How to Organize Your Closet Like a Pro

There are infinite ways to declutter your closet, and of course even more ways to style them. If your closet has taken on a life of its own, and you’ve resorted to wearing floor outfits (you know, clothes you keep on the floor because you don’t know what’s inside your closet), here’s what you can do:

The most efficient way to organize your closet for good is to take everything out at once and sort clothing into ‘keep,’ ‘donate,’ and ‘sell’ piles (post-its and a sharpie will be your best friend here). If you’re someone who has a hard time parting with clothing items, enlist the help of an organizer (🙋🏽‍♀️), but if this is not within your budget, grab a friend for moral support. For donation items, see if any friends might like anything before dropping them off at your local Goodwill or thrift store. If you procrastinate on these types of tasks, bring your donation bags to your front door so you commit to getting it out of the house. For ‘sell’ items, I highly recommend thredUP and The RealReal, which make selling a breeze with prepaid shipping labels

Now for the fun part: returning everything else to your closet. If you’re a visual person, color coordinating your wardrobe is the most exciting thing you can do for your closet. Beyond the aesthetic appeal, it also serves a practical purpose by saving you time and energy searching for an outfit in the morning. Instead of trying to ROY G BIV all types of clothing together, color coordinate each clothing category separately, which is far more functional. First, group like items together (e.g., dresses, skirts, blouses, pants) and then order the categories by length so they rise to the right (i.e., pants and dresses on the left, skirts and blouses on the right). This is a neat KonMari hack that makes your closet feel more spacious. Then ROY G BIV each clothing category, hanging clothes from darkest to lightest. If you’re someone who is allergic to color, however, the ROY G BIV rules might not apply. In this case, keep your most used clothing items closer to the center of the closet.