Closets, closets, closets

If I had to choose, I think that closets would be at the top of my list for what I enjoy organizing the most. Usually bedroom closets are the home to numerous items related or unrelated to clothing and are all unique in size, shape and capabilities. Closets definitely require a lot of attention and thought, depending on the size and other limitations. Here, I will offer suggestions geared towards your bedroom closet. Now, I realize that there are many other functions of a closet and will get to those eventually, but the suggestions and tips here can be transposed into other closets and areas of your home.

Right off the bat, some generic suggestions for managing clutter in the closet are using boxes, bins, tubs, or buckets; buying a large, medium or small set of stackable drawers; building a custom shelving system into the closet; adding a book shelf; or simply making the contents of the closet look neater by rearranging the shelves or floor space, folding the clothes and finding a nicer way of stacking them, and organize board games or other boxes and toys by size.

Anyone can come up with a generic cure to closet clutter; however, the real challenge is finding something that works for you. I think that custom closets are absolutely fantastic, but sometimes end up limiting the space of the closet by adding too many random custom elements. Working with what you have and enhancing it is a great money saving fix.

As with most spaces, I recommend that a good first step towards organizing a closet is removing everything from it. This will allow you to see all of the space that is available to you. Once you have everything out I like to group it together on the bed or the floor by category, or put similar items together: dresses, shoes, jerseys, belts, baseball hats, etc. This makes it easier once you bring everything back into the closet because it's already grouped together.

Before you start bringing your things back into your closet I strongly recommend that you go through everything and decide what you absolutely must save and what you really don't wear, use or need anymore and get rid of it or donate it. This will be your savior, especially if you've lived in your home for a while or if it has been a long time since you last cleaned out your closet.

Now that you have decided what is coming back into the closet and grouped it together, it's time to decide how it is going to reenter the closet. If your closet was just disorganized and you were able to get rid of some clothes and things and you think all you need to do is find a neater way to hang things and store your items on a shelf, that's great - have at it. But, most of you, I'm assuming, need a bit of assistance with organizing your things when they make their grand appearance to their home in your newly reorganized closet. That's the tough part, and it all depends on the space you have and what you are willing to do to accommodate your belongings.

Shoes are the number one thing that create clutter on a closet floor. I do not like, nor would I ever suggest, for anyone to ever store their shoes on the floor just "as is." I think that shoe trees are great for hanging your shoes on the back of a closet door, or shoe shelves are even more fantastic because you can just stick the shelf under your hanging clothes, even storing your shoes in the boxes they came in is better than allowing them to sit out on the floor.

Consider adding some hooks or something that allows you to hang belts, baseball caps, scarves, ties and the likes from. If you have the space and the funds to do so, I would also recommend adding a dresser or a set of drawers, or mount some individual shelves or obtain a book shelf to create additional storage. Who couldn't use an extra set of drawers or an extra shelf?

My last relatively generic thought is for those pesky random things you have sitting in your closet. Since you have grouped them together it will be easier to decide what to do with them, whether it is putting them in a stackable bin or a basket, or leaving them to sit out on the closet shelf, or finding some cute buckets to put things in, or finding a new place for some things altogether.