Now that all of us are home 24*7, most of you might find yourself doing things that you don’t do otherwise sheerly out of procrastination, or worse boredom. Stuff like cooking, learning a new thing, catching up on a book and the likes. But have you considered organising your closet? Yes, the tedious and time-consuming task of closet organisation!
Take it from us, there can’t be a better time to do this than now! Winter is gone, summer is in the offing so you are anyway going to have to do re-set your closet. Might as well do it now and properly this time with all the time you have, eh? Additionally, a cleaner, more organised space will only elevate your mood and make staying at home a little more tolerable. I mean there has to be some weight in all that Marie Kondo talk and how it “sparks joy”, right?
So without much ado, here’s how you can get your closet (and, by extension, your life) more organised than it ever was! Spoiler alert: the best way to do this is arranging by seasonal clothing.
Step 1: Empty It
There is no better way to organise your closet than to start by emptying it first. This gives you the opportunity to see how much space you actually have and how can you re-organise your next season’s stuff to fit in it. At the same time, tossing your current wardrobe into a big mountain on your bed is not advisable.
Step 2: Categorise The Clutter
Before you set your new stuff in, categorise your clothes like jeans and trousers together. Likewise shorts and skirts, dresses, all your T-shirts, office shirts, Indian wear, and so on. You’ll see how effortless and easy it’ll become to pick out clothes now. No more ‘I have nothing to wear’ this season!
And while you’re at it, do the same to your emptied pile of clothes too before dumping them back so that when the next season comes, you don’t have to do it all over again. This will also help you declutter and easily identify the stuff that you don’t use or need anymore.
Step 3: Deep Clean
Now that we have an empty closet, it is only obvious that we give it a nice, deep cleaning. While you can initiate the process with some dusting and vacuuming, it is advisable to go a step ahead and disinfect your closet as well. Now more than ever! You can either use any basic disinfectant from the market that fulfils the CDC guidelines or make a DIY disinfectant by following these simple steps:
You’ll need:
– Four teaspoons of household bleach
– One-quarter of water
Method:
Pour both the ingredients in a spray bottle, shake properly, and the disinfectant will be activated.
Usage:
Pour spray on the surface, leave for ten minutes, and then wipe away with a sponge or wet cloth.
Furthermore, to keep your clothes free of moth, bacteria, and fungus you can add a linen or cotton bag of dried lavender petals in various drawers and compartments of your closet. Alternatively, you can also hang mothballs in the closet the old grandma way. Works like a charm!
Step 4: Donate Or DIY
While the disinfectant does its job, see what you can do with the pile of discarded clothes in step 2. You can donate whatever you think is still in good shape and can be used by someone. Anything that is damaged beyond repair or you would be too embarrassed to donate, needs to be trashed.
However, trashing doesn’t mean that you throw away the stuff. Think of alternate usage for the same. Old clothes, for instance, can be used for cleaning purposes at home or to wear during Holi. To date, my grandma makes shopping bags out of old clothes! We need to get more sustainable in our consumption habits and making good use of old, discarded clothes happens to be one of them.
Step 5: Envision Your Ideal Closet
Ah, my favourite part in closet organisation! Begin with noting down your closet’s best features and then think of using them optimally. For instance, your closet might have an ample number of drawers or side hooks to hang stuff. Work on this information and think about how to make the best use of it. Also, brainstorm on how to make the most of the space that is hard to access like the top shelf or the bottom-most shelf. You can stuff it with things you use the least.
Step 6: Divide And Rule
Most of us are blessed with a bigger collection of clothes but a smaller space to fit them in. If that’s the case, there is no case. You can either get drawer dividers and organisers for some additional storage space or make your own! This is where all your Zara and H&M delivery boxes can come in handy. Here’s an easy tutorial to do the same:
Step 7: The Setting
Now that the closet is clean and the organising material is all in place, it is time to get to the actual task of setting your closet. Here are some tips to help you through the process:
1. Whatever you are going to use the most in a particular season should be more accessible and stored at eye level.
2. Hang clothes that are fancy and crease easily like blazers, long skirts, chiffon dresses, and shirts. These go up the hanger.
3. It’s the bulkier clothing items that need to be folded since they don’t crease easily and occupy more space when hanged. For example, jeans.
4. For a neater looking closet, have everything facing in the same direction. Additionally, you can also arrange the hangers in a way that the shorter garments feature on one end of the rod and the longer ones on the other.
5. Assign a couple of hangers to your scarves and dupattas where you can stack or tie them together.
6. Thin, pliable, and low maintenance clothing items like leggings, pyjamas, t-shirts, and workout clothes make for the best candidates to be folded and tucked into storage boxes. These can be such space savers!
7. Use the door hooks in your closet to hang your sling bags and purses or jewellery. This will make them more accessible while keeping them safe.
8. Save a drawer for your lingerie and socks and neatly sort them with drawer dividers. Your delicates call for special care.
All set to Marie Kondo your way through the closet? We hope it sparks some joy and makes self-quarantine worth your while.
Featured Image: Instagram
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