My dresses are hung from sheaths to shirt dresses to shirt dresses that will only work for layering. My skirts are hung from mini to maxi. My sweaters are grouped by length – pant-length ones in one compartment, skirt-length ones in another – and then by weight.
But my sock drawer is a morass of slips and undies and gym socks and tall socks and miscellany. My shoes are all on neat racks, but summer is mixed with winter, tall boots with short, no rhyme or reason to any of it. Although my necklaces all hang neatly on their rack, my jewelry box is a nightmare, earrings vaguely organized by material, but mostly just piled in there. And I honestly can’t tell you why I am so meticulous about organizing my clothes and so decidedly lax about organizing my accessories. Or, at least, organizing them beyond large piles.
What are you wardrobe organization priorities? Which of your possessions are tidily cataloged and which are all in a jumble?
Image courtesy besha.
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Oh ha ha ha ha ha.
I love the posts on wardrobe organisation. (Not just yours, everybody’s.) It must be so nice to HAVE enough space to organise one’s wardrobe. I have one tiny 2′ wide closet, one petite armoire, and a shelf in the hall with my shoes on it. All are stuffed to overflowing and DRIVE ME THE HECK CRAZY. I suppose they are roughly organised into “sock drawer” (which is so overloaded I regularly lose socks down the back of the drawer and onto the floor of the armoire), t-shirt shelf, etc; “stuff that hangs in super-overcrowded closet” (I have no idea of half the things I have in there most of the time; probing the dark, unlit depths is a constant surprise); “sweaters that lurk in inaccessible shelf at back of dark closet in large pile”; and “shoes”.
Organisation is one thing I’m not at all good at.
I’m too indecisive to go to IKEA and buy a PAX or two, and anyway, when I work out how much storage space I’d really need, said PAX would cost at least a couple of grand. And where would I put it? It’s not like aside from the tiny closet my room (or apartment) is spacious….
yeah, wardrobe organisation. Just thinking about it is enough to make me want to wear nothing but three bottoms and seven shirts exclusively and throw everything else out the window, on fire.
LOL my sock drawer is the same way. It’s got winter socks, think summer socks, workout socks, a couple pairs of tights, a slip or two and who know what else is lurking in the bottom part. It’s just so difficult to keep it organized. – Katy
I do find the underwear hard to keep organized. And my shoes (while not numerous) are all willy-nilly…
I’m happiest when I can find things quickly, so getting organized has been a priority lately. One thing that’s helped immensely is this jewelry armoire:
http://www.qvc.com/qic/qvcapp.aspx/view.2/app.detail/params.item.H86082.desc.Gold-Silver-Safekeeper-Mirrored-Jewelry-Cabinet-by-Lori
Being able to see what I have, and find what I want, has been worth every penny of that investment.
Oooo, I dream of getting one of those jewelry armoires! Alas, the bedroom is teeny & there’s nowhere to put it unless we did some major rearranging. But that one is a great price…
They make a wall-mount version as well, if that helps.
My silk scarves are always a mess, because I can’t seem to keep them folded. I have at least 30, which I use for belting or headbands mostly. Last year, I took a HUGE dresser drawer, folded them all, and just placed them next to each other. Worked like a charm, but I’m no longer in that space, and all my storage is now very limited. I finally hung a shoe organizer in my closet, and sorted all the scarves by color into the various cubbies. That system hasn’t lasted long- it’s a total mess right now, but other options in this space are extremely limited, so I’m not sure how to fix it. My t-shirts are stacked on two small shelves, but the problem is that every time I riffle through them, I feel like I have to refold them all. My socks/tights are never a problem, because I keep them rolled, and my handbags are either tucked on a shelf, or hanging inside my closet door.
I just made my own boot forms, by cutting the top off one water bottle, flipping it upside down, and taping it to a second. Since I don’t drink, it was too difficult to get my hands on many wine bottles, and most other bottles are too short/ take a long time to empty. They seem to be working fairly well!
Eliza, I have a few of these friction “belt loops” with my scarves hung up on them, and they work very well. http://www.amazon.com/Richards-Homewares-Friction-Belt-Loop/dp/B000IF9HRY/ref=sr_1_13?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1291741137&sr=1-13
Amazon also has stack-style friction scarf/tie hangers: http://www.amazon.com/Friction-Tie-Rack-Scarf-Hanger/dp/B000R17YV0/ref=sr_1_3?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1291741198&sr=1-3 – although since I’ve got stack-style shirt hangers, and find them a bit pesky when accessing lower-level shirts, they might be a similar pain. Still, those who have no space can’t be choosers.
I am absolutely enamoured of the super-thin fuzzy friction-style hangers, by the way. Not only do the scoop necks I favour not fall off them, I can hang about three times as much in my closet as I could with the bulky wooden hangers I had before.
