10 Must Haves for a Perfectly Organized Closet

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Last updated on January 18th, 2023 at 04:51 am

Half the battle of an organized closet is arranging it in a way that is pleasing to the eye. When your clothes are organized, it’s a whole lot easier to make a decision when you get dressed in the morning. You don’t need a ton of fancy, expensive organizers to create a cohesive closet.

Today I’m sharing my must have products and rules I use to organize my closet.

1 | Non-slip hangers

Please, please, PLEASE throw away the wire hangers. They are meant for dry cleaners and unclogging the drains only.

Ok, now that that’s out of the way, I highly recommend non-slip hangers. Non-slip is especially important for women’s clothing since it tends to come in fabrics and styles that like to fall off plastic hangers.

Also, pick one hanger color and stay with it. No mismatched colors. Matchy matchy all the way.

Even if you choose not to go with non-slip hangers, go with hangers in one color. Matchy matchy.

2 | Proper sorting

Rather than mixing up your dresses with your shirts and jackets, sort your clothes by type and length. If you read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, it’s recommended to go long to short (left to right). If that’s counter-intuitive to you, or it just doesn’t work in your closet, go right to left.

The point is to keep clothing of the same type (i.e. dresses, jackets, tops, etc) and length grouped. Your brain and eyes will thank you when you walk in the closet to the perfect organization.

3 | Color coordination

 

Color coordination with your hangers isn’t just important for your hangers. It should also be done with your actual clothes. Color coordinate for three reasons:

1 | Save time.

2 | Keep from forgetting you own something.

3 | Make your closet look pretty.

You can coordinate using ROYGBIV (you know, the rainbow) or in some way that makes sense to you. It doesn’t matter how you do it as long as you do it.

4 | Cost per wear versus peace of mind

In other words, don’t buy clothes you will only wear once. I’m mostly talking about those special occasion type clothing. We ladies end up with a lot of fancy dresses that we usually only wear once.

Instead, try to borrow, swap, or rent these items. I’ll be renting a dress from Rent the Runway for a couple of upcoming weddings rather than purchasing a new dress for each event. I can rent a designer dress for $50 or less. In my mind it’s easier to not have a dress I spent a fortune on sitting in my closest for me to feel guilty about never wearing again.

5 | Seasonal purges

We don’t have many seasons in Southern California but I still make it a habit to purge items every couple of months. Some clothing you may have loved during that particular season the last couple of years may not have the same sparkle as it did before, so it’s better to let those ones go. You can see more about purging your closet in my last post.

6 | A year-round closet

Many organizers say to rotate your seasonal wear, but I never do. All my long sleeved tees and blouses stay out the entire year. It takes up less space than storing a big bin in the closet or under the bed. Plus, if you’re shopping any sales in the summer that feature fall clothes, you already know what you have and you won’t purchase a similar item.

7 | Fabric steamer

Since my clothes are typically made of light-weight fabrics, I got this fabric steamer. It saves me tons of time in the morning when I want to wear something that came out of the dryer nice and wrinkled (I’m talking to you, J.Crew shirt). It literally takes 60 seconds to heat up and only a few minutes more to take out the wrinkles on light fabrics. What’s the point in having an item in my closet I won’t wear because it’s wrinkled?

8 | Shoe organizers and/or matching shoe boxes

I wrote in this post about how I wanted a way to keep my shoes from getting dusty, so I used some shoe boxes for less than a dollar to organize them. If you’re wondering what happened to the boxes the shoes came in, I repurposed them. It is more aesthetically pleasing to have matching boxes, anyway.

If you don’t have a weird problem with dust, then a normal shelf organizer would be fine. Line them up pretty on the shelf and try not to just throw them in a pile when you’re in a hurry. Be aware that some shoe organizers are too short for high heels to stand up on a lower shelf.

9 | Attractive storage for jewelry and accessories

If your accessories are displayed in an appealing way, you may be more likely to wear them. I have a jewelry box is in my closet for my more special items, but I display my costume jewelry on the dresser. I also use a glass box to display sunglasses on the dresser. Use pretty storage for your prettiest accessories.

10 | A full length mirror

Even a cheap full length mirror from Walmart will suffice! Make sure your clothes look the way you want them to when you put them on. If not, into the discard pile it goes.

What rules and products are your go-to’s for keeping a perfectly organized closet?

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