It’s everybody’s dream to wake up to an organised wardrobe (hey, we have humble hopes here at IDEAL). You no longer have to rummage through piles of clothes to find the shirt you need or waste the first half of your morning mulling over the chaos you’ve created, which, when looked at with a particularly critical eye, is emblematic of the wider chaos your life has become.
If you’ve woken up and finally decided that today is the day you make this modest dream a reality, then you’ve come to the right place.
Organising your wardrobe should neither be tedious nor should it be complicated. Instead, it can feel pretty fulfilling in the right, dexterous hands. Rather than being hopelessly devoted to the latest cleanfluencer’s doctrine or the KonMari method, proper wardrobe organisation is all about setting yourself up for success by organising in a way that suits your existing habits and needs.
We all have idiosyncrasies in the way we like to fold, classify, hang and throw, but with these key tips, you’ll have all bases covered. Unless, of course, you’d like to leave some uncovered for your next ASOS spending spree. Here are 6 ways to organise your wardrobe, once and for all.
DONATE, KEEP, THROW
Is your wardrobe overflowing? There’s a huge chance that you don’t use around 50% of what you have in your closet. Before you start organising, what you need to do is be ruthless with your existing collection. After all, a good clearout is the ultimate way to make some space and, in turn, make organising so much easier.
Identify which clothes you can donate, which ones you should keep, and which you can throw out without regrets.
Many people organise without first decluttering, and this automatically makes the whole effort more frustrating and expensive. You’ll be spending on baskets and dividers to keep things you don’t actually use, and that’s a waste of money and your valuable time. Simplify the process and give your closet space room to breathe by lessening its load from the off.
INVEST IN DRAWERS
No matter what your closet looks like, there’s always a way to add drawers to help you isolate different articles of clothing. You can invest in some tension rods and baskets to establish levels, or you can get a shelving unit that fits in your wardrobe.
Whatever you go for, make sure that it has enough drawers for every subset of clothing you have, placing the most frequently used items near the top for easy access. The top two drawers could be for leisure clothes and underwear while the bottom ones are for your shirts and activewear. Be regimented and disciplined in the way you divide your wardrobe up to make outfit decision making feel almost automated.
USE DRAWER ORGANISERS
Now that you have drawers installed to separate your clothes, let’s dial down a little into the details. What you now need is to keep them from becoming a tangled mess – because once all the shirts or shorts get together in a group, they can start feeling a little too comfortable, as siblings do, and things can get chaotic, fast.
The solution? Buy some drawer organisers to give each shirt, undergarment and scarf a space of their own within their familial unit. Not only will this make it easier to find them, but their relative similar sizes make folding, stacking and categorising feel almost thrilling to those who just love to clean lines and right angles.
SPARE A THOUGHT (AND SOME SPACE) FOR YOUR SHOES
As the old German proverb cautions, ‘’Don’t throw away your old shoes until you have a new pair.’’
But what if you can’t find an old shoe or find room for a new pair? What then?
If scattered and misplaced shoes are the bane of your life, then firstly; you’ve got it easy. But more importantly, the solution is to get them off the floor. Purchase a small shoe rack that you can fit inside your closet, nestled in at the bottom, and utilise it. Doing so will free up some much needed floor space and give you a little peace of mind, too.
Alternatively, there are space-saving alternatives available today that allow you to stack shoes on the wall like you see in shoe shops. Having a designated place for them that is as stylish as it is functional (and not to mention, visible) will encourage you to keep them off the floor and organised at all times.
HANGERS & HOOKS FOR YOUR YOUR BAGS
Like your shoes, your bags are easy to lose track of. By dedicating a space for them in your wardrobe, you can give them a home and decrease the temptation to just put them anywhere in the house that’s superficially convenient. As we mentioned earlier, automating your tendency to tidy is the best way to keep things as organised as possible.
Most closets have top shelves and empty vertical space where you can neatly tuck in your bags. Alternatively, get some hanging organisers, hooks, or peg boards that you can fit into the excess spaces in your closet. This could be behind the closet door or at the back of the wardrobe itself, where there’s room to hang them. However you want to do it, make sure that you’re keeping your most frequently used bags as the most easy to access.
STORE AWAY SEASONAL ITEMS
Seasonal items tend to eat up a lot of space that’s better utilised for things you need now. Since there are clothes, accessories, shoes and bags that you won’t be using until next winter or summer, you might as well store them neatly away.
One of the most convenient solutions to this is to place them in any suitcases you might have at home. Alternatively, vacuum pack bags, which you can shrink tightly using your hoover, are fantastic for storing seasonal items – whether that’s under your bed, in a cupboard or above a shelf – that you won’t need for a while. You’ll notice that swapping items as the season changes will make your wardrobe less crowded and, therefore, more manageable.
CREATE A SYSTEM
Every man needs a code. And every organisation-obsessive needs a system. So, utilise drawers, hanging organisers and storage containers in a way that suits your preferences. Most importantly, everything should have its right place, where it always ‘lives’. That way, you can automate your clothes tidying routine into something slick, smooth and seamless.
If your organisational ambitions stretch beyond your wardrobe and you’re keen to cover the whole house, then check out these IDEAL home organisation tips for decluttering like a pro.