I am ashamed of my sock/hosiery drawer currently- and ack the sweaters.
But I am pleased with my hanging garments for the moment.
Marie @ Lemondrop ViNtAge Christmas bracelet giveaway
I love it! I also have a jumbled sock drawer. Other stuff isn’t so well organized either, but it’s the worst of the worst for me.
I seperate gym socks from other socks. I’m always in a rush to get to the gym so I don’t like to pick through them to find matches.
I’m more curious as to what you consider skirt length sweaters vs. pants length sweaters?
For my proportions, I wear longer tops with pants, shorter tops with skirts. Pant-length tops bisect my butt in back. Skirt-length tops hit about three fingers below my bellybutton. This is no hard-and-fast rule, as all women are built and proportioned differently … but, generally speaking and unless you are trying to balance a long or short torso or legs, slightly longer shirts work better with pants, slightly shorter ones work better with skirts.
Stemming from my 5 years in clothing retail, my closet is organized by item, and then in rainbow order by color. I have an entire section of layering tanks/camis, which I should probably be embarrassed about (but I’m totally not!).
A couple of weeks ago, I decided that I HAD to do something about my tights. I went to Target and got one of those cheap over-the door shoe holder things (you know, with the clear pockets?). That is now on the inside of my closet door holding all of my tights (arranged by color, of course!). That’s one of the best things I’ve done recently! I still have a hot mess of shoes that I need to figure out a solution for, but my closet is *almost* exactly how I want it. Yay!!
My camisoles, tights and favorite bras tended to live in a huge pile in my closet until a few weeks ago. I bought three fabric bins and use one for each category, and that has helped my mornings tremendously.
Oh, goodness, I wish my hanging items were that organized. I am afraid I do the bare minimum of organizing. My skirts (and a couple pairs of pants) are hung on one side of the closet and tops are on the other side. I don’t do any additional organizing of my skirts, but I do organize tops by color. My dresses hang in a separate armoire and I try to organize them by color as well, but that doesn’t seem to last long.
My dresser drawers, however, are a hot mess. Tights are separated from my socks, but all of my socks are together in a big jumble. Same with bras and undies. And this in spite of the fact that I have drawer organizers in there. Oh, well. The best laid plans of mice and men, right?
My shoes are also only slightly organized. I store most of them in boxes on the top shelf and they are organized by type (flats, booties, sandals, etc). But, again, there is no second (or third level of organization).
Also, like Heather, I am curious as to what constitutes a skirt length sweater versus a pants length sweater. I guess I do have sweaters that I only wear with one or the other, but I never thought of categorizing them that way.
Just replied to Heather!
After remodeling/rearranging my room last week, Everything ever is organized (and may or may not be labeled). Everything has it’s own little place. Makes my OCD self very proud.
Just when I had my whole wardrobe nicely moved in, my tiny NYC apartment was hit by bedbugs. Now, after washing and drying everything I owned at the laundromat it is organized in clear plastic and giant ziploc bags. So despite this wardrobe catastrophe (and accidental felting of some of my handknits) everything is more organized than before, but not really accessible, but I’ve been living out of plastic bags for months now throughout the “apartment chemotherapy”. If you are really into organizing and safekeeping your closet I can only recommend to pack up your most beloved items and valued in airtight plastic bags in case of any bug invasion, especially if you live in tight quarters.
One of my favorite topics!
I have been told I’m a freak bec. I fold my underwear. Ok, so I like tidy drawers, in more ways than one! Apparently, everyone else in the world (like my husband, his family, my female friends) just throws their undies in a drawer. My mom taught me to fold them, kinda like you’d find in the displays at fancy lingerie stores. So I’ve done it that way since I was a kid.
I’m also nitpicky about organizing my tights — sorted by pattern & age/condition (they’re almost all black, so color doesn’t really work). Newest tights always go up front in each row, patterned & stripey tights have a row to themselves, knee-highs have a separate row.
Clothes are sorted by color & formality. Again, most are black, so it gets to subtleties of short-sleeve summer casual to long-sleeve dressy & suchlike.
I do need to better organize my jewelry, bec. it’s bursting out of the few boxes I have for it. I’m much better at pruning the other stuff, but one can never have too much bling
I fold my underwear. My mother folds underwear. But I really learned how to fold underwear for small spaces from my ex-husband when he joined the military – the Army Panty Tuck really does keep the underoos stacked and corralled in a cramped drawer! (If only the Sock Roll worked the same way for socks! But I think I just have too many socks, and too many other things, and no amount of folding is going to create a closet Tardis for me.)
I tie knots in one leg of tights that have an unobtrusive run or weird wear or pulls – you know, not good enough for a short skirt and small shoes, but okay under thigh-highs with boots. Then I can identify them immediately when I pull them out of the seething mass and unroll them.
