The Best Products for Closet Organization
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As we all start to put away our heavier sweaters and fleece-lined pants — and bring out lighter weight dresses, pants, and more — let's discuss closet organization. What do you think are the best products for closet organization? What are the best tips you've heard for organizing or decluttering your closet?
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{related: how and why to do a seasonal clothing review}
The Best Products for Closet Organization, IMHO:
Zippered Sweater Chests & Open Hampers
I've long loved using zippered sweater chests to corral clothes (including organizing smaller kids' clothes) — and I still love them for storing single categories of clothes, like “winter sweaters” or “summer workout pants.” (I usually try to stick a few cedar balls inside while packing things up for the season as well.) But I've found that a lot of times they're too small for the volume of clothes I want to store.
{related: how often do you declutter your wardrobe?}
A newer system I'm trying out is using open hampers to hold clothes that are out of season, only used occasionally, or hand-me-downs my youngest isn't ready for yet. I started doing this because I know from experience that in some cases I end up dumping the entire sweater bin and sorting through it no matter how carefully I'd packed/separated/labeled things. So now our swimming clothes and most of the “soon” hand-me-downs (as in, soon they'll fit my youngest) live in a huge sturdy hamper like this, and I've started using this behind-the-door hamper (pictured) to store my eldest's “don't fit” clothes until I have time to deal with them.
Velvet hangers
Aside from a few sturdier/shaped hangers for things like blazers, almost my entire closet is now velvet hangers. I like that things don't fall off, and the fact that they're all slim and the same size makes for a uniform look. I have a slightly weird system for hanging cardigans on velvet hangers; this year I also put my “half-dirty” pullovers on the hangers as well.
Lighting
If you have particularly dark closets, or want to add a bit of mood to your closet, you can always add lights. There are a ton of products out there — I'm going to check out these lights from Amazon. (The motion sensor bit worries me but I think it'll make sense in theory since I never pass by my closet on the way to, say, the bathroom in the middle of the night.
Shelf Liners for Wire Shelving
As I note below, I absolutely hate wire shelving — particularly any hanging rod that limits your sliding hangers around. That said, if you've already invested in something or have some linen closets in your home that are a lower priority, I just bought something similar to these wire shelf liners and have been happy with them. (I think ours were from Home Depot; note that The Container Store makes them for Elfa shelving also.)
Products that Never Work For Me for Closet Organization
- Anything that involves putting things on the floor of the closet — I actually prefer to move all of my hang rods so that the clothes are closest to the bottom of the floor, giving me more shelf space above the clothes. I have a separate space for really long hanging clothes — a few jumpsuits, maxi dresses, a robe, and a coat. It isn't a lot! (But then I'm generally ok to keep my trousers folded on hangers.)
- Hanging cloth “shelves”
- shelf dividers — they never work for me (but Kate told me she loves hers!)
- Under bed storage (the hard bins are too hard to get out from under the bed and I end up ripping the soft bins)
My Best Tips for Closet Organization
A simple steel rod!
I cannot STAND those white closet shelves where the hanging rod is part of the shelving unit, so you can't slide the clothes around as needed. No thank you!! Whenever possible I take those racks out asap to replace them with just a regular steel bar. If you have a closet system you can get these as part of it, but you can also just buy them on Amazon.
Also noteworthy: I put the steel rod as LOW as possible, usually measured by whatever my longest piece of clothing at the moment is. (As I note above, I have a separate area of my closet for maxi dresses, jumpsuits, and other full-length items.) This maximizes the “in your face” space that (IMHO) is better used for shelves (or a second rack of clothes!) — and minimizes the closet floor space, which I never make good use of.
Pictures on shoe boxes
I totally forget what shoes I have if I don't put the pictures on the boxes. I vastly prefer to store them in boxes since they're dust-free and stackable, then. (We just try to keep the boxes our shoes came in, but if you're on the hunt for clear shoe boxes, you can pick them up at the Container Store, Amazon, Staples, or more. I will note that it's a lot easier if the boxes are all the same size.
One of my biggest challenges has always been my love of black — I have a zillion plain black sweaters and plain black t-shirts, and yet (for sweaters especially) i will pick up 5 from a neatly folded pile before I find the one I'm looking for. I recently found a plastic container like this at a thrift store for $3 (I think it's intended for paper storage) and printed out pictures of my sweaters to tape to the boxes — I hope that helps a bit. (These sweater bins with clear plastic fronts from the Container Store look like they'd be good for the same purpose.)
All right, readers, let's hear it — what do you think are the best products for closet organization? What are the best tips you've heard for organizing or decluttering your closet?
Psst: here are my latest favorite ways to store jewelry…
I like to organize my closet by color, with lighter in front and heavier in back.
I have slowly been eliminating a lot of my work clothes that I held onto from pre 2020. In fact even back then I was holding on to too many business formal items because I had transitioned to a fairly casual office (casual side of business casual) and had fewer occasions to wear business formal clothing. Now I’m self employed and WFH, I really only need enough for in-person external meetings, which are infrequent.
So I have lots more room in my closet, which is just one long rod with a shelf above. I have shoe cubbies on the shelf and below the shorter end of hanging clothes (I leave room for long items to the right) because I have a shoe problem I’m not quite ready to give up yet, but it is so nice to have lots more hanging room.
I have two Rubbermaid bins that go in the attic and I use them to change out the heaviest woolen items for the lightest weight items when it gets warm (which I just did this weekend). Mid weight stuff stays around all year.
I have more purging to do but I have to say that having room between hangers is so nice.
Ah! I never knew about these shelf liners and they look great. Thanks, Kat!
Yes! Agree!
Shelf liners are great for keeping bitty things from falling through, but I bought translucent ones and then realized after installation that the upper shelves are no longer able to be visually inventoried by this shortie. So, a mixed bag. I’ve not found any clear enough to keep that perk.
I recently bought these dividers to section off types of clothes:
30 PCS Rectangular White Plastic… https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08ZS73CBM?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
So for the bottoms section of my closet, for example, I use one divider to section off black work pants, another divider for other (than black) work pants, another divider for work skirts, and another for weekend bottoms (“going out” pants and skirts). Those are just the categories that worked for me. It makes it so much easier to go right to that section when I need something instead of rifling through one long, uninterrupted rod of clothes without divisions. Also makes it easier to put everything back where it goes in an organized way. Reminds me of clothing racks at stores where they use similar dividers to section off by size.