Welcome to the second part of Closet Organizing Tips for Women with ADHD. In the first part we looked at the decluttering stages and now it is time to tackle the organizing – so let’s get started.
You should have sorted out what you want to keep and what space you have to keep everything in, so now comes the biggest step, and that is working out what you actually want to keep in your closet and what needs to kept elsewhere.
You should have three piles of clothes to sort out now –
Keep: Frequent Use – Items that fit, that go with other items, clothes that you wear often or have worn in the last three months.
Keep: Infrequent Use – Special occasion’s items such as evening wear, wedding dress, and maternity wear.
Keep: Out of Season- whatever is not won in the season you are currently in.
So the next question to ask yourself- What should you keep and where?
Find a place for everything- As with any organizing project, you want to have all your items in a place that makes sense for you and they way you live. Usually this will be that you need to have the frequent use items in the place that is easiest to access, those for infrequent use somewhere that is not so close at hand, but still accessible, and the same for out of season clothes. In the last blog, you looked at the space you have available- both immediate space, storage space and made a start on deciding where the best places for each category of these clothes would be. Now it is time to take a look at the amount of clothes you actually have to store in each of these places and make certain that you can store them in the spaces you have available.
Here are some of my tips for this step –
- Thinking about storing your clothes you really need to keep but don’t need every day in different locations, under the bed, in the closet in the guest bedroom ect, still accessible.
- For sentimental items (wedding dress, christen gowns) think about either putting them in the attic so that you can get them if you ever need to, but this will be rare. Make sure that they are stored properly as well otherwise when you take them out you may be in for a surprise
Organizing each space – You are now ready to sort your clothes and you have everything that you want to store in it and will be items that you frequently use. Here are some questions and tips that is a good start in getting a system for organizing your clothes.
For all the space you have available ask yourself the following questions
- Do you need more hanging space, drawer space or other storage?
- Can you add a shelf above or below the hanging space?
- Can you add boxes inside your closet for shoes?
- Can you add extra hanging space? – doubling up hanging space with a rail at the top or half way down can be a good way of doubling up the space
- Can you add hooks on the door for accessories or jewelry?
- Do you want to store things by color/style or mix (i.e. finding the black top for a night will be a lot easier if you hang your tops by color)
- Does any of these clothes needs specific storage
If you store your clothes with all this in mind, then you will find that choosing and accessing clothes each day is so easy.
You are so nearly there now, well done for getting to this step. You will hopefully see the changes that will help you gain a little more sanity each time you open your closet door and you will be able to see the bigger picture that getting your closet organized saves you time and energy.
The last part of the series is coming up next, which is crucial to ensuring you that your newly organized space truly keeps working for you for the next few weeks, months and years.