This is what is on my mind every day now since I just moved into a new house and am setting up my closet, the first walk-in closet I have ever had even though it is an 1890 house. Still, it is small, not like in Real Simple magazine or anything, and I was worrying how I was going to share it with husband. Looks like it will work out, having fun figuring out where to hang jewelry and scarves and with what hooks, etc. I hang my tops by color and bottoms by color and always switch seasonal stuff in April and October, shoes too, which is easy for a New Englander as seasons are pretty defined. My closet is usually neat as a pin after I have done the seasonal switch and gets progressively messier during the next 6 months! Love looking at how other people organize and have enjoyed seeing Sal’s necklace racks and ways of hanging scarves and displaying bracelets!
Haha, the only thing that has any kind of organization is my closet, minus the shoes and right now that’s a mess. It will all be organized again though when I go on my cleaning spree next week before my parents and grandmother arrive at my house for the first time!
I worked at a Plato’s Closet for a while and their big thing is to size and colorize so everything in my closet is colorized in sections. Short sleeve blouses in the front (white/brown, then in order of the rainbow, then black). Long sleeve shirts/sweaters are next now that it is cold, then my 3 pairs of pants, skirts, dresses, and coats. All organized by color. Then, all of my purses/scarves/belts are hanging on a belt hanger lol. My shoes are in a closet organizer but it’s not working. I really need more storage stuff!
Lots of good organizing ideas here! Our little mid-50′s ranch home is storage-challenged and I use layering hangers (the ones with a hook so another hanger can be attached). This method works rather well and I can organize by color. I have hung some of my larger scarves on pants hangers so as to minimize wrinkling and creases.
Just came across your site for the first time and I love it!
In terms of organization, I’m pretty lucky because our apartment has lots (read: 3+) of closets and my husband only requires one of them. I keep organized by separating items by closet (one for tops, one for dresses, skirts and pants, etc) and I’m crazy about keeping my shoes organized. I will switch them out each season so the ones I’m most likely to wear at that time are on the top of my shoe racks.
I would love tips for sock organization! Even though they have their own drawer, sometimes it’s hard to find the ones I want!
My priority was to organize the big stuff, so my closet is really, really organized. I hang things by color and within color it goes by sleeve length (sleeveless, short, 3/4, long) and warmth (lightweight to heavy). Skirts and pants are organized by season. Summer shoes are on one side of the closet, winter on the other, all-season in the middle. I love having a walk-in closet.
Lowest priority for organization? My sock and underwear drawer and I can live with that. I would have a much harder time getting ready each morning if my closet wasn’t organized.
It just hit me: I only organize and neat up my kids closet… And my husband’s. I usually fall behind so my lingerie and socks drawers are a m.e.s.s. . The same thing happens to my kitchen spices – they seem to have a mind of their own and fall out of order / place within a day or two after cleaning the rack.
oh and my shoes are pretty much in the same shape, except for the summer season ones. Those are kept in boxes, neat and clean and ranged away. The same happens with the cold weather shoes when seasons change. However, when it comes to the current season shoes assortment, they’re a double m.e.s.s – piling up after each use with no respect for common sense organizing rules.
I organize my clothes so I can see them , though that is no easy task in a dorm with the stupidest clothing shelves ever. Big and deep, so tons of space is wastes because the clothes simply won’t stack that high without spilling out.
But earrings? How can you allow earring to be tangled up into one big mess? I hate untangling earrings. I make myself earring holders…. I went to a thrift store and found some decent wooden picture frames, took out the glass and paper, and stapled in window mesh. The posts fit perfectly into the mesh holes, all the earrings can be laid out neatly, and the picture frame is relatively flat and can easily be stashed out of the way.
Great post, Sal. Closet organization is a great mood boost..and after a tidy-up or re-organization, I always discover a few pieces I *love* but have forgotten about. My tops, cardis, and blazers are all together, organized by color. Things that are out of season get swapped out, though recently I’ve stretched out the season for summer clothes with layering (thanks to you and academichic for the tips!). For skirts, I use cascading hangers to maximize space. My favorite closet solution, though, is the shelving set up inside the hall closet to house & display my frequently in use shoes. Scarves also stay in the front closet (why, I don’t know, I guess it feels like outwear?), the long or bulky ones over hooks on the wall and the smaller or silk scarves in a basket. And Kelly, thanks for the tip on the earrings in a picture frame – I do something like that, but love the idea that I could actually mount it on the wall and get it off my dresser!
I’m very OCD about my closet, so it’s organized by type then color. But I moved in August for college and let’s just say that the closet at my college apartment has nothing on the one back home. So I’ve relaxed on certain aspects. My jeans are now just a folded pile on top of the closet. But I still have to have my dresses organized and my scarfs and hats all have hooks.
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