I love my tiny closet! When we made the decision to switch bedrooms with the girls (see The Great Bedroom Flip) I had to greatly reduce my amount of clothing storage. The wardrobe I had been using as my closet simply didn’t fit in our new, smaller bedroom. I used the opportunity to sort through all of my clothing, build out a capsule wardrobe for myself, and consider how to best to utilize my tiny closet space. I’ve established a rhythm to closet maintenance and flipping my closet organization at the end of each season!

Remove Items from Closet and Assess

My first step of closet maintenance is to remove all items from my closet and then assess each item:

• Inspect: Pull out each clothing item and look for signs of wear.
  • I like to check collars and sleeves as those are places where my clothing shows the most wear. Items that show significant signs of wear I put in one pile, and clothing in good condition I put in a separate pile.
•  Joy Check: Hold each item and consider whether the item continues to spark joy.
  • I like to start by examining my shirts before moving onto other clothing items. After considering the color, fabric, utility, and the feeling I have when I wear each item, I only keep items that truly spark joy. (This “joy check” process is one of my favorite takeaways from Marie Kondo’s “Spark Joy” book!)
• Toss: Create a separate pile of clothing to sell, donate, or trash.
  • Sometimes I also create a pending pile that I return to later. These are typically clothes that I haven’t worn as frequently as my favorites.
•  Keep: Create a pile of clothing that is ready to reload into the closet.
  • At this point I reassess each category of clothing items and the quantity of items in each category. I also determine whether any replacement items need to be purchased.

 

Strategically Reload Closet

This is my favorite part of the closet maintenance process! I love thinking about how to maximize storage space in my tiny closet! Here are the steps that I follow:

• Separate out-of-season clothing that won’t be worn for the next few months and determine where to store out-of-season clothing. I store mine in the back section of my shelves, with the current season clothing in the front. I have 4 shelves and here is how I use them:
  • Shelf 1 – pants (front), summer shorts (back)
  • Shelf 2 – sweaters (full shelf)
  • Shelf 3 – socks and underwear (front), summer pajamas (back)
  • Shelf 4 – workout clothes (front), summer running clothes (back)
• Determine which in-season items will be placed on hangers (here are my favorite slim fit hangers!) and which items will be folded.
• Measure the height, depth, and width of each shelf or drawer to ensure that I am maximizing space before I start folding.
• Vertically fold clothing and reload drawers or shelves.
  • If you’ve never tried this folding method, it is life-changing for clothing storage and organization. Each item of clothing is folded in a way that allows them to stand up on end, and then they can be lined up in rows so that each items is easily seen, rather than being stacked in piles. Vertical folds should ideally fit the proportions of the space where the clothing will be stored.

 

 

I hope this inspires you to think about your own closet maintenance system, and how you can organize your space at the end of each season to maximize closet efficiency.

____________________________________________________________________________

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. We make a small commission for purchases made through these links with no additional fee to the customer. We only link to products we use and love! Thank you for supporting our blog! 

Thanks for pinning!