How to Clean Out Your Closet offers tips, tricks and advice on how to organize messy closets.

How to Clean Out Your Closet offers tips, tricks and advice on how to organize a messy closet.

• Not sure what's hanging out in the depths of your closet? Maybe R. Kelly? If the thought of your closet stresses you out, it might be time to clean it out. Despite what you see on home improvement shows like Clean House and Trading Spaces, you don't have to install a thousand dollar customized closet system to get organized. All it takes is a willingness to purge and a few inexpensive and innovative space-saving tools.

(Photo by Chris Scott)

• Purging is the key to getting organized, but it's also the hardest part for die-hard pack rats. People invest inanimate objects (including their clothes) with sentimental value. But now is not the time to get weepy over a jacket you've never worn. Now is the time to get tough. It's time for some hardcore purging.

1. Take everything out of the closet. That's right. You heard me. Everything.
2. Sort through your clothing, shoes and whatever else has been lurking in your closet's murky depths. Put them into one of three piles:
   • Keep: You wear it nearly everyday. It fits. It's timeless. (If you're being honest with yourself, this will be roughly only 20% of your closet's contents.)
   • Dump: Anything that is stained, smelly, ripped or stretched-out. You won't clean it. You won't repair it. You will never wear it, and neither will anyone else. Toss it.
   • Donate: Anything that you haven't worn in a year, is a tired trend or doesn't fit. If you're not sure if it fits or not, try it on. Be honest with yourself. If you're a size 10 and it's a size 6, it's gone.
3. When you're done sorting, go through your "keep" pile again. Does any of this need to go in the "dump" or "donate" piles? Remember that it's just stuff. You don't need it if you don't use it.
4. Throw out your "dump" pile, and consider doing one of the following with your "donate" pile:
   • Sell on eBay: Auction your clothes on eBay, or sell them at your resident consignment shop.
   • Donate to Charity: Drop them off at Goodwill, Salvation Army or a local thrift shop.
   • Host a Clothes Swap: Get new clothes that you'll actually wear for free. Invite your other purge-happy friends over for a clothes swap. Everyone who brings a pile of clothes gets to take from everyone else's stash.

• Now that you've got your closet's contents whittled down to what you actually use, it's time to organize.

(Creative Commons photo by Tom Eppenberger)

1. Assess Your Space: Closets contain a ton of wasted space. Make use of every inch. There are organizing tools that allow you to use virtually all of your closet's space including the backs of doors and high shelves. Even your door frame or a small, unused wall space can support a valet hook.

2. Group Like Items with Like Items: Make storing and finding items easier by grouping like items with like items. Tank tops hang out with tank tops. Pants hang out with pants. You get the picture.

3. Store Small Items in Containers: If you have small accessory items like scarves and gloves, group them together in small boxes. Be sure to label the boxes.

4. Use See-Through Plastic Bins: You'll have a much easier time finding things if you can see them. Keep sweaters, shirts and shoes in see-through containers.

5. Use Double Rods: Double rods are the best kept secret of closet organization. You can double your closet's hanging space in an instant with these low-hanging rods for shirts, folded pants and jackets.

6. Use the Back of the Door: The back of your closet's door is the perfect place for an over-the-door shoe organizer or set of hooks.

7. No Wire Hangers: Wire hangers cut the lifespan of your clothes in half. Use wooden, durable plastic or padded hangers. If you treat your clothes well, you'll place more value on them and be less likely to leave them strewn all over your now immaculate closet floor.

8. Use Adjustable Shelves: If you do decide to invest in shelving for your closet, be sure that it's adjustable and can change as your storage needs evolve.

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• Breathe a sigh of relief. Your work here is done... for the moment. If you don't want your closet to slowly devolve back into its disorganized state, you'll have to commit to keeping it clean all year round. Fortunately, keeping your closet under control is just a matter of following a few simple rules:

(Creative Commons photo by Beau Wade)

1. If you purchase one new article of clothing, one old article of clothing hits the skids. Even better, make it two old items in exchange for the new one.
2. Keep all of your hangers facing one direction. Every time you wear something, turn the hanger in the opposite direction. At the end of the year, take every item you haven't worn and donate it to charity.
3. Respect your stuff. Keep your closet clean and illuminated; keep your clothes on nice hangers.
4. Create a spot in your closet to dump stuff that needs to be repaired. If you don't take those items to the tailor within two week of setting them aside, then they should go.
5. Periodically assess your needs. Do a light reorganization job every few months so things never get as out of hand as they were before you got your closet act together.

• • Mahalo's Guide to Closet Organizers
• RealSimple.com: Organize Your Closets
• myLifetime.com: Maximize Storage in Your Closets
• SoYouWanna.com: SoYouWanna Organize Your Closet?
• HGTV: Cleaning Your Closet
• About.com: Clean Out Your Closet WARNING: Pop-ups
• AOL Style Blog: Clean Out Your Closet (December 19, 2006)
• eHow.com: How to Clean Out a Closet
• MSNBC.com: Get Organized Today: De-clutter Your Closet
• wikiHow: How to Clean Out Your Closet
• MarthaStewart.com: Golden Rules of Closet Efficiency - Organizing a Closet
• DoItYourself.com: Build Closet Shelving
• LifeOrganizers.com: 10 Steps to a Happy Closet
• Oprah.com: The Urge to Purge
• Think Simple Now: Cleaning Our Your Life: One Closet at a Time (October 29, 2007)
• Reader's Digest: Spring Closet Cleaning: 14 Ideas from Professional Organizers

• EasyClosets.com: Closet Organizers

• The Home Depot: Closet Storage & Organization

• Amazon.com: Closet Organizers

• Target: Storage + Organization

• IKEA: Clothing & Shoe Organizers

• The Container Store: Shop Closet

• Stacks and Stacks: Clothes Storage: Slide N Stax - Double Hanging Rod

• Spacebag: The Original Space Bag

• Rubbermaid: Configurations and Closet

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• EasyClosets.com: Custom Closets Organizers

• Introduction
• Step 1: Purge
• Step 2: Organize
• Step 3: Keep It That Way
• Resources