Closet Organization

with Greg Dunlop, IIDA, ASID

Transcript: Closet Organization

Closet organization. It's the household chore that everyone loves to hate. Hi, I'm Greg Dunlop for about.com. I have a deep respect for people that have a natural instinct for organization. It seems to come so easily for some. However, with a few simple tips we can all keep ourselves and our closets, pretty well organized.

Consider What Needs to Be Stored in the Closet

The first trick to closet organization is looking at how much stuff you're actually trying to store in the closet. I bet if we all did a critical evaluation of ourselves we'd find that we're really holding onto things we don't need. Look at this closet, for example. This is an old duvet cover that I haven't used in three years. Here's a box of VHS tapes, and this, this is a charcoal drawing that I did in high school, it lived in one of my mom's closets and now it's in mine.

See what I mean? By getting rid of some things we free up valuable space and help ourselves on the road to closet organization. Now, aside from clothes, I need to determine what I want to store in this closet. Is it shoes? Is it bed linens? There's always so much in our lives that we need to contain, we have to know what the end goal is.

Utilize Closet Organization Tools

Now, there are some great tools on the market to help you keep things in check inside your closet. Here's a pretty basic shoe stand that help me take advantage of the vertical space inside my closet. It keeps my shoes easily accessible and visible. In my closet I also like to use wooden hangers. They're more sturdy, help you keep the shape of your suit jackets a little bit better, and they're really good for heavy outdoor coats.

Closet Storage and Organization

Now, I also have a hanger in here made of cedar and it's good for my neck ties - and it keeps them all organized. The other tool that I have is a hanger that has hooks on it for belts. It's a great way to keep your belts organized and ready to go when you are. And don't forget to recycle the wire hangers that come from the dry cleaner. Most times you can actually take them back and you'll reuse them. Simple Lucite or plastic boxes make it easy to stack and store things in your closet. These can be found anywhere from hardware stores to grocery stores even.

With the advent of mp3 players and iPods, how many of us are wondering what to do with our collection of CDs. here's a nice binder that keeps your CDs protected while getting them out of the way and organized if you find that you can't bring yourself to ditch them or sell them on-line.

Store Linens in Plastic

These plastic cases are soft sided and zippered making them ideal for storing extra blankets and pillows in your closet. You get them sometimes from a dry cleaner when you return your down comforter after the yearly cleaning.

Organize Clothes in Closets

Now arranging your clothes in your closet is all about your own personal preference of what you choose to hang or fold. In this closet my goal is to organize the following things on hangers. Suits, blazers, and some seasonal outdoor coats. Dress shirts, neckties, and belts.

Organize the Closet

This is a good spot for my luggage I use it all the time so it's better to have it in my closet than downstairs in my basement. I also need some storage for pillows, blankets and sheets.

Here, I've reused those plastic zippered cases from the dry cleaner to store the extra pillows and blankets. These can go in this corner. The plastic box is going to work well with my old VHS tapes and DVD's that I still want to keep. And, the CD collection has been alphabetized and ready for storage up here too.

So, after a little bit of self evaluation we've got a well organized closet and if I'm disciplined I'll make sure I don't keep packing and storing stuff in it. We'll see how that works out for me.

Thanks for watching. To learn more, check us out on the Web at About.com.

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