Posted on June 6th, 2020
Across America, people are increasingly choosing to downsize their homes: According to a report from the National Association of Home Builders, the average size of a new house decreased to 2,320 square feet in 2018, down from a median of 2,500 square feet in 2015, in response to growing consumer demand. This shift towards smaller dwellings is driven both by Millennials looking for affordable starter homes and by Baby Boomers seeking more manageable abodes after retirement.
In many ways, this trend is highly beneficial; smaller homes are cheaper to operate and maintain, use fewer resources, and occupy less land. There is, however, one downside to living in a small home or apartment: Finding enough room for storage can pose a serious challenge when you don’t have a lot of square footage to work with. For that reason, knowing how to maximize your closet space is essential to keeping a tidy, organized home.
Even if you live in a larger house, optimizing your closets can help you reduce clutter, keep track of your belongings, and speed up your morning routine, particularly if you have kids. Do remember that we can take care of everything for you if you’d rather an experienced cleaning technician in the Edmond area to arrange your stuff.
Our 6 Favorite Closet Organizing Ideas
Before you start organizing your closets, we strongly recommend taking stock of what’s stored in each one. Many people fall into the habit of tossing things into their closets simply to get them out of sight, so your closets may contain items that you no longer want or need. Getting rid of disused items and old clothing before you start organizing your closets will make the job faster and easier and you’ll enjoy better end results.
Once you’ve finished clearing out unwanted items, try these six simple organization hacks to make your closets cleaner, more useful places:
Buy some closet drawers.
Closet drawers can add storage space to almost any closet – without taking up a lot of room. Closet drawers function like a small dresser, keeping extra garments and accessories neatly organized. Some closet drawers come with mesh basket drawers that allow you to see what’s inside each drawer, so you won’t have to rummage around to find exactly what you need. As an added bonus, installing closet drawers can free up space in a cramped bedroom by allowing you to forgo a traditional dresser.
Create a “seasonal system” with storage containers.
If you live in a part of the US that experiences significant winter cold, you probably dress very differently depending on the season, which places extra strain on your closet capacity. Storing winter hats, gloves and scarves alongside sunglasses, baseball caps and sunscreen uses up valuable closet space and can slow you down while you’re getting ready.
To free up closet space, put warm-weather items into one lightweight fabric storage container and cold-weather items into a separate container. During the summer, tuck the storage container with your winter accessories under your bed and keep the container with your summer items in the closet. In winter, switch them around.
Install towel bars on the back of your closet door.
If your closet has a single door (rather than sliding or folding doors), you can install towel racks on the back of it to increase your closet’s utility and free up space inside it. Installing several racks – one near the top of the door, one in the middle and one near the bottom of the door – will give you a place to hang extra hats, scarves and shoes without your closet becoming cluttered. This solution is especially useful in older homes, as old closets typically have sturdy single doors but lack the internal space needed to store a large number of garments and accessories.
If you don’t want to permanently alter your closet door, you can hang a shoe pocket organizer from the back of the door instead of installing rods. Shoe pocket organizers are inexpensive clear plastic sheets that contain a number of holders for extra shoes.
Purchase a closet organizer.
Closet organizers are full units that include extra clothing rods, shelves and sometimes drawers. Closet organizers can add a lot of extra storage capacity to virtually any closet and they make sorting and retrieving items a breeze.
If you decide to purchase a closet organizer, you’ll have two options: Buying a premade organizer from a big box store or having an organizer custom-designed for your closet. The latter option is more expensive, but it usually results in a better-optimized unit.
If you don’t want to purchase a closet organizer, simply adding some shelves with dividers to your closet can go a long way towards keeping everything neat and tidy.
Buy some space-saving “magic hangers.”
Magic hangers are vertical hangers with holes designed to accommodate a number of conventional clothes hangers. They layer multiple garments over the top of each other to significantly reduce the amount of closet space they take up, allowing you to store more clothes in one closet.
Add some lighting to your closet.
Part of the reason it’s so tempting to store odds and ends in the closet and forget about them is how dark these spaces typically are – Once you toss something in the back of a dark closet, it really is “Out of sight, out of mind.” Placing a battery-powered LED light in your closet is a simple, affordable way to help you break this habit, because better lighting will bring mess to your attention. Installing lighting will also make it much easier to locate items in your closet.
Need a top rated maid service in Edmond, Ok or in the local area?
We love to help our customers with home organization tips and if you want to learn more about organizing check out our guide to cleaning and organizing your home office and our top tips for stress-free tidying.
And remember: If you don’t feel up to the task of cleaning and organizing your home yourself, our professional maids can help. Contact us today to learn more about our affordable, flexible housecleaning services and instead of spending your day organizing the house why not visit Lake Stanley Draper? It’s a great place to relax with the family!