5 Tips for Organizing Your Closet

How do the stars do it? Too many clothes and never enough space. As women, we buy, buy, buy, and collect dresses after jewelry after purses after shoes after skirts. Over the years, our wardrobe accumulates and as a result, things become messy, hectic, disorganized, and overcrowded. So, if you're an over-indulgent shopaholic like myself, you may be in need of a little guidance to help keep your closet in check. Follow some of these tips and you can transform your closet into a fully functional mini-warehouse that can also be your fashion sanctum.

Planning Ahead

Know what you have. Go through everything and come up with a layout. Whether you're living a life of haute couture luxury or you're working with space the size of a hallway closet, you have to plan ahead. Factor everything you'd like to include in your closet into your design concept so that you have room for all your belongings. You can also consider building your own closet with the help of a closet designer or you can find what you need simply from your local Home Depot's built-in closet kits. Check out their Deluxe Closet Starter Kit in Espresso from their Martha Stewart Living collection.

$159.00 at Home Depot

Finding Your System

What works for you? Create your own Dewey Decimal system. Are you more comfortable classifying your garments by categories like blouses, pants, tank tops, etc.? Or, is color coding a better way to go for you? Some people like to organize their fashions by season. I'm a big believer in incorporating both the category AND the garment color coding system. Whatever suits you best, take it and run with it. Color coding can also be done using specific hangers. For example, you could use orange hangers for all your dress shirts and blue hangers for all your cardigans.

Photo: Levi Brown for New York Magazine

Aesthetic

Create an ambience. Make your closet a reflection of who you are. If you have the space, add some decor, wall paper, accent pillows, decorated dress forms, whatever you like. For those limited in extra square footage, you can always paint the back wall of your closet with a stand-out color or create a vibe with little accessories like fun, flirty hangers. Try these vintage-inspired Shabby Pink Fleur de Lis Coat Hangers by Faded Rose Cottage. They are beyond chic and cute, not to mention available at Etsy.com in sets of three. And, to make you feel even more glamorous, these fab hangers are made-to-order.

$5.50 at Etsy.com

Showcasing

Not everyone can be the star of the show. Choose your most treasured pieces and favorites to be displayed, while you tuck away other items like socks and pj's that don't need such attention. Display some of your gorgeous jewelry or your new sunglasses. It's important to remember, however, that while you want your prized beauties shown off, you also want to keep things as functional as possible. You can find great displays for all kinds of things all over the place. A great example is this Sunglass Display Case by DC Eyewear.

$35.00 at DC Eyewear

Shoe Situations

For many of us, it's all about the shoes. Whether you're concerned about showing off your fabulous pumps or you're just trying to keep them neat and organized, you need to know how to properly store your shoes. They should always be stored according to useage and fashion. If you don't wear certain pairs that often, then they shouldn't be positioned in front of the ones you wear on a regular basis. If a shoe isn't too trendy at the moment, put it in back of your fashion-worthy pairs that you're more likely to wear. A good way to get maximum storage space for your fabulous footwear is to use these Premium Stacking Shoe Bins. Because they're clear in addition to stackable, you are able to organize them amazingly and see each pair without having to take them out of each box.

$9.99 at The Container Store