By Korie Cantor
Home organization need not translate into big-buying decisions. There is no need to splurge on fancy organization solutions or redesign your storage areas to tame clutter. A frugal person can organize her home perfectly without breaking the bank.
So how do you do it? Closets are the biggest nightmares of any unorganized person, and are also the place to begin your journey to a more organized life.
Pinterest boards are brimming with ideas, most of which will not cost you a dime to implement in your home. Firstly, ensure that you do not approach organization and de-cluttering with a ‘what-should-I-buy-to-tame-this-clutter’ attitude. Secondly, trim down your possessions to a manageable pile. If clothes and accessories are overflown in your closet, it will be better to start organizing with a ruthless purging of stuff that you no longer need or want.
Here are a few tips for you to organize your closet just right and not deplete your bank account in the bargain.
- Make an Idea Book
An idea book is the place where you can create and store ideas , and build a picture of what would be your ideal closet. Browse online, subscribe to interior design and architecture magazines, and click pictures on your phone whenever you chance upon something that you would like to work into your closet.
If you are a craft-lover, make sketches and plans for DIY projects that would help in maximizing your closet space.
Organizing a long-ignored closet will take effort, creativity and inspiration, and having an idea book will help you achieve these.
- Make Use of Extra Space
The best advice an organizing newbie can get is that she should first assess the available storage real estate she has to work with. No closet is too small to hold all your belongings, and if it is too small, you will have to make use of the idle space.
Vacant and unused spaces behind the closet door or on top of the shelves can be brought into use. You may also have unutilized floor space. Clear shoe boxes or simple Dollar Store baskets will provide you storage options for anything, from shoes to smaller pieces of clothing or laundry.
Consider installing a couple of rods on the inside of your closet door to hang scarves, stoles, hats or gloves. You can go a notch higher and use this DIY slide-out scarf organizer , which serves as a cute custom home for all your scarves. You can install similar ones for belts as well. Once that is done, a chunk of your accessories will have their own place and will be out of your clothes’ storage space.
You can also consider adding wire shelving to make use of empty spaces in your closet.
- Think Beauty
Though the whole purpose of organizing the closet is to neatly stack away clothes, shoes, bags and accessories, it is essential to make it look aesthetic as well.
A personalized, organized, clutter-free and gorgeous closet will help you get over the loss of purging your favorite 10-year old pair of flip-flops and that pair of jeans you had since college. Also, the fact that you are working towards something that’s going to look super-special will help you be more ruthless when clearing out unwanted stuff.
The less the stuff you own, the easier it will be to cull out a functional and good-looking closet, and it will also reduce the need to invest in storage solutions.
- Hit the Yard Sale
Garage and yard sales, thrift stores and charity sales are great places to scout for storage solutions like chests of drawers, vintage hooks, baskets, and space modifiers like mirrors.
You must look at recycling through the eyes of a frugal, but creative organizer. You can recycle, up-cycle or reinforce retail packing materials for household use.
Warehouse purchases usually come in storage boxes that can be put to good use to store unused or out-of-season clothes in your closet. If you are not fond of the appearance of these baskets, all you need to do is give them a paint job or cover them with fabric that suits your closet décor.
- Categorize Your Clothes
An easy way to work your way through clothing clutter is to categorize them into dresses, pants, casual tops, work tops, workout clothes, and evening wear. You may require more categories if you travel or socialize a lot. Depending on your unique needs, make a list of the categories you need to create in your closet.
You can organize by categories like tops, pants, skirts and jackets, then into sub-categories going by colors like from light to dark, and then by sleeve length. Alternatively, you can have all that you wear beneath your clothes, such as tanks, camisoles and lighter pieces on the left side of the closet bar, and keep all that you wear on the outside like cardigans, shirts, sweaters and jackets on to the right. Having an adequate-sized dresser in the closet will give you access to drawers where you can store smaller and lighter stuff like inner wear, tees, PJs, and leggings.
Also, do invest in good-quality hangers. Plastic hangers come in different colors and styles and there is one to suit your every need. You can also consider the interlinking hanging system, which allows you to maximize vertical hanging space with the hangers easily linking together.
Categorizing clothes makes wardrobe organization easy and will save you time when you are getting dressed up, without having to rummage around to find what you need.
Conclusion
Frugal organization is possible only when you have a good idea of everything you own. You must know what you have in your wardrobe well. This will make it easier to organize and categorize stuff. A limited wardrobe will prevent your clothes from getting out of hand and taking over the entire closet. Timely purging and re-assessing are key to maintaining a fabulous, yet frugally-organized closet.
Korie Cantor is a Blogger – Follow her on Google Plus
