How I Maintain A Clean Organized Closet

Let me give you a tour of my personal closet and how I keep it clean and organized. I have a small walk-in closet that I share with my husband. It isn’t picture-perfect, but it’s organized so that I can create outfits quickly. If you trying to figure out how to organize and clean your closet, here’s what you need to do…

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1. Learn From The Hara Hachi Bu Concept

Hara Hachi Bu is a Japanese phrase that suggests you stop eating when you are 80% full (for optimal health). I think this concept of filling something to 80% capacity can be applied to many areas of life, including our closets. When we pack our closets from end to end, it difficult to find what we need for an outfit. With a little space, we can see what we have to work with.

So, take a look at your closet.

1. Can you easily find what you are looking for? 
2. Do you have to move items to reach others?
3. When you pull out a hanger, is it tangled up with others?
4. Do you sometimes find things you’d forgotten you owned?
5. Are you overwhelmed when you look at your closet?

If you answered yes to two or more questions, it’s time to declutter. Set aside a few hours to take everything out and clean the parts of your closet you don’t usually have access to. (At the bottom of this post I’ve linked a simple 3-step method to decluttering). Then you can think about what to put back.

2. Keep These Items Out Of Sight

Most of us have more clothes than we need at any given time.  Whether we need outfits for different events or changes in weather (or we love fashion), most of us wear a small fraction of our clothes each month.  What we don’t wear is temporary clutter!

I keep my off-season items and some special occasion outfits out of sight. I’m fortunate to have extra closets and drawers to store away what I don’t currently need. Foldable clothes go in the drawers of my bed. Off-season shoes are stored in their original boxes on a high shelf in my closet. Anything that needs to be hung, goes in a garment at the end of my closet.

Storage Options

Before we renovated our house, I had a tiny closet, so I kept some of my clothes in clear bins. I bought stackable bins, and underbed bins for my clothes. I also considered smaller bins for shoes, but I ended up keeping mine in the original boxes. (Most of them have an image of the shoes and the size so I know what’s in them).

If I were to buy storage items today, I would opt for eco-friendly storage solutions like Hayden Hill, London’s organic cotton cubes and bags. They offer storage cubes, garment bags, and dust bags for handbags (available on Amazon). Each bag has an organza window to show what’s inside.

I have a dresser for my underwear, socks, t-shirts, athleisure, and pajamas. These are the items I don’t give as much thought to (or want to display) so they don’t take up valuable space in my closet.

For smaller items like socks and underwear, I bought fabric dividers (similar). When it’s time to upgrade, I’m going to buy more sturdy ones like these.

3. Keep These Items In Plain Sight

So what do I keep in my closet?  I keep in-season clothes that I wear out: to work, to dinners and events, and to run errands.  Having them visible allows me to mix and match pieces more quickly.

I also keep my closet clean and organized by putting away underwear, loungewear, sleepwear, t-shirts, and workout clothes in dresser drawers. These are the clothes I don’t think too much about. They’re also the ones that I don’t fold very carefully!

Another idea is to put some outfits on a free-standing rack. This is helpful if you don’t have extra closets or shelves for storage, or if you tend to wear most of your clothes year-round.

I’ve been looking at this Foldable Bamboo Clothing Rack to organize outfits for my photoshoots. You can use one to hold a week’s worth of outfits for work or clothes you want to pack for vacation.

If you’re looking for a basic one, take a look at this Extendable Clothing Rack. Use the full height for organizing outfits. Adjust it to half height if you need a second rack in a tall closet. You can also use it in your laundry room to hang clothes up to dry. And when you don’t need it, fold it away for storage.

There are three situations where I break my “in plain sight rule”:

1. For aesthetic reasons: I put my handbag collection in my closet (even though I’m only using one at a time) because I’ve carefully curated my handbag collection and it gives me joy to see them.
2. Practical reasons: I keep my formal dress shoes on the shelves where they are least likely to become chew toys for our puppy. I keep sweaters in drawers where they are less likely to collect dust, as sweaters (especially cashmere) require more careful cleaning.
3. To encourage use: I have some beautiful scarves that I would like to wear more often so I keep them where I can see them.

4. Organize Current Clothes And Accessories 

So how do we organize our curated closet? The simple answer is to group together similar items.

I separate my clothes by type. Jackets, blouses, belts, and scarves hang on one rod. Pants, jeans, and short skirts hang on another. I have a separate area for longer items like coats, dresses, and maxi skirts.

Then, I group them further by style (i.e. long-sleeved versus short-sleeved blouses) and by color. The way I organize my clothes is determined by the closet space that I have (i.e. three hanging rods) and the similarities between clothes (in my case, colors).

If you have a different closet or assortment of clothing you may want to sort them another way. For example, if you have a lot of prints, you may want to separate them by florals, stripes, animal prints, and solids regardless of the type of clothing. Or if you wear both casual and dressy clothes every day, you may want to separate the casual pieces from the dressy ones.

I only hang up woven clothes (i.e. non-stretch items). I keep knits, sweaters, and t-shirts on shelves or in drawers so they don’t stretch out. The only exception is leggings and sweatpants which don’t seem to stretch out the way tops do. They hang with my pants and jeans.

Hangers and Other Tools

I do find that having the same color and type of hanger creates a nice aesthetic and reduces visual clutter. Mine are slim black velvet ones.

1. I have hangers similar to these for tops, dresses, and pants.
2. These clip hangers work for shorts and skirts.
3. I’ve been using these tie hangers for my belts (they came in a 3-pack and my husband only needed 2).
4. I have one of these for my scarves.

Contrary to popular opinion, slim velvet hangers aren’t the be-all-and-end-all for a clean, organized closet! They do save space, but I have found that they break easily, especially the clips.

If a uniform look is important to you, try a combination of wooden hangers and slim hangers in the same color. These wooden hangers come in black so you can match them with these slim velvet hangers.

I just discovered Kangaroo Hanger™ a small business that makes recycled plastic and alloy hangers that were designed to hold all kinds of clothes including sweaters. They’re eco-friendly hangers made in Wisconsin, and available at Target.

5. Keep It Clean

If you keep your closet organized, it will be much easier to clean! My walk-in closet seems to be a haven for dog hair and dust bunnies, so I do the following:

1. If I put anything on the floor, it goes in a basket or box so that I can quickly pick it up to clean under it.
2. I put cleaning supplies in my bathroom cabinet so they’re within reach.
3. I do a little organizing and cleaning every time I put laundry away so it doesn’t become overwhelming.

More Tools For Organizing Your Clothes And Accessories

Here are some other innovative organizational products to help you keep your closet clutter-free.

Are you ready for your own clean organized closet? Ask me questions or share your tips in the comment section below…

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