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Conquering Clutter
By Matt Anderson
Organizing closets can be an intimidating project, especially if your stuff is absolutely overflowing the space available. But it doesn’t have to be a miserable experience if you approach it with a bit of planning and a sense of fun.
Tackling the Wardrobe
First things first: begin removing items from your closet. Start with a couple of empty boxes or bags and have plenty of empty space around you. Start at one end and work to the other. This way you can see how much you’ve gone through and how much more time it’s going to take to get to the end. Most people wear 20 percent of their wardrobe 80 percent of the time. The rest of the clothes rarely, if ever, are worn. You can gain a lot of storage space by giving up the items that have only been worn once and are unlikely to ever be worn again.
Items to discard include anything:
• You haven’t worn in a year
• Worn at the cuffs or neck
• Stained beyond cleaning
• Requiring mending or missing buttons
• One size too small (or large)
• Out-of-fashion in styling or fabric
• Missing parts of sets (top and bottoms, socks, gloves, etc)
• Poor quality (i.e. acrylic sweaters that don’t keep you warm)
• With price tags never removed
• Worn out shoes and purses
Take each clothing item off the rod to determine whether it stays or goes. If you want to keep something, slide it down to the end where you’re accumulating the “keeping” clothes. Anything you want to discard goes in a bag or box allocated for contribution to a local charity. Make a list of the items given to the charity as you pack the box. This list may be required if you itemize tax deductions, as most charities do not provide a detailed receipt of the contribution.
What about those “iffy” items? What about out of season clothes? Depending upon the closet size, consider transferring out of season garments to boxes or bags and storing them out of the bedroom until it’s time to rotate your wardrobe. What about the pants you love but are too small? Give them to charity. If your New Year’s resolution was to get back in shape to fit in that wardrobe, great! But a better reward than climbing into that smaller wardrobe is to buy a new one when you take off the pounds. Think how much fun it will be to shop for your reward! In the meantime, you’ll have more space in your closet.
Now comes the fun part: putting everything away. The best way to maintain an organized closet is to have a professional install a custom system, which divides the space up into easy-to-manage sections for short and long clothes.
If you do not want to hire a professional, there are still many ways to keep a traditional closet space in order. Think about how to best use the space with your current wardrobe. Start with hangers. Whether wood or plastic hangers, choose just one type to hang in the closet and discard the others. This selection will go a long way towards maintaining order in the abyss. Have all the hangers facing the same direction. Next, divide your wardrobe into sections for leisure wear and work wardrobe. This may mean putting together all the long shirts, then the short sleeve shirts. If some pants are stored over the hanger and some by the cuff, don’t mix them together. The same goes for shorts and pants. If you store both on hangers, keep them in separate sections. You’ll start to see clearly that separate sections of your closet begin to emerge in an organized fashion.
Within each section, reorganize clothing from light to dark. By maintaining clothes not only in sections by type, but also by color, you establish a permanent niche for each item. We tend to begin cluttering because we don’t see a permanent place to keep things. When you put away laundry, it will be much easier to find each item’s place if you know the light blue shirt goes next to the other aqua-colored shirt. Otherwise you just start putting things back altogether in the middle of the pole and the clutter starts all over again.
What about shoes and sweaters? Some closet designs offer space for shoes to be stored on adjustable shelving. Separate, stackable, shoe racks are also available. Like everything else in the closet, if you can’t see it, you won’t use it. Most organizers recommend neatly storing shoes and sweaters on shelving or racks. It doesn’t matter if you prefer to store your shoes toe or heel facing front, but if they’re all in a jumble or in boxes on the floor, they’ll never be used. Choose wisely and get rid of the overflow. After all, what fun is it to buy $400 Manolo Blahniks if you can’t find them?
Taking on the Pantry
Now that the wardrobe closet is organized, it is time to look at the pantry. Begin by taking out food items and categorizing them into groups. Items can be divided into groups such as pastas, soups, bread and cereals. Canned vegetables and canned fruits should also be divided. Is your pasta in a bag? If so, there is a good chance that some noodles will fall onto the kitchen floor after the bag is opened. Purchasing clear glass or clear plastic containers will allow you to see what is inside and help keep the pasta from spilling the next time it is needed.
Next, take out nonfood items and categorize them into groups such as lunch boxes, plastic silverware, napkins, plastic lids and plastic containers. Make sure that each container has a matching lid. If there are any containers without lids and vice versa, get rid of them. Most people will not use a bowl to store food if they can’t find the lid to it. It is better to purchase additional containers rather than holding on to something that isn’t going to be used.
Now it is time to put everything away. The best way to maintain an organized pantry is to have a professional install custom shelving. Professional organizers offer several options that can maximize the space in your pantry. However, there are many ways to keep a pantry in order without hiring someone. First, make sure that shelving is 16 inches or shorter. Items can be “lost” on deep pantry shelves. It is easy to forget what is in the pantry if it is not visible. Second, put items that
are rarely used on the top shelves. Everyday items should be placed on shelves that are within eyesight. Bulkier items, such as potatoes, should be placed on lower shelves. Third, make sure to keep categorized items together in a row. Canned goods should not be stacked on top of each other because they could easily fall down.
While the idea of cleaning out your wardrobe and pantry may seem daunting, try to approach it with a plan in mind. Following these organization tips will help you get organized quickly and help you stay organized.
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