Organizing Plan of Action

I recently had a virtual organizing session with a customer from Arizona about her bedroom closet. We had 2 sessions, one just over the phone and the other with video. Because I wasn't there, I was more aware of some of the necessary questions to ask and decisions to be made and thought it may be helpful to share our steps. These similar steps can work for almost any organizing project.

What do I want in this space?

For example: only clothes, shoes, bags, hats and my regularly used suitcase

Take everything out

If it’s a large closet, it may be necessary to do in sections.

Clean shelves and floor

Prepare for clutter

Have a box or bag ready for trash, recyclable, donation, relocation, tailor, Aunt Susie, sell, etc.

Hanging clothes

Look at every piece of clothing and make a conscious decision if you need to keep it. Hang in an organized manner that works for you: by type, by color, by outfit. Once you see how much space you have/don’t have, you may want to consider some specialized hangers. Check out my blog for some ideas: https://www.looseendsorganizing.com/post/space-saving-closet-hangers; Using all slimline hangers facing in same direction can also save space and look better too.

Other clothes  Make decisions on what to keep and categorize. If you just stack your clothes like sweaters and jeans on a rack, I highly recommend some sort of shelf dividers or bins/baskets otherwise it will look cluttered. If you run out of space, consider what may fit in a dresser.

example of shelf oragnizer from Amazon

Shoes

Make decisions on what to keep. I’ve noticed people like lots of shoes, so this will vary for every situation. Don’t let your shoe area get overcrowded, so once your shoe cubby or designated shelves are full, try to streamline. And if you still cannot fit them, look into under the bed solutions, over the door pockets, hanging cubbies, even a separate shoe shelf outside of the closet for more shoes. There are boot hangers and stackable shoe boxes and all kinds of options. I have a blog on shoe organization too: https://www.looseendsorganizing.com/post/heel-to-toe-shoe-organization

boot hanger example from Amazon

example over the door shoe organizer from Amazon

Bags

Make decisions on what to keep. Depending on the size and shape, many bags work great on the shelf above the hanging clothes. For smaller bags, there are shelf dividers, purse hangers and over the door hangers. Again, don’t let them get overcrowded because then you’re right back to having clutter!

Hats

Make decisions on what to keep. Big hats like cowboy hats can work fine up on a shelf and even stacked. There are lots of different hooks available for ball caps. If you have a growing collection of hats, maybe you can display them on a wall rather than having them in the closet taking up space.

example hat rack from Amazon

boho hat rack display from Amazon

Extra

I did all of this and still can’t fit everything! My rule in keeping things organized is to get rid of things that don’t fit the designated space. It’s just stuff. And I know I will feel much more at peace having an organized, decluttered space than I will by keeping those shoes I may very well never even wear. Ask yourself some questions:

How many black shirts or pairs of jeans does one need?

Do I really need 50 pairs of shoes?

Do I really need all of these bags?

When was the last time I wore that anyway?

Am I ever going to take this to get altered?

Perhaps someone else could really use these items instead of them sitting in a closet? BUT if you still can’t part with things, rather than cluttering the closet back up, put your least used items in bins and store them elsewhere. And then maybe you’ll be ready to part with them next time you cross paths.

Other Stuff

Now what to do with the other non-closet stuff? Most likely some items will have homes already elsewhere in your house like wrapping paper and supplies, papers/bills, towels/linens, photos, tools, etc. So go put these where they belong! Don't make another pile or put them in a different closet. Here are some random items I often find when I am working on bedroom closets:

Old phones/computers: almost every city has e-cycling programs where you can dispose of these items; there are also hard-drive shredding companies so you don’t have to worry about your data

Memorabilia/collections: I have a blog about getting some of these items framed and up on the wall so you can enjoy them: https://www.looseendsorganizing.com/post/keepsake-displays-what-to-do-with-all-that-memorabilia  Otherwise another closet or attic would be a good spot rather than your bedroom closet, unless of course you have the extra space after decluttering.

example of a collection display idea

example of memorabilia wall

Old documents: Most likely you don’t even need most of these. Here’s a good summary of what you need to keep: https://www.snbonline.com/about/news/spring-cleaning-what-documents-to-keep-and-what-to-toss  If you still want to keep these, put them in your office or wherever you keep documents. If you don’t need access to them, put them in the attic or storage. If you just are worried about your security, go get them shredded or invest in a personal shredder.

Items to sell: A lot of my customers have items they think are worth something so these items sit for years because they don’t know how to sell them. This is what I have found: Many items are not worth the time to sell. I do the quick research on eBay, etsy, FB marketplace, etc. and can pretty easily find out if it will be worth selling. If it is, then I list it and if it doesn’t sell after a couple months, I give it away. So make it a priority to do something with these items.

I know it can be hard to part with items, but you will feel the weight lift off as you do. There’s no reason to hold on to many of the things we hold on to, but we just feel like we have to! But you don’t have to! So let things go and feel the liberation!

Plan of Action List

Now you can make a list of everything you need to buy for your closet to make it even more efficient as well as what you need to do to tie up the loose ends like getting rid of electronics, selling an item, displaying some old heirloom photos. You may need to create a space for something, like a bookshelf for extra books and magazines you find. But just work toward having a place for everything and everything in its place.

And then you can start on your next organizing project! If you need help getting started or coming up with a plan of action and you are not local, we can arrange a phone consultation.