Closets and Clothes Hangers » declutter

Four Steps Away from Organized

admin — Fri, 06 May 2011 02:51:19 +0000

1) Getting rid of the clutter is always job number one when it comes to organizing. There’s no need to organized things that you don’t use or have no need for anymore. Give as much as possible to charity, sell things at a garage sale or online, and get rid of all the things that are cluttering up your life. Most people can get rid of around 25% of their wardrobe and make life much easier on themselves with very little effort. Instead of trying to save things that you “might use one day”, look at them as things that are robbing you of valuable space. Shirts with sleeves that are too short, jeans that are out of style, and that bridesmaid’s dress that “you could wear again” have all got to go. Once you get rid of as much as possible, you’ll have a much easier time organizing what you need and use on a regular basis.

2) Learn to categorize your usable items so that you can quickly and easily put things away and then find them again the next time you need them. Avoid making big, general categories, such as “shirts”. Divide them, at least, into casual, dressy, work, active wear, and sleeveless. Don’t, however, create so many categories that it’s too overwhelming to keep up with. A good rule of thumb is to make sure you have at least five similar items in a category. Avoid keeping a “junk drawer” or box of miscellaneous things around because you can’t think of a category for them. Work on it until you get everything in a specific location.

3) When you categorize things, you can then see how much you have and decide which types of containers will fit into the storage areas that you have available. Use spaces that are normally neglected. Wooden chests will fit underneath windows and save closet space that would be occupied if you used plastic bins. Under your bed is a great space for storing things that aren’t used very often. Add shelving inside your closet to hold containers of other items. Add risers inside of cabinets that are too tall to double the space.

4) You can make extra space in your closets and storage areas by using plenty of specialty clothes hangersScarves, belts and ties can all be organized on specialty hangers leaving drawers empty for smaller items. Coat hangers, wood hangers, and other sturdy combination hangers protect your coats and suits from damage, while cascading hangers make space in your closet that you never knew you had before.

About the Author: Charlie Hafter is on the staff of Closet Hanger Factory, a leading online resource for clothes hangers. Get all of the closet and clothes hanger accessories you could need at http://www.closethangerfactory.com, which is recognized worldwide for their excellent quality hangers.

Continuously Organized

admin — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 02:06:08 +0000

Most people can figure out how to organize things around their homes. However, most people also have trouble staying organized year round. Keeping your home in perfect order may seem like a fantasy. If you can’t keep up with everything perfectly, do not fret. Becoming a truly organized person often takes years of practice and many baby steps are taken along the way. Use these organization tips and hints to start getting one small part of your life truly organized at a time. When one is under control, you can move on to the next thing. Your life will continually improve making that dream of being organized and staying that way much more feasible.

1) Doing things right the first time is important. Don’t camouflage problem areas or rake things into a box that you’ll never get to. If you haven’t been able to keep the area organized before now, then simply clearing it off is not going to get to the root of the problem. Figure out why things in this area keep getting messy. Create a solution to the problem so that things don’t pile back up putting you right back where you started. In fact, the focus of organizing shouldn’t be to get things “cleaned up”. Truly think about the fact that you are working on finding a solution to the clutter problem.

2) Develop good habits by training yourself for a few days. As you move around your house, talk to yourself out loud. When you set down your purse, wallet, keys, or cell phone, commentate your activity so that you are not mindlessly making messes everywhere that you go. This practice helps to focus the mind and keep the concentration on taking responsibility for your actions. If you have to say to yourself, “I am laying my jacket on the ottoman” instead of “I am hanging my jacket in the coat closet”, then you’re more likely to do what you’re supposed to do instead of taking the shortcut.

3) If shortcuts seem to be the way things go around your house, then cater to them. If coats come off the second people come in the door, then hang a hanging bar there stocked with clothes hangers, like coat hangers. It doesn’t matter that the coat closet is just a few feet down the hall. If habits die hard and it’s going to cause a daily fight in your home, then it just isn’t worth the stress. Figure out ways to make life easier for yourself when you organize and you’ll be on your way to being an organized person all of the time.

Home Storage Solutions

admin — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 22:20:31 +0000

Keeping organized once you get that way can be terribly frustrating! It takes a lot of time, effort, and schedule adjustments to get things organized. Nothing is more infuriating that getting it done and then seeing it almost immediately back how it was; cluttered and disastrous. Use these tips for tackling problem areas and implementing habits that will help you stay organized all year.

1) Getting it done right the first time is important. If you’ve somehow found the time to tackle an area, then you’re not likely to do it again anytime soon. Therefore, make sure that you do it right. Don’t focus so much on getting it done quickly as getting it done correctly. Dumping everything into a box that you’ll “go through later” is only masking the problem.

2) Find a specific place for things. If you think about it, you can categorize everything in your home. For most people, it becomes difficult when it’s time to organize random items, like the kids’ school work, old photos, knick knacks, souvenirs, and even sentimental clothing. If you actually make a list of what you own and divide it into categories, this category would probably be called “miscellaneous”. Ban the miscellaneous category from your life and you’ll begin to see things in an organized manner.

3) Miscellaneous just means that you haven’t thought about it or made an effort to compartmentalize these items. That’s why they build up and cause problems. They’re like the virus of your organized home, taking hold wherever you let them touch. Some things may seem like junk, but they are actually very precious to you. Take the kids’ school and artwork, for example. This is something that would be great to keep, so you make a stack. Eventually the stack has to be thrown away because it’s just mixed up with a lot of other junk. Fix this one problem by making a specific place for all of the kids’ work to go. A portfolio for each child will fix the problem. When you’re looking through their work and see something you want to keep, toss it in the portfolio. If it’s filed, it’s not junk, but the keepsake that you had hoped it would be. Make the file easy to access so that you actually use it.

4) Think conservatively. Only you can set boundaries for yourself. If your house is really full, then you’ve allowed yourself to own more than you need. Clothes can become a big problem because we’re constantly updating our style, size, or simply adding to what we own. Get your closets in order using special clothes hangers, like wood hangers, to keep them nice and neat. Get rid of something every time you bring something in and it will stay organized.

5 Steps to an Organized Closet

admin — Fri, 07 May 2010 23:21:15 +0000

1) Become charitable, have a garage sale, or give your clothes to family and friends. Most of us keep way too many clothes in our closets. How many times have you switched out winter for summer clothes only to realize that you didn’t wear half of them? The first step to organizing your closet, or any other part of your home for that matter, is to get rid of junk. Start looking at extra things as “space stealers” instead of “things that I might eventually need”. Now that the excess is cleared out, you can work on the next phase of organization; categorizing.

2) Categorizing is probably the most important step in the organization process. If you can’t figure out what category something should go in, then it will inevitably become junk or clutter. Everything needs a place and before you can assign it one, it has to fit in with other things that you keep. If it’s pens and pencils, categorize it with office or school supplies. If it’s your son’s precious handprint mold or finger painting, categorize it as a keepsake. You can create categories and sub-categories to keep things organized. Depending on what you have, you may have an entire dresser dedicated to keepsakes, souvenirs, and memorabilia. One drawer could be things made by one child, another drawer for the other child, one for your husband’s keepsakes, and one for yours. The dresser top can be used to rotate things that you would like to look at into and out of storage.

3) The next step is to measure out how much space you will need to get your closet organized. Let’s say that you have a big stack of t-shirts. You can hang them and measure how much space they take up, or fold them and see how much of a shelf they will occupy. Write it down and then come back to it later. Do the same for your pants, dresses, skirts, shorts, socks, etc. Then you will have all of the data that you need to figure out which combination of bins, drawers, shelves and hanging rods will best accommodate your wardrobe. You may be amazed how much space you can save simply by swapping out a shelf designated for holding your shorts for a couple of cascading hangers that keep them wrinkle free and easy to access in a fraction of the space.

4) Now that you’ve figured out the most efficient arrangement for your clothing and accessories, think about what you use most. Most professional closet organizers will tell you to place the things that you use most front and center. If you store your socks up high on a shelf, you’re not very likely to keep putting your socks in there. You’ll end up making another pile somewhere that is more convenient. The key to staying organized is to make it as easy as possible to put things back where they go. You don’t want baskets with latching lids, for example. It’s much easier to toss things in without having to put everything down in order to open the lid.

5) You can make even more space and protect the investment that you have in your wardrobe by selecting the right clothes hangers for the job. You should always hang coats and suits on coat hangers or wood hangers that are curved to keep the shape of the shoulders. Your hangers should fit the space and the style of your closet. Choose ones that help you keep things organized. This could mean getting a few different types of specialty hangers for organizing belts and ties, cascading clothing, or simply choosing the ones that inspire you to keep the closet neat.

How to Keep Organized Year Round

admin — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 13:30:13 +0000