2

I recently moved into a place with a large closet. It has many places for hanging things and a few shelves, some with drawers. Now that I moved I noticed I never had much of a system. I had been going off of memory for where things are stored. I would like to fix this, for example if I'm working from home and want to wear sweatpants I don't want to spend a bunch of time digging around for them.

Are there any organizational systems for storing clothing? I guess it would be best to organize by category, for example athletic attire (such as biking shorts) are stored in one drawer and socks and underwear in another. How should the categories be divided up, any suggestions?

Improve this question
1
  • I do not organize by activity, but by garment type: for example all the shirts in the same section - perhaps subdivided by activity or by type. The winter shirts will either be put, or naturally work their way, at one end, and one day when summer has gone, I'll move them to the 'near' end. I put the most frequently accessed items (socks and underwear) in the most easily accessible drawers.
    – Weather Vane
    Jul 12, 2022 at 18:56

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
3

I keep pants at the entrance end of the clothes hanger bar and shirts at the far end. Socks and underwear share a drawer. Shorts in another drawer. I subdivide the pants and shirts based on when I wear them (work, in public, painting/mowing/yardwork, winter-wear, formal wear).

In your case, you could keep your jeans, slacks, and sweatpants together, but keep them in a particular order based on style. If you have formal wear, but almost never wear it, there is no harm in putting it in the backmost part of the closet. If you have clothing you never wear because you don't like it, donate it to give it a second chance at being used.

This is a highly subjective question, but I would say the best method is whatever makes it easiest for you to know where to find what you are looking for.

Improve this answer
1
  • Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame uses that latter as the organisational principle for his toolbox: "first order of retrievability".
    – MiG
    Jul 12, 2022 at 21:44
2

The 'I know it's here somewhere' Lifehack:

Use whatever system you want using any rationale that occurs to you at the time; BUT,
use labels for what's inside a drawer or behind a door. You won't need them for things in plain sight folded on a shelf, in a transparent storage box, or on a hangar. Chances are you also won't need them for suit bags unless you have many similar containers.

Labels don't have to be very detailed - merely a memory jogger will do the job. You may make a few changes as you move locations to optimize where things are placed. Move the labels with the clothing when you make the change.

Shortly, after you get into a routine and get things working, you won't need the notes.

Good luck.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.