Closet Organization For People Who Hate Organizing
If the thought of color coordinating your dresses and folding your underwear into neat little packets does not appeal, you’re not alone! You’re also not alone if you like your closet neat and tidy, but aren’t into bins, dust bags, pouches, over-the-door organizers, and the like, to stay organized. All this stuff can take extra time and energy, so here are five low maintenance ways to stay organized:
Use dividers, not bins. If you keep your winter sweaters perched on your closet shelf, no need to nestle them in bins, no matter how cute they might look. I’ve preached about it before, and I’ll preach about it again. Sweater bins are annoying. Especially if they’re opaque, you often forget what’s in the bin, and to even access your sweaters you have to take the whole thing down. Too much bin business. Instead, make it easy on yourself with a few shelf dividers. Putting your sweaters back will be a breeze because you can stack them in a pinch without fear of any sweaters toppling over.
Swap closed storage with open storage. If you’re not a fan of organizing, chances are you wouldn’t be enthralled by an over-the-door-shoe organizer or drop-front shoe box situation. Here’s the solution: open shoe storage. Just avoid bamboo shoe racks, or anything with slats or slots, which often lead to heels and boots falling through the cracks. I’m partial to the ClosetMaid shoe rack, which blends in with any closet, and allows you to slot in your shoes in a non-fussy way.
Take advantage of drawer organizers. Might be newsworthy, but not every organizer loves or needs a good underwear or sock fold. I count myself among the laissez faire when it comes to organizing intimates. Instead of neatly lining up socks and folding your underwear into little burritos, consider tossing everything in drawer organizers. You won’t run into trouble with rogue socks ending up in your underwear pile and vice versa. Even though your intimates might not look flawless, you can take comfort in knowing that all your little socks and undies have their own home.
Purge the mismatched hangers. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: uniform hangers make any closet positively SING! When you have uniform hangers (doesn’t matter if they’re felt, linen, wooden—just don’t make them all from the dry-cleaners!), your clothes instantly pop. You’re able to locate what you’re looking for so much more easily, and since everything looks better from the get-go, you’ll be much more motivated to keep everything neat. All this to say that if loathe organizing, your hangers will do half the work for you upfront by totally streamlining your closet.
Keep a donation bin in your closet. If you’re constantly trying on clothes that just don’t do it for you anymore (no more spark! no more joy!), keep a bin at the bottom of your closet to collect all those cast-off clothes. This way, you can avoid putting everything back, only to repeat the same vicious cycle all over again. Once the bin is full, all you have to do is whisk everything away to the Salvation Army, sell the nice stuff on the Real Real, or pass it off to your friend. Just make sure your bin is fairly visible and not stuffed into a corner, so you don’t forget about it (especially when it comes time to purge it!).