So for the next month I’m going to attempt something I’ve not done before. I’m joining in on the 31 days movement over at the Nesting Place. The goal is to write on a single topic for the entire month of October. While I’m not too worried about the writing on one particular topic since I’ve basically done it here for the past 7 and a half years, I AM worried about the writing every single day thing. So we’ll just have to see how it goes. I’ve decided to write on something I love to organize. CLOSETS. Introducing the 31 days to organized closets series.
PS: That cute girl is not me. I just loved how happy she is in her closet 🙂
What’s not to love about closets. Big or small they are an excellent source of storage when the space is maximized efficiently. And maximizing space is what I do best. It’s a challenge for me, a game of trying to make all the pieces of the puzzle fit accordingly. So we will get into it this month. Hopefully you’ll gain some ideas for how to organize your own closets. Each post will have a quick closet organizing tip that might include things like different organizing product ideas and closet examples for inspiration.
I will use this post as an index so if you ever want to see all the posts at once, please click on the happy closet girl on my sidebar and you’ll be directed back here.
Day #2 The Closet Plan
Day #3 11 Rules to Help You Declutter Your Clothes
Day #4 Easy Closet Boot Storage
Day #5 Organized Linen Closet
Day #6 Inexpensive Closet Organizers
Day #7 Small Master Closet Organization
Day #8 Closet Organizing Via Pinterest
Day #9 Free Printable Closet Labels
Day #10 The Catch-All Storage Closet
Day #11 Neat Containers for Your Closet
Day #12 Hanging Skirts Solution for Kids
Day #13 Every Closet is Crying Out for Thin Hangers
Day #14 Organizing a Small Entryway Closet
Day #15 Organizing Kids Clothes & Hand-Me-Downs
Day #16 Organizing Bras with the Bra Tree
Day #17 Create a Closet Office
Day #18 Wrong Size & Seasonal Clothes Storage Solutions
Day #19 How to Organize a Kids Coat Closet
Day #20 Shelf Dividers for Your Closet
Day #21 Add a Dresser/Armoire/Bookshelf to Your Closet for Additional Space
Day #22 Organize Your Scarves & Hats with Shower Hooks
Day #23 Free Organize Your Bedroom Closet Printable Checklist
Day #24 Need a Personal Assistant? Create One With a Hall Closet
Day #25 Organizing His Closet
Day #26 10 Tips for Organizing a Child’s Closet
Day #27 Organized Teenage Boy Closet
Day #28 Maximizing Space with a Closet Extender Rod
Day #29 Organizing a Gift Closet
Day #30 Maintaining an Organized Closet
Day #31 Closet Door Storage Space
To start us off, and to help me know how to best help you, I I’d love to know which closet in your home you struggle with the most and why? Can you find what you need when you need it? Does stuff fall on your head when you open the door?
P.S. If you have a closet before and after success story and would like to be featured here send me an email at organizingjunkie(at)gmail(dot)com.
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Amanda says
Since I live with a roommate I only have 2 closets that are “mine” to deal with. My clothes/bedroom closet definitely gets a little disorderly but since it isn’t a walk-in I feel like it never gets TOO crazy. My ugly mess is actually my bathroom linen closet. It’s half toiletries & linens and half storage for items I don’t have storage for elsewhere (binders, bags, etc.). I’ve been ignoring the top shelf for a year ha!
Gina says
We have gotten rid of our bathroom and a bedroom closet to redo our main bath…so our upstairs coat closet houses a bunch of miscellaneous junk…I’d love to make it a pantry, but don’t know what to do with it all! I’m looking forward to this series of yours!
Linda@Creekside says
Oh Laura, you’re going to LOVE 31 Days! This is my 2nd year and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world! Way too much fun!!!
;-}
Mary @ A Productive Endeavor says
That happy closet girl is from an ad from Clever Container! I sell it and we have organizers for the closet! http://www.mycleverbiz.com/verymary
Laura says
Isn’t that funny Mary. They must have purchased the same istockphoto as that’s where I got it from. She’s so cute 🙂
Mary @ A Productive Endeavor says
I LOVE YOUR BLOG btw! I just got extra motivated to comment bcs I recognized that chick! :o) Looking forward to Oct with you!!
Lisawpt says
The closet I struggle the most with is our coat closet. When my parents died within a year of each other, I accumulated a lot of things that I don’t really know what to do with and not certain I want to purge just yet. So it all got crammed into all available space in all closets, but the coat closet is the most crammed at the moment.
Denise says
How to get the most pout of a small closet. We live in a home with TINY CLOSETS. All organizational tips are for average and larger, my closet is for clothes, shoes purses, etc. Help those of us that live on older no closet homes!
NanH says
I would have to say that all of the clothes closets seem to be a challenge for me. I try to organize them..but since every person in our family.. myself.. husband and both of the kids.. have different items in the closet. I find it hard to use one set of organization tool and ideas and apply it to every closet. I find myself constantly looking for ideas and inspiration.
