Organization

Now is the time to shove all of our heavy winter coats and boots to the back of our closet and shake out all of our light and bright clothing for SUMMER! I have to admit, I've been a little obsessed about organizing lately. I guess I just got tired of walking into my closet and seeing a hodgepodge of clothing; skirts mixed with shirts, hangers tangled in my jackets, and black with green and red with yellow. Time to take action! I logged onto the internet and read up on some great organizing tips from the professionals and I got some great ideas. So, I started out by hauling all of clothing out of my closet, then I got to work on sorting through my huge pile of stuff. Some I didn't even have to look twice before throwing it in the giveaway pile, others I tried on and then realized they were better suited in a Goodwill store. Then, while putting them back in my closet I realized that a certain sweater actually DID go with that particular skirt, and so on. Then, I hung clothing according to style and color. So black jackets with black jackets, and brown skirts with brown skirts. No more jumble, no more mess, no more digging through clothes to find my favorite black skirt. I LOVE it! The same thing goes with shoes, purses, scarves, etc. Organize it!

Here are a few tips for the ultimate closet organization:

1. Remove everything from the closet.
Whether you are organizing a clothes closet, a linen closet or a craft closet, you need to know exactly what you're dealing with. Take everything out of the closet and then clean down the shelves or vacuum the carpet. Cleaning the closet while it's empty is important to cut down on dust and grime.

2. Sort your items into 3 piles: "Keep," "Give away," and "Throw away."
Once you have taken everything out of the closet, look through your items. You probably have a lot of things stuffed in there that you don't even need. Sort your items into three different piles. The first pile is for things that you want to keep. The second is for items that you no longer want but that are still in good condition. These items can be sold at a yard sale, given to charity or given away on a freecycle website. Finally, there are the items that are broken or stained, which wouldn't be good for anyone and that you can just throw away.

3. Organize what you have left.
The "keep" pile needs to fit back into your closet, so you will need to organize it so that like items are together. For example, if you're organizing your clothes closet, group similar outfits together so that you can find them easily. In your linen closet, fold all of the sheets and put them together, put the pillowcases together and group the blankets. Once you see all of the items you are going to keep, it is time to decide whether or not you need some additional organizational tools.

4. Buy some closet organizers if necessary.
If you have a lot of things that need a place to be stored, you may need to invest in some closet organizers. These can take the shape of multiple item hangers, shoe organizers, boxes, clear binders, shelves or baskets. Once you decide how many you need and purchase them, make sure that you assign a place for these items and what you will store in or on them.

5. Place the items back in your closet and stay on top of your organization.
Once you've eliminated your clutter and organized your closet items, it's time to put everything back into its new home. Take note of where things belong. Each time you take something out of your closet, be sure to put it back where you found it. This way you'll never again have overflowing closets.

I hope that this little post will inspire somebody to get in there and organize their chaotic mess.
Happy organizing!