How to Maintain a Wardrobe with Limited Space

Tuesday, January 14, 2014



Whether you have a small apartment, an older home with tiny closets, or you live  back at home temporarily (like me), you will always be stressed when you can’t easily choose outfits, or keep your wardrobe organized.   

Over the past few months I’ve re-done my closet and dressers so many times until I finally found what I believe is the most efficient way to store, organize, and maintain a wardrobe when you have limited space. 

So here are a few tips and methods to downsizing, organizing, and maintaining a wardrobe with limited space.

DRESSERS
Utilize your dressers in the most efficient way possible.  

What to store in them:
Underwear
Socks
Pajamas and Loungewear
Tshirts (solid and graphic)
Camis
Tank Tops
Off season pants



How to maximize the space in them:
Fold everything flat and then stand up vertically.   It makes it easier to see what you have without sifting through and messing up how it’s all folded. 


Purge what you don’t need.  Do you have 4 plain white tshirts? Keep two and get rid of the the ones that are old, stretched, or stained.

CLOSET

I hang