Even a spacious custom closet needs maintenance if it’s going to stay uncluttered and in great shape. The trick is to not let the closet get so cluttered and disorganized that you need to devote an entire day to cleaning it up. That means implementing daily tasks that will ensure that the closet gets organized in some way every day, which should cut down on how often you need to do a major cleaning.
Here are some things you can do each day to keep your custom closet systems in good shape:
- Stay on Top of the Laundry
- Prioritize Staple Pieces
- Get Rid of Clothes You Don’t Need When You Find Them
- Use Space-Saving Folding Methods
Take a look at some important daily steps you should take to get your custom closet organized and keep it that way.
Stay on Top of the Laundry
Nothing creates a messy closet faster than piles of laundry. What’s more, if you’re not getting clothes visibly dirty, you may wind up not being able to tell the difference between clean and dirty items.
Keeping on top of your laundry is a must. If you find yourself too busy or tired at the end of the day to walk your laundry to the laundry room, install hampers in your closet. Tilt-out hampers can save space but still give you a place to store your laundry until you’re ready to do a wash, and if you install more than one, you can separate your clothes, so they’re already sorted into lights, darks, or whatever other configuration you want when you’re ready.
Even with hampers installed, you’ll still need to make it a priority to do the laundry on a regular basis, so it doesn’t build up in your closet.
Prioritize Staple Pieces
Another thing that clogs closets is owning a number of different pieces that don’t necessarily go together. If you find yourself constantly searching for matches, you may want to consider moving toward a capsule wardrobe. This is what it’s called when you have a number of clothing pieces that can be paired together in different configurations, so you can easily grab matching outfits without having to think too hard about what may or may not match.
Minimalism Made Simple offers several tips for creating a capsule wardrobe, including identifying essential items that can be worn across different seasons and choosing a palette of colors that work together and that you feel comfortable wearing.
While a capsule wardrobe is often recommended for people who have small closets with limited storage space, it’s a good way to get organized even if you have plenty of room in your closet.
You could even have more than one capsule – grouping capsules together could be a great organizational strategy for you. By identifying and separating out items that go together, you can declutter items that don’t fit your chosen capsules from your closet.
Get Rid of Clothes You Don’t Need When You Find Them
Purging clothes that no longer fit, are damaged, or that you just won’t be wearing again is a necessary chore. The way to avoid a large purging project that has to be done all at once is to get rid of individual items as you come across them.
A good trick is to store an empty box or bin in the closet. When you’re putting an outfit together and you come across an item that no longer fits, is too damaged to keep, or has fallen out of fashion, instead of putting it back in the closet as you search for something else, toss it in the empty box.
Let the box fill up until you have the free time to deal with donating, selling, or throwing away the items inside. That way, they’re not taking up space in your closet that should be occupied by clothes you’re actually wearing.
Use Space-Saving Folding Methods
Even if your closet is mostly cleaned up, it never helps to have drawers that won’t close all the way or items hanging out of the drawers. Many people are apt to run out of space for folded clothes before they run out of hanging space. If this applies to you, finding a more efficient way to fold your clothes can help you store more items more neatly.
There are several different methods of folding that are more space-friendly than simply stacking. The Marie Kondo method of file-folding, or vertically folding your clothes allows you to store more and to easily see what it is you have stored in the drawer without having to dig through stacks. Another option, especially for clothes like T-shirts and shorts, is to roll the clothes instead of folding them.
Conclusion
By taking regular steps to straighten and declutter your space like keeping up with the laundry, winnowing out pieces to create a staple wardrobe, ridding the closet of unwanted clothes as you find them, and learning to fold clothes efficiently, you can keep your closet neater and more organized all the time.
