Five Step “Pyramid” To Organizing Your Closets
Commit
Take Inventory
Measure The Real Estate
Decide on Specific Space Savers
Re-Think and Re-Store Your Valuables
Having a plan of attack when you set out on a home organization mission is critical to your mission’s success. Organizing your closets, although said to be the number one ambition for people who desire an organized home, seems to be the most difficult of all the organizing tasks. We just don’t want to get started because a) the task is overwhelming b) we don’t want to throw anything away or c) we don’t know how to store all our stuff. Struggling with these excuses is like climbing to the top of a pyramid; it’s exhausting. But, the climb down will be easy by comparison! Just follow the steps down the pyramid and you’ll be well on your way to your dream of a house full of organized closets.
Commit
Make the decision to organize one closet. I suggest you start with your least stressful closet; the closet in which you put the least amount of emotional attachment. Might I suggest your linen closet? Usually towels, sheets, and bathroom items can be culled successfully without tears. Now, mark your calendar! It won’t do any good to say “tomorrow I’ll clean the linen closet” because, as we all know, tomorrow never comes. Once the calendar is marked, pick a time to begin. Now, you have an appointment with your closet.
Take Inventory
You have arrived at your closet on the appointed day and time. Begin by carefully emptying out the contents of your closet into three piles or boxes labeled “Trash”, “Donate”, or “Keep”. I find that if I get all the trash out of the way first, it’s easier to figure out what you want to keep. Sort your items quickly, touch it and decide. You will be able to rethink your decisions before you finish your project.
Measure The Real Estate
Now that your closet’s square footage is visible, take a good measurement of the real estate you have in there. You’ll be building some kind of storage in that empty space, either by totally revamping the entire closet with built-in closet organizers, or adding stackable storage bins on the existing shelves. Either way, you’ll need to know the exact measurements of the space so you can shop for storage solutions without getting frustrated.
Decide on Specific Space Savers
It’s time to go shopping! This is the fun, but usually frustrating, part of the process. There are some great, may I say beautiful, storage solutions out there. Some of which are very expensive. Determining your budget is crucial. Figure out how much money you actually have to spend on this closet. What is the return value? In other words, is it worth a sizable investment or is this a closet that will not warrant a large expense. If plastic storage bins are your solution, do you need see-through containers? Are those plastic drawers something you could use? The closets themselves will probably determine which way to go with your budget and choices. Spending a lot of money on those pretty wooden modular storage pieces in a mud room closet is probably not wise. However, if it’s your master bedroom’s walk-in closet… now there is room for discussion. But, once again, there are plenty of storage pieces to choose from that fit every budget. Shop around, and ask the store’s return policy before you buy.
Re-Think and Re-Store Your Valuables
You have your piles of “Trash”, “Donate”, and “Keep” in front of you. The closet is all set-up with it’s shelves, drawers, and bins. You’ve even installed a light! You are ready. Here comes the hardest part you’ll go through since you first climbed the pyramid. Taking stock of what you really need. Your pile of “Keep” no doubt far exceeds the other two piles. Let’s begin with the “Keep” pile then, shall we? Lay out your items by categories of purpose and how frequently the items are used. If you have a whole lot of infrequently used items, do you still need them? You’ll see your “Keep” pile start to shrink rapidly now. Moving your rarely used items from “Keep” to “Donate” is going to be what makes this mission successful. Once you have moved your items around for the third or fourth time, stop, you’re thinking too hard now. It’s time to store your valuable items in their new home. Storing your items now should be a breeze. You know what you have, you may even have determined that this particular closet should be used for a different purpose, and you have the items you actually use neatly organized in their drawers or on their shelf.
Some people like to tear into their closets all at once. I prefer to take my closets on one-by-one. No matter how you like to organize, if you look at your task in terms of a pyramid, you’ll see that the hardest part is getting to the top to Commit. Once you have gotten there, and with each descending step carefully laid out in front of you, you can’t help but arrive safely back on terra firma.
Enjoy your newly organized closets and, the next time you commit to organize, check back here for even more Home Organization Ideas.
