I consider myself to be very organized. Everything in my house is where it belongs (90 % of the time) and I declutter regularly. But, I have one MAJOR problem area. The master closet.
It is horrible. I could be injured trying to get something out of it. LOL. I have gone through it several times and I still cant seem to keep it neat for more than a few weeks.
Since its a smallish master closet my husband and I decided to install one of those closet maid systems. For about $100, we will get lots more shelf space.
Anyone else have any ideas on how to keep the closet under control? I am going to be RUTHLESS this time about what we keep.

keep shoes in the original shoeboxes! nothing worse than seeing a bunch of shoes in the closet, it makes it look unorganized.
also, keep as much stuff in boxes (those plastic bins) i am obsessed w/those!
separate clothes in the following order:

*pants, skirts,shorts, short sleve shirts,long sleve shirts,misc. (and in each category by color.
* i know, its a little OCD, but i love how my closet looks this way.

__________________
***VIEW MY BLOG***
Thanks,
Bestmommysaver!

I can see how it happens to even the very organized person. If dressing is hurried by having to get out the door, you can't take the time to deal with the shoes or sweater or slacks you changed your mind on and things get dropped or pushed aside.

And the fact that it is secluded and not in your face means it gets less attention than the kitchen counter or hall table that gets more action. When I see things that "belong" somewhere else, my sense of order kicks in and I take the time to set things right. The closet door stays closed and I don't see the disorder until I am in a hurry again getting dressed. It just escalates.

Somehow, you need to get in the habit of putting it right. Having a closet organizer may help, or boxes, or some system, but that may not be enough. Seeing the disorder when you aren't rushed may help. I think a change of routine is needed.

Cathleen

I like BESTMOMMYSAVER's ideas. One thing that has helped me keep my closet organized is putting my clothes out the night before. This way I am not rushing and trying to get something to wear while the boys are running around me.

__________________
"It's time to move from what we can do, to what we must do, to what we will do." ~Hillary Clinton

We actually got those wooden shoe holders from Target. About $30 each I believe. We have to keep our shoe collection down to the number we can fit in them. (We each have one). I do keep my boots for church in their boxes on top since they're tall boots and would get ruined otherwise.

I think the best thing you could do would be to PURGE!!! They say most people wear 20% of their clothes 80% of the time. I believe this is SO true. The book "It's SO you" was being reviewed here a while back and the author said something about you should be able to get by with 8 pieces of clothing and just mix & match. I'm not going for 8, but 80 is WAY too much. Do we really even need 20 shirts?? PURGE!!!

If you have a higher up shelf make sure to use it too - maybe for out of season clothing.

Good luck - just think - once you tackle this job you'll be done!!

__________________
Stay at home mom to my 3 boys... ages 5, 3 & 1!

I can do all things through CHRIST who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

This is exactly what I do in my closet and it's so helpful - you can immediately see what you have, what you need, and it's all organized.

What is causing the problem?

Do you purge then go out and buy a bunch of clothes to replace what you got rid of? If that's the case, then you need to be diligent that everytime you add a new item to your closet, you purge an item from your closet.

You said you have a small closet. Perhaps you have to re-think how you are storing your clothes. You might need more clothing that your closet can hold.

In my bedroom, almost all of the storage space I have is in my closet. I have only one drawer for undies. Because of that, I have to hang up a lot of items I normally would fold.

In my DD's bedroom, it is completely the opposite. She has almost no hanging space and all dresser drawers. With her stuff, we fold a lot of items that I'd prefer to hang up.

Either way, the issue may not be the closet. After all, it can only hold so much. You might need to move some of the hanging items to a different kind of storage system. In our case, we've moved the shoes completely out of the closet.

__________________
"I've been rich and I've been poor but independently wealthy is where it is at."

Thanks for the advice everyone. The closet definatly needs a good purge. What makes it even worse is that we dont need anything in there on a daily basis. Its just horrible. Im going to start going through it today and getting rid of like 1/2 the stuff in there.

My closet was exactly the same. I'd clean it and throw out bags of trash and a month later do the same thing and throw out two more.. and again and again. I swear I had garbage growing like mold in there. After I finally had enough, I got down to business and really was BRUTAL.

After seriously decluttering and brutally chucking mass amounts of stuff, I started to organize what I had to put back in. I hung two sweater bag hangers (vertical hangers with box-like openings to put folded sweaters in) side by side in our closet. One is used for sweaters, the other is used for miscellaneous things that are stored in the closet (like my pump for my exercise ball). It's a great use of vertical space otherwise wasted. I also bought a pant rack (it was an affordable investment - maybe $10 at Walmart?) that you hang from the main closet rod. It drops halfway down (you can adjust it) and you hang your pants on the bottom rod and your shirts on the standard rod. It has doubled my hanging space and is wonderful -- all of DH's clothes are on the bottom rod, mine are on the standard (top) rod. Install hooks (dirt cheap at Lowe's) on the side of the closet wall for purses, bags, bathrobes, jackets, etc.

__________________

This is how my closet is, and it really is helpful. I also separate by sleeve lengths and pant lengths.

I have these, and they are SO handy. They keep stuff off the floor
Another suggestion is to put a small laundry basket in there, my closet was always carpeted with dirty clothes until I did that - I would always just run in there in a hurry, change, and get to where I needed to go. 2 Levels of rods for hangers are really nice. My closet, from top to bottom, goes: shelf, shelf, rod, shelf, rod, and then shoe organizer. The walls on the sides are covered with hooks for belts, hoodies, jackets, or I also hang pants that I plan on wearing again before washing, and little sconce like candleholders I found that I keep my random jewelry in - they're just like little small dishes. A soapdish might work for that too.