Closets form an integral part of the home storage segment. A well-maintained closet speaks volumes on the meticulousness quotient of the owner. While most closets eventually turn up being mere dump yards of clothes, there are many ways to make sure that these spaces are used diligently. Gharpedia provides pointers for helping you strengthen this key area of your home sweet home! Let’s learn about how to declutter closet.
Let’s be honest, how many of us actually need all the stuff that we ‘stuff’ (do excuse the pun) into our closet? In fact some of us don’t even remember the ‘treasures’ in our closet and many-a-times end up buying the same t-shirt or kurti simply because we’ve forgotten that we had a similar piece buried beneath the mess in our closet!
‘Alina Braford’ advice that, (author of an article – How to declutter your closet: 4 easy steps to get organized published on cnet) an over flowing closets can cost you a lot of time when you’re in a hurry and just can’t find that certain jacket or belt. Stop the madness and start cleaning. It only takes one afternoon to go from a stuffed closet to an organized one.
If you are using your closets as a dumping ground for stuff you do not want anymore, just because you have been too greedy to dispose it off, it’s time to go through such stuff like decluttering clothes and declutter wardrobe. This is when you will have enough space to organise the things that you actually need in your closet.
There are stores that specialize in storage and organizational products – closet stores have DIY kits that will help you reconfigure closet space for your specific needs. But before you can know what you need, you have to know what you have. When it comes to configuring your closets, always remember that ‘less is more’ is the golden rule!
Here are some suggestions to help you thin out the stuff in your closets … and to use the space more wisely. After you’ve done the initial thinning and organizing you’ll be able to determine whether or not a trip to a closet shop would be helpful.
Closet-Clutter Reality Check
Keep track of the clothes you wear and more importantly the clothes you do not wear. This is one simple method to start with. First, start each new wardrobe season, by hanging your clothes in the closet with all the hangers’ hooks facing you.
Then each time you wear and wash an article of clothing put it back with the hook facing into the closet. At the end of the season you will be able to tell at a glance, which garments were not worn simply by the way the hanger hooks are facing!
Now comes the de-cluttering part of this process. Let’s learn about how to declutter clothes. To thin out your wardrobe, select give-aways from the clothes that are on the hangers with hooks still facing you … the clothes that you didn’t wear at all. After this, take it a step further. Review the clothes you did wear and didn’t like. Take them to a thrift shop and let them make others happy. If you’re struggling & need guidance on how to declutter, you will need to get creative with your plans. ‘Joshua Baker’ (author of an article – How to Declutter Your Home: 10 Creative Decluttering Tips published on becoming minimalist) giving tip that start with 5 minutes at a time.
Declutter Closet Tips
If you’re new to decluttering, you can slowly build momentum with just five minutes a day. Here we share some tips for decluttering clothes, how to declutter wardrobe and how to declutter your closet:
01. Make Hangers Glide
- Rub your closet’s clothing rod with a piece of waxed paper and your hangers will move along the rod smoothly and easily
- Hardware stores have inexpensive plastic rod covers that come in a variety of colours. The covers make it easy to slide hangers back and forth on the closet rod.
If you want to transform and organize your closet, discover a variety of storage and closet ideas which will help you maximize your closet space.
02. Create Extra Hanging Space For Decluttering Clothes
- Place a shower curtain ring on the neck of a hanger and then you can hang another hanger on it
- Always hang your clothes facing the same direction – that way, there’s less space between clothes. So you’ll have more hanging space and your closet will look neater.
03. Hanging Accessories to Organize Your Wardrobe
If you have some extra shower curtain hooks around, slip them on the closet rod and use them to hang purses, belts, ties, bags and other accessories that would otherwise be dumped in the closet.
04. Shelves Made Easy To Declutter Wardrobe
If you wish you had shelves in a roomy closet, visit a thrift shop or furniture store and look for an inexpensive bookcase. Put the bookcase inside your closet. There you have shelves without too many hassles.
