Don’t Stress When Getting Dressed: 5 Tips to Clear Closet Clutter

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Do you feel stress every time you open your closet? Your closet should make you smile. The number one issue I see with clothing closets is that they are overstuffed. Try these tips to clear the closet clutter and make getting dressed easier.

  1. Start to dig into your closet. Pull out all the things that don’t belong there, like papers, tools, stuffed animals. Put these items aside to work on later.

  2. Gather and hang similar pieces of clothing together - shirts with shirts, pants with pants. Do the same with any items on shelves.

  3. Within each category of clothing, sort by color. This is an instant pick-me-up for your closet, and you’ll be able to see how many white shirts and black sweaters you actually have.

  4. Hang one item on a hanger or else it will be impossible to see what’s beyond the first layer of clothing.

  5. Organize your accessories. Use hooks to hang belts, bags, or jewelry. Clear out and donate items you really don’t use anymore. The top shelf of the closet can be for hats or dressy bags/shoes that don’t get used as often.

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Creating Storage in a Vintage Closet

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Closet storage is a top issue for my clients. Many of the homes I work in (including my own house, circa 1890) were built before walk-in closets were invented. Homes from the late 1800s, and even from the turn of the century to 1950 just didn’t have large closets.

In the typical New England house closet, you open the door and see one shelf near the ceiling, and then below a single bar for hanging clothes. To make this kind of closet work, I recommend either installing a closet system (like Elfa from The Container Store, which I’ve had installed in my antique closets) or using bins.

For this project, the client was storing baby items and outgrown kids clothes in this guest-room closet. We pulled everything out, then sorted and weeded. Some items were donated or went to another room. The remaining items were stored in clear bins with labels.