Comments on: Reader question: Clothes closet organization

By: Mander

Mander — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:43:24 +0000

I do group my shirts and blouses by sleeve length, and skirts and pants by occasion. It makes it just a little bit easier to see what’s available for a given temperature, and when it’s time to put out-of-season clothes away, they are all in one spot. Beyond that I’m too lazy to sort by color, although I can see that being an advantage.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 23:43:20 +0000

I organize my closet by sweatshirts;in color, then churchy sweatshirts/ponchos, by color, and then church tops, by color; and then skirts(I have a hanger that has 4 hangers in 1 on it, and I have 3 of those for my skirts, and 3 for my pants which are next. Then I have my tees that I wear the most in order my color; and then on the end I have my concert clothes, as I’m a senior in High school, and actively involved the music dept., [I’ve got my choir dress, dept. shirt I need for BB games; marching band shirt I needed for FB games and competitions, show choir shirt I need for SC competitions, and SC formal outfit, Jazz band formal outfit for comps and concerts, and the list goes on. It takes up approx. 15 hangers all together. Quite sad…

By: Gina

Gina — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 20:48:11 +0000

I too organize my closet, but just a bit differently than Lisa. I go by color first, then by sleeve lengths within each color. I love an organized closet! I’m actually thinking of switching to Lisa’s method. I think it might be more useful, since now I realize I actually look for the sleeve length first, before the color. Thanks!

By: Christina

Christina — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 23:13:25 +0000

My closet is organized to the point of buying boutique tags to seperate all the different lengths of sleeves and to distiguish between work-out clothes and casual/work clothes. It might seem a little over the top, but when my husband puts away laundry, I know that it will always be the way I want it and that happiness makes it worth it!

By: verily

verily — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 14:26:50 +0000

I must admit that I’ve very relaxed about my closet organization.

I have always stuck to the same method of organization. Winter sweaters and pants stacked in separate piles on a shelf. Shirts hung together in one section of the rack. Lighter sweaters on another. And jackets on the far end. That’s it. No internal sorting due to sleeve length or color. I don’t have so many clothes that it takes me more than a minute to find what I want.

There’s also a rubbermaid container containing clothes that I really ought to just toss entirely. Like some overweight people, I hang onto my “thinner days” clothes due to some foolish idea that I’d actually want to wear them again when I shed some pounds.

By: Ellen

Ellen — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 07:25:29 +0000

I don’t do a rainbow (though within categories my clothes are roughly grouped by color), but I definitely sort by sleeve length. Dresses on the far left, then skirts, then long-sleeved tops (with subcategories: turtlenecks, sweatshirts, etc.). In the middle, a small section of pants serves as a dividing line. Then on the right are all my short-sleeved (or sleeveless tops), grouped again by subcategory: sleeveless turtlenecks, dressy short-sleeved tops, polo shirts, and so on. On the far right I keep a couple of robes and other hanging miscellany.

I also hang my spouse’s clothes by sleeve length, from bike shirts and T-shirts on the left (following the pants, that is) through polo shirts and short-sleeved dress shirts to long-sleeved dress shirts and pullovers.

I don’t think it’s OCD, it makes clothes selection a lot easier in a varying climate.

By: Dorianne

Dorianne — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 04:24:06 +0000

Just getting my clothes up off the floor has been a monumental achievement of my adult life.

My clean and/or “best” clothes hang in the order they go back in the closet, except for one old sweatshirt that is all that stands between my clothing and the cat bed on top of the deep freeze (which also shares closet space). My previously worn (but still wearable) clothes and many of my casual clothes go on six hooks hung strategically on the wall behind the open bedroom door. Two laundry hampers on the closet floor hold everything else.

By: Aegir

Aegir — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 11:43:08 +0000

Oh, and I meant to say, it never takes me long to get ready because all my clothes are pretty much the same.

By: Aegir

Aegir — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 11:41:34 +0000

My ‘closet’ is a big chair I bought a while back. Clean clothes get heaped on top, and dirty clothes get stuffed behind the bedroom door until laundry day. If the big chair is getting roughly more than 30% visible then it’s time for laundry.

A place for everything, and everything in its place.

By: Jenny

Jenny — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 05:46:38 +0000

Long sleeves, by color, on the top. Short sleeves, by color, on the bottom. Formal/fancy stuff to one side.

Just last week I pulled the lightweight jackets to one side of the long sleevers, so they have their own section now. I have more than I need!

By: Cliff

Cliff — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 05:21:42 +0000

Yup, me too. My closet is organized so as to maximize getting-to-work-in-the-morning-after-I-oversleep efficiency. Suits here by color, shirts there by category and style, then by color or pattern, pants there by the same, etc. It’s all about getting the “work” of choosing and implementing my stuff (in this case, the clothing) out of the way as quick as possible. Shoes also organized thusly. It’s only a BIT anal to set it up that way in the first place, when you move in. But from there on out it’s actually easier to put things back in the proper place after use and cleaning, than it is to find some random place, since the EMPTY HANGERS are already dangling there in the right place. What a system, no!

By: Nat

Nat — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 04:58:58 +0000

In writing it sounds crazy, but I use a similar system except I don’t pay that much attention to making rainbows since I rarely have enough of one type of clothing to sort by color. Also, I don’t hang jeans, work out wear, t-shirts, which are separated in sleeve length piles (yes, I decide which one to wear by pulling from the bottom and dresses which are by hemlength rather than sleeve. When I worked as a costumer, we used this system. I got pretty used to it and adapted it to my closet.
Also, I insist slap me upside the head if I ever start doing the winter closet/summer closet thing. I like having everything in the same place so I don’t go crazy looking for stuff during the “transistion” seasons.

By: Barbara

Barbara — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 01:51:59 +0000

Everything hangs in the same direction, tops with tops, bottoms with bottoms, and sleeves are grouped by length in my closet. Which is also an island of sanity amidst a house of chaos and clutter and stuff. Don’t know how I got to this blog, but so far, it is terrific ;D

By: Shayna

Shayna — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 22:44:40 +0000

I hang short sleeves together, long sleeves in another area, then dresses and skirts and (dress) pants in the tall area of the closet. My hangers face the same direction but I use the rotation method (always pull from one side and then put clean on the other) and donate what I don’t wear at the end of each season.

By: Kris

Kris — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 22:37:19 +0000

I don’t have OCD and do exactly what Lisa does. I also hang up tank tops, tshirts and all pants. I know myself and I’m an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ girl. If it’s in a drawer, I’ll forget about it. I’m fortunate to have a very large closet so everything has room to hang. Shoes are below on shelves. The only thing in my dresser drawers are underwear, bathing suits, pareos, pajamas and socks. I don’t wear scarfs or hats (except a baseball cap that lives in my car). I have one belt and that’s on a hanger, too. I have two purses. One I use every day and one for formal occasions. I can get dressed in under a minute. That was the goal. I used to be a professional organizer and closets were my speciality.