05. Entryway Closet Convenience
If you have a guest closet in your entryway, hang a shoe holder on the inside door. Then assign compartments of the shoe bag for storing accessories that you may need before going outside – such as scarves, gloves, hats, sunglasses et al.
You can also store pet accessories such as dog’s leash or winter jacket or a small flashlight in the shoe bag
06. Removing Moisture and Musty Smells from Your Closet
- Keep a few open boxes of baking soda somewhere in the closet
- Put natural clay kitty litter in a shoe box or pie tin and leave it on the floor of the closet … but NOT if you have a cat that has access to the closet. If it’s a walk-in closet and you don’t want to step on the litter, put it in the leg of an old pair of pantyhose, knot it closed and hang in a corner.
- Use chalk…or charcoal briquettes … or cedar chips to freshen your musty closet. Put them in a pie tin on the floor or hang them in an old pair of pantyhose.
07. Protecting Clothes of Your Wardrobe
If you have louvered or slatted closet doors, then you can keep your clothes dust-free and moth-free by covering the openings. Just tape sheets of waxed paper on the inside of the doors and you are ready to go!
08. Storing Blankets In Your Closet
If your closet space is limited, then instead of storing blankets in your closets and giving up a considerable extent of space for the same, put the blankets under beds on which these blankets will be used. That way you can save space in the closet and it also makes it easy to get to them on a cold night. Now that you have known about how to declutter wardrobe, here’s one more thing to be concerned of – Wardrobe Door Design. Here’s helping you for the same as well!
09. Sweet-Scented Moth Repellent for your Closet
Have you ever made an orange-spice pomander ball? If not, here’s your chance.
- Start by gathering the following ingredients –
- One thin-skinned orange (with the peel)
- One box of whole cloves
- One ounce ground orrisroot
- One-ounce ground cinnamon
- Half-ounce ground nutmeg
- Two feet of one-fourth inch to half-inch wide ribbon (non-silky ribbon such as grosgrain works best)
- Combine the orrisroot, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl and set it aside.
- Take one foot off the ribbon and cut it in half. Then tie one strip around the orange and knot it on top. Do the same thing with the other strip of ribbon, so that the two strips criss-cross the orange. In case your ribbon is silky, you may want to stick a pushpin on each of the strips to keep them from slipping.
- Next stick the cloves all over the orange – but not in the ribbon. Then place the clove-stuck orange in the bowl with the spices, gently rolling it around. Let it sit in the bowl for about five days, turning it occasionally.
- After five days, take the orange out of the bowl, hold it over the sink. Using a hairdryer (set on a low and cool setting) blow off excess spices. Now the pomander ball is ready to be hung in the closet.
- Attach the remaining ribbon to the pomander ball and hang it from the closet rod.
This scented moth-repellent will last for years.
Conclusion
Needless to say, majority of us find sorting the contents of our closet a herculean and heart-wrenching task! Parting with an apparel or an accessory (even if it’s lying practically unused in our closet) is painful; but then one needs to remember that it’s better to share than to hoard!
‘Elizabeth Larkin’ (author of the article – How to Declutter the Clothes in Your Closet published on thespruce)advising that, Use a Donation Box for Easy Decluttering. Make decluttering your wardrobe easier by having a donation bin, bag, or basket right in your closet. This allows you to declutter your closet and toss items you no longer want whenever you happen upon them.
So hope you are all set to give your closet a swanky new look soon by implementing the tips mentioned here. Gharpedia is helping you by to organize different areas of your home. Here are 8 Bathroom Organization Tips You Should Follow
Author Bio
Huta Raval – An English Literature and Journalism Topper, Huta Raval has graduated from the L D Arts College, Ahmedabad. Post serving for 23 years in the NBFC and Public Library Sectors her desire for ‘writing the unwritten’ brought her to the creative field of content writing. Her clientele comprises of NGOs, Blogging Platforms, Newspapers, Academic Institutions, et al.