Household Hacks: How to Organize A Lot of Clothing in Very Little Closet Space

How to Organize A Lot of Clothing in Very Little Closet SpaceMany of the walk-in closets in Tandem Property’s Davis apartments are quite large, a few are VERY large (although none are TARDIS big). But no matter how big your closet is, your best step to closet bliss is to reduce what you have to store.

The first step is to declutter your closet. Apartment Therapy, has five great tips to declutter your closet.  Here’s our favorite:

2. Use a hanger system to identify which clothes you wear the most. After sorting KEEP, DONATE and THROW AWAY piles, hang all of your “keep” clothing on the hanger rod with the hanger hooks pointing toward you. As you wear the clothes, hang them the regular way: pointing towards the back of the closet. In three months, donate or sell any clothing that is still pointing towards you. Do this for each season of clothing.

Even after you’ve made a clutter cut, when there isn’t enough space, organization is the key. Nathalie, over at Lifehacker.com has a lot tips for you to try:

General Tips

  1. Use ALL available space, but keep it organized.
  2. Keep out-of-season (winter/summer) clothes out of the way.
  3. You’re more likely to wear something if you can see it.
  4. Keep 1-2 hooks empty for quick-n-dirty clean up.
  5. Don’t forget the backs of deep shelves, and high-up places.

Hanging Clothes

  • Try installing a second closet rod above your main one. This basically doubles your hanging space. Buy a stool (my preference) or a reaching rod for access. I have often done this myself on the cheap–search around for tutorials or visit your local home improvement store.
  • Matching hangers makes everything look so nice. I have these Joy Mangano ones and I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. I bought a 200-pack or something like that when it was on special. Worth it.
  • Cascading hooks are bloody genius and work with almost any hanger. Use two at a time!
  • You can get a tiered hanger for skirts. Mine is over 30 years old and still going strong.
  • I have yet to find the perfect single skirt hanger commercially available, but it must havespring-clips and smooth rubber grips. The Joy Mangano clips suck–don’t waste your money.

Creating More Space

  • Buy an armoire—that’s what I did!
  • Are you handy? Build a closet in a corner!
  • Only kind of handy? Get a stud-finder, drill, closet brackets, a shelf and closet rod. Install brackets, add shelf on top, slip rod into place. Beware of how much your wardrobe weighs; you may need more than two of those brackets. Note: I once installed just the shelf, then had a towel rod underneath for scarves, and below that was the boots bookshelf.
  • Get a freestanding rack. I have one in my pantry for coats. Whatever, it works.