins in storage. For children's clothing, mark a date on your calendar when to incorporate the next size up into the closet.

Step Three:
Now that you’ve sorted and purged the clothing, it’s time to organize it! You can decide at this point what makes sense to hang versus fold based on the space available and the size of the category. For each hanging category, you’ll want to organize it in rainbow order from left to right on matching hangers. We love the slim velvet or acrylic hangers. Long items like dresses should go in the long hanging space. For the clothing going in your dresser, for example graphic t-shirts, we like to file fold, which means placing them in the drawer the way that files go in a file drawer. This gives you the ability to see what you have from above. If you’re putting folded clothing on shelves in your closet, shelf dividers are handy, as well. If you haven’t already, it’s time to organize the clothing that you’re keeping that’s too small or too big by size, either high up in the closet or in your basement storage room in labeled bins. Be sure to mark your calendar when it’s time to get that clothing out.  

Staying on top of clothing organization will reduce stress when you’re getting ready, and keep you honest about what you already own so you can change your shopping habits. As a bonus, an organized closet truly does look beautiful. As always, if you’re feeling stumped still or are overwhelmed by the thought of doing this we’re just a phone call away to help.  

Happy organizing!

​Melissa Fortino