Room-By-Room Organizing Challenge | Month 9: The Master Closet

Imagine this: a master closet full of only items you truly love.

Believe it or not, this is a very attainable goal! So this month, we decided to delve into a small but vitally important area of the home: the master closet. Albeit not quite a room, we are counting it as one, since the closet plays such an important role in our homes.

For many, the closet represents our sense of self, style and comfort. An organized closet also represents calm and order, even when we don’t feel particularly calm and orderly on the inside. A tidy closet helps us enter into a clear, organized brain space in the mornings – a vital component to starting the day off right.

Let’s get started organizing your master closet!

Because we are both clever and adorable, we came up with a fun breakdown of how to organize the closet, with a shiny little acronym for you: C-L-O-S-E-T! Let’s do this!

C stands for coffee. Hear me out on this one: the point here is not to drink lots of coffee (though we certainly won’t discourage that). The point is to have fun with this process. Turn on some music if that helps you get in the zone, put on some comfy pants, and get yourself a favorite beverage. If you think of it as a chore, than it will be. Instead, think of it as going shopping in your own closet.

L stands for Let it Go. There are multiple methods for helping to decide when you’re ready to donate a beloved clothing item. I’ll just cut through the noise here and ask the only question that matters: Do you wear it? If not, let it go. We wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time. That means that 80% of your closet is a mix of clutter and nostalgia. If you have special feelings about a garment, but don’t wear it, put it with your memorabilia items instead.

Letting go of anything you don’t wear is hard, but the benefit is incredible: culling your clothing will make your mornings so much easier. You will be able to choose outfits with ease, put things away quickly and spend more time doing other things. You will also avoid spending money on clothes that you don’t need, because you will know what you have.

We also recommend donating items that are making you feel guilty because you spent money on them in the past – they are not worth the weight that you feel when you look at them every day! Be ruthless.

As you make decisions, create piles with action verbs like “to donate”, “to consign”, “to mend,” and “to try on.” This will help you categorize and make decisions quickly.

O stands for Organize. Our favorite letter! As you make decisions about where to put clothing back, think about where the lighting is best, and what we call your “prime real estate areas.” Prime, accessible shelving and hanging space should be reserved for items you wear the most.

Here’s a pro organizing tip: if you do one thing to organize your closet, make it a hanger makeover. We recommend replacing ALL of your hangers with non-slip velvet flat hangers. These are a total game changer and will make your closet life so much more enjoyable and organized. Just trust us on this one (and if you don’t, refer to our Instagram post).

Also, if you don’t have any drawer space, consider investing in some. We recently put together this Elfa storage unit from the Container Store for a client, which gave the her tons of space for drawer-requiring items like socks, underwear and t-shirts.

S stands for Separate. If you have purged your closet of all unwanted items and you are struggling to fit it all back in, we recommend separating clothing by season. This means creating two sections, “spring / summer” and “fall / winter.” This will also help you to select what to wear in the mornings if it is pared down to only what you really need. If you have room for off-season clothing in the closet, place it high on a top shelf in bins or in the very back. Another great place for off-season clothing is under the bed in flat storage bins. Make sure to put all of your off-season clothing in the same location, and nearby if possible.

For more tips on seasonal closet organization, you can check out our blog post: “Need Help Organizing Your Closet for Fall?”

E stands for Experience. Now it’s time to live with your new closet for a while. Make a note of what is working and not working. Are there things you kept that you are not wearing? Things that are too hard to put away? You will likely find yourself itching to pare down even more once you experience the joy of a closet that is full of only things that you love. Living with your closet will be the best indicator of whether you are satisfied with your work.

T stands for Trim. After experiencing your new closet for a month or so, head back in and perform a second review and eliminate items you haven’t worn. A great trick is to turn all of your hangers backwards. As you put things back after wearing them, you will begin to see which items you don’t wear. When you go in to trim, check out the backwards hangers and reassess whether you still want to keep those items.

Continue to trim long into the future! We recommend a closet review every time you buy something new. This is by far the best way to keep your master closet maintained and organized.

Happy Organizing!