Andrea says
The linen closet which also stores paper plates, napkins and plastic utensils for parties, vacuum cleaners and heating pads…
Ann says
OMG (sorry to use that way-overused exclamation) My bedroom closet is a horror. In fact, right now I have a rolling clothes rack in front of it, with the clothes I usually wear because nothing else will fit in there.
I know I need to do a purge, but every time I start–I just can’t toss things into the donate pile. I know I’m supposed to, but they just don’t make it into that pile!
Lilyana says
My room is a complete mess with me, my husband and 3 year old in it… The worst part is the fact that our room doesn’t have a closet. Not sure what to do about it.
Lisa Muniz says
I posted over on Facebook but I thought I’d comment here too. My daughter’s closet is the one that bother’s me the most. She’s got the whole length of the smaller wall in her room but the space is not set up efficiently at all. She’s got two smaller closets on each end of the wall and a larger area in the middle that used to house a pull out full sized bed. My husband really needs to do some construction in there to get her a functioning closet, but money and time are an issue right now so we are trying to work with what we have. She’s got her dresser in there (her room is really small too) and so much space is wasted that could be utilized going up (8 foot, I believe). If you look at my website link you can see a portion of the closet in two different pictures when I did a challenge with you in the Spring. It never got finished because we went on vacation before the challenge was over and lost momentum. I look forward to reading your tips.
Tyna says
My daughters closet! Three girls ages 11, 5, and 3 share a room and a closet. It has a high shelf too high for any of them to reach, and funky shelf things on the bottom that they put their shoes on, but is so ineffecient! We need to lower a rod or two so the little girls can reach their stuff, but have a higher shelf so the older one can put stuff up without little ones going thru it. Plus it needs to have toy storage, and somewhere to put clothes that are out of season/size until they make it to the garage…
Lynne B says
We just moved into a rental home (military move) leaving wonderfully organized closets behind us. Now, the four feet of space above the one foot shelf in a home I don’t own (no big construction jobs in our future here) just laughs at me as I am surrounded by the half unpacked boxes waiting to be put away in spaces I no longer have.
Jeanette says
I struggle with my linen closet b/c I’m a linens junkie! I have alot of sheets, bedding, and too many pillows cuz I love the change them out alot. (decorative pillows) I would love to see some linen closet organization!
Diane R. says
Jeanette,
This idea popped into my head after reading the comment about your linen closet. Perhaps you can purchase some of those vacuum storage bags for your linens. By placing each set of linens in a bag, then vacuuming it down, you will greatly reduce the amount of space needed. You could also group pillows together in a bag. I have seen the bags at the Dollar Tree, although I don’t know of the quality of those particular bags. Just a thought. 😀
Stacey says
My bedroom closet is a walk-in that also serves as my dresser, shoes and hair & makeup getting ready area as we only have 1 bathroom. I have organized it many times but it will not stay that way!
I need to contain the makeup and hair tools, organize the clothes and tidy up the shoe area.
Liz says
I need all the help I can get with ALL of my closets but at the moment my bedroom clost needs the most HELP!! Looking forward to this challenge 🙂
Sarah says
We just purchased our first home and had our first baby in the same week. Literally, I brought baby home to the first night we ever spent in our new house! Anyway, I am having trouble organizing anything. A post on organizing after a move would be amazing. I haven’t searched recently, but most of the information I found before we moved was about organizing a move or organizing your packing, not organizing your unpacking.
Jenni Shaver says
My daughter has 4! (!!!) closets in her bedroom. I have claimed two of them for family use. She is 4 and has a clothes closet and a toy closet. One of these claimed closets is the junk place in our house. If we think we need it and can’t find anywhere else for it, it goes there. Unfortunately, because it in is her room and she sleeps during the most productive times of my day, we just throw things in there and walk away. It needs major help!
Dixie says
My linen closet is a mess. I cannot keep it organized because so many people get into it. I need a system that others will follow.
Jenny says
I like organizing closets in the spring and fall as I change over my wardrobe from warm weather to cool weather clothes!
Lisa @ Paintbrush & Screwdriver says
I found you via The Nester.
Our master bedroom closets are always a wreck! I’m looking forward to reading you 31 Days series 🙂
Holly says
Can’t wait to read what you write! I am in the process of organizing closets. We moved in a year ago. My children now have their own rooms and their own closets! Yay! I no longer have to store away off season clothes. However I am in the process of minimizing their clothing, keeping only what they wear and need, getting rid if all the extras. I struggle with hand me downs. They seem to be a blessing and a curse. We are also making our coat closet into a mud room look. A place for back packs and coats. We took down the bar and we are adding hooks. The closet is right beside our garage door. Can’t wait to see if you have some ideas I can use!
Sarah says
My master bedroom closet! Its supposed to be a walk in closet, but for some reason we can never actually walk in it! Its the catch all for everything we don’t want our children to get into. Help, please!
Liz in Georgia says
My clothes closet needs help!! Since moving into a new house with 2 closets, my hubby has his OWN…SO I don’t keep up with mine very well since he isn’t in there complaining about the mess!
BUT I am very frustrated about organizing shoes since I did not inherit a shelf for such things and my last house had a perfect built-in shoe shelf. Right now I just keep shoes in a basket and they are SO hard to find!! MY closet is a HUGE walk-in, but with very little storage solutions…just places for hanging clothes. SO I have stuff piled on the3 floor!
Also, I never have a great solution for sweaters…when I hang them up they lose shape, but I don’t have a good shelf system for them, either. I always give up because shelving systems are so expensive….but I do dream while looking on pinterest at the fabulous closets!!!
ANY help with this would be appreciated!
Jennifer says
I have a large walk in closet with a craft area in the back L. I can’t even reach the desk any more and I have to step over piles to get anywhere. I am in the process of loosing weight (15 lbs from goal) so It is easier to give away the large clothing, it is just time consuming. Organizing seems SO far away.
Karen says
My master closet!!! It needs some serious help. We have hanging shelving all the way around. (just one) It holds all of our clothes and coats. We “pile” things on top. The bottom, honestly, looks like we just throw things in and close our eyes! LOL I am a little ocd about some things, including having things organized, so you can feel my pain. There just isn’t enough storage in there. It holds 2 bow and arrow sets, Christmas presents, hunting clothes, luggage… clothes that we “hang on to”. It is one area that I have let slide.
Vanessa says
We renovated our house for 9 months before moving in. Now we’re in but other than our master closet, which my husband just double poled for us, we have no shelving, hooks, poles,etc in any of our closets. I am not big on closet systems or wire shelving but would love your suggestions for making the closets adaptable to our changing needs as things evolve in our new house. Permanent shelves? Adjustable ones? How to make a single closet serve the needs of a utility closet/pantry all in one. This is the perfect subject for us – so I am looking forward to all your thoughts over the next month. Good Luck!
Mary Ann says
My master bedroom closet stays a disaster!
Jackie says
My entryway/coat closet is my biggest problem. It’s big and it has got so much potential but things just get shoved in every which way. It has surplus Christmas gifts, games, extra school supplies, boots, and oh yeah, coats. It really needs help.
Melissa Teets says
I need help with our master closet….it is one big open mess. It is organized as far as shirt, shorts, pants and that is about it….but is just looks messy and unorganized. It is approximately a 6 x 8 closet with those white wire shelves that go all the way around.
Angela says
My spouse’s walk-in closet drives me crazy. He is a pack rat, has to be present for me to donate or throw anything out. Plus he wants every single thing where he can see it or he will lose it, or at least that is his theory. Drives me bonkers.
Charli says
Oh my gosh is this completely relevant or what?
At the beginning of the summer my husband picked out our new apartment (whilst I was 1,000 miles away) and it contains a walk-thru closet in the master bedroom. This closet is one of three closets in the entire apartment and it is the largest. I also have to walk thru it in order to get to the bathroom. Which means it’s not a space I can just shut off and forget about except once a day while I grab my clothes.
Currently I must find out how to house four extra tubs of sentimental stuff and Christmas decorations in it from our storage unit that we decided to get rid of this week while looking like a space that I want to walk through a dozen times a day… And we’re on a tight budget.
pretty excited about this project month!
Kristin @ Yellow Bliss Road says
Now this is seriously something I need to follow! I’m HORRIBLE as keeping up on this! (Except my cleaning closet – that’s the only one that’s still organized and it’s probably a sign that I don’t use it often enough – LOL!)
Sabrina says
Great idea! Can’t wait to see how it turns out and all the before and after photos. =)
hsmominmo says
Master Bedroom Closet – hands down, THE worst. It’s where I hide things from curious eyes, and keep my gift stash, and shove what doesn’t fit anywhere else. So looking forward to this month long series – thank you for jumping in and giving it a go!
I did follow along with the big organizing challenge last year during the month of January – so helpful, because my coat closet and broom closet are still organized and easy to maintain. A huge amount of the credit goes to you, Laura. Your tips and no-nonsense approach to tackling my mess made it do-able. Thanks so much!
Laura says
You are so welcome, that’s awesome to hear!!
Selena says
We don’t have a linen closet! How would you propose I store bed sheets, comforters and blankets? We have 4 bedrooms with 3 different sized beds.
Laura says
Selena could you use the space under each of the beds in bins? Space bags also work well.
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Janet Barclay says
My bedroom closet is in pretty decent shape, but the closets in the office and other bedroom-that’s-not-used-as-a-bedroom are a bit trickier. My dad gave me some shelving units he didn’t need anymore, and they’ve helped somewhat.