Have you caught wind of the latest organizational trend recently? The Marie Kondo documentary on Netflix is changing lives all over the world and I mean, what better timing than a new year? Everyone is motivated to change and start with a clean slate. And what better place to start than organizing your house!
Unless you’re me; I’m a spaz; three kids, 4 pets, and a partridge in a pear tree. No for real though, I have a lot of stuff and due to the nature of my career, I tend to have even more clothes, shoes, handbags, and accessories. So when Cailee from Cailee K Organizing reached out to me to collaborate together, I was over-the-moon.
First, let’s nail down 5 simple ways to organize your closet:
1.) Update your organization system. Look at what works and what doesn’t work and make a new plan.
2.) Take EVERYTHING out and go through what you want to keep and what you want to get rid of. Then make sure you actually get rid of it (my bags are still sitting in my basement but that’s a story for another day).
3.) Purchase baskets or bin to organize things on shelves.
4.) Trade out all of your mismatched hangers for hangers that match.
5.) Call a professional. If all else fails, bring in the big guns! If you’re local to Cleveland, Cailee K Organizing is your girl!
(She’s a magician but just wait…)
So here’s what my closet looked like before we bought new closet organizers. I know, it’s embarrassing. I couldn’t reach the shelves so everything just go thrown on the top. I did have everything color coordinated so at least I had that going for me, right?
But this wasn’t all of my things; some were in my office and some were in a makes shift closet in my basement. So I needed to do something and Kailee was going to help me do it!
So here’s what we looked like after we put in the new closet organizers. Better, but still not organized. I couldn’t wait to see what she was going to do with all of my stuff!
So first, she had me take out EVERYTHING. Holy pile of clothes. I didn’t (okay I did) realize how much stuff I had until it was all laying in front of me.
Then she had me place things into different colored bins; definitely keep (I LOVE IT), maybe keep (because I just had a baby and want to see if I’ll fit back into it), and donate/sell. Since I have so much of it, I want to try to sell what I can first. But after a certain point I just get annoyed and donate it all.
So once we went through all the keep stuff, she started placing it back into the college. She recommended I get all of the same hangers because 1) it fits better and 2) it’s neater/less overwhelming when you’re standing there and deciding what to wear.
So she hung everything up on hangers and then moved it a few times until she found the best way to put them all in. Then she moved onto my drawers and showed me how to fold things so they fit and were easily accessible. I also grabbed a ton of these baskets to organize the small things like underwear, socks, bras, etc.
Our bedroom is oddly shaped so we wanted to be able to move one of the dressers out of our room. So I actually ended up moving all of my things out of the dresser and into these baskets after the fact.
We also added another bar to the closet so we could hang up more of my sweaters. For me, it’s easier to choose what to wear when it’s hanging instead of stacked or in a drawer so this has definitely made my life easier!
And now.. for the finished product!
Amazing, right?! I’ve tried to start this process SO many times and never gotten anywhere. So having Cailee there to push me and motivate me was SUCH a stress relief and giant help! Also, if you get overwhelmed in the process, take a break and regroup. There’s no timeline or need to feel stressed. Overwhelmed yes, but it does get better!
Have any tips!?! Leave them below! xo
