Having adequate amount of closet space is a great way to keep your home’s livable areas clean and free of clutter, but over time they can accumulate a lot of excess stuff. When you start to notice that it takes more time to find what you need or that your closets never seem to stay organized, it’s time to try something new. Instead of dealing with the mess, schedule a day where you can go through your closet, clean everything, and reorganize your space. This will help you avoid frustrating mornings or stressful evenings. To help you get started, here are the best ways to clean your closet and keep it organized.
1. Get Prepared and Make Time
Before you begin cleaning and organizing your closet, you’ll want to make sure that you’re fully prepared for the task at hand. Get some supplies ready and double check that you have enough time to finish the closet that you’ll be working on. There’s nothing worse than having to rush through an organizing job or worse—leave things messier than when you started. Have rags, cleaning supplies, a vacuum, trash bags, laundry bins, and three boxes with you. We also recommend getting command strips, hooks, or pocket organizers to optimize your efforts and get the most out of your closet space.
2. Take Everything Out of Your Closet
Next, remove everything from the closet you’re focusing on. Take everything out and lay it on your bed, the couch, or sprawled out on the floor. Over the years, you tend to forget what you’ve accumulated. By removing everything from the closet you can reassess what you have, what you want, and what you actually need. Removing everything from your closet also allows you to properly deep clean your space and start fresh.
3. Clean All the Surfaces—Including Walls and Floors
Once everything is removed from your closet, it’s time to clean. Start at the top of your closet and clean any
shelves, nooks, or crannies that you have. You’ll want to work your way from top to bottom to avoid dust or dirt falling onto already cleaned areas from above. Go over every surface with a cloth and your favorite cleaner thoroughly and make sure to pay special attention to those hard-to-reach areas. During this process, don’t neglect the walls. While you might not think they’ve accumulated dirt or grime, you’d be amazed at what can build up. Clean your walls from top to bottom and then finish this step by vacuuming thoroughly. If your closet has hardwood floors, wash or mop after you’ve vacuumed.
4. Use the Box Method
Put away your cleaning equipment and return to your possessions. The next thing that you’re going to do is purge. Chances are there are things that you came across that you no longer need, that are damaged, or that you’ve outgrown. To help you get rid of unnecessary items, use the box method. Get three different boxes (or bags) and label them keep, give away/donate, or trash. Pick every item up and decide what you want to do with it. Use the Marie Kondo method and if the item no longer brings you joy, throw it away or donate it. After you’ve gone through all of your items, throw away things that are in the trash box and put the donate box to the side.
If you’re sorting through clothes and notice that some things you want to keep are dirty, throw them directly into your laundry bin. You don’t need to wash anything you’re going to throw away, but if you have a large donate pile that’s seen better days, wash them before taking them to your preferred donation center.
5. Group Like Things Together
Empty out the contents of your keep box and spread out your items. Go through them and begin to group like things with like. Sort clothes, shoes, accessories, books, décor, purses, et cetera into separate piles. This will help you determine the best organizational method for putting things back into their place.
6. Flip Your Hangers
If your closet has a rod and you’ll be hanging most of your clothes, consider putting them in with the hangers flipped the opposite way. Whenever you wear something and return it to your closet, put the hanger in normally. After 6 months, get rid of anything that’s hanging on a backwards hanger. This is a great way for you to see what you actually wear and what you never touch to help you make room for more of your favorite items.
Consider only doing this for clothes that are in season. Keep your out of season clothes stored in a climate controlled self storage unit and donate the reversed hanger items when it’s time to switch things out. This will give you more usable space and help your clothes stay in pristine condition for years to come.
7. Keep Things Accessible
Chances are that you need to store more things in your closet aside from hung up clothing. The key is to make whatever you’re storing accessible and visible so that you don’t forget about it as the days pass. Luckily, most closets can hold a lot more than you think. If you have any open wall space, add some hooks for accessories. You can use command strips to display necklaces or store hoodies or jackets. The same applies to the back of the closet door. You can add a hanging pocket organizer for extra shoe storage or more accessories and jewelry. If you have a shelf above the curtain rod, consider getting clear plastic bins and putting a pair of shoes in each. This allows you to see what’s inside and stack them on top of each other to take advantage of all of the available vertical space.
8. Do Your Laundry
Before you finish putting everything away, do your laundry. You want to make sure that everything fits and if you have a big pile of laundry, you’ll overestimate how much room you have left. Launder the clothes that you plan to keep first, then consider doing a load with the items that you’re going to donate prior to taking them to the center. Putting dirty clothes into a clean closet isn’t a good start to keeping things clean and organized.
9. Donate or Sell Your Clothes
After you’ve washed your donate pile, you can take it to your local donation center. If you have some extra time and want to try to make a few dollars, you can try putting your items up on a marketplace app or Craigslist. There are plenty of ways that you can make money off of your clutter, so don’t be afraid to give it a try. You might be surprised with how much you can make.
10. Consider a Self Storage Unit
If your closet is still overflowing despite the valiant effort you put into decluttering, cleaning, and organizing it, consider renting a self storage unit. Self storage units are a great way to offset your home’s storage without taking up valuable living space. To give yourself more room to store things that you need to access regularly, use your self storage unit for out of season clothing, holiday décor, unused sports equipment, antique furniture, and more. Just make sure that you opt for a climate controlled unit to avoid problems with humidity, pests, and premature deterioration.
Having ample room in your closet is essential, but if things start to overflow it can create chaos that disrupts your everyday routine. Instead of shuffling through piles of clothes and tripping over excess shoes, utilize a self storage unit from The Lock Up Self Storage for some extra, accessible space. All of our self storage units are climate controlled to keep your things in the best condition possible and avoid premature deterioration. Regardless of your storage needs, The Lock Up can help. We offer temperature controlled self storage units in a variety of sizes to fit any budget. At The Lock Up Self Storage, we have all the amenities you’d expect in a premium self storage facility. We also offer flexible leasing options so you can feel confident that you’re only paying for what you need. To give you even more peace of mind, all of our locations are equipped with top-of-the-line security features including security-controlled gate access, motion-sensitive lighting, 24-hour camera monitoring, and perimeter alarms. Many of our locations offer electronic coded access specific to each tenant. To find a self storage unit, contact one of the representatives at The Lock Up Self Storage. Give us a call at 1-866-327-LOCK or find a unit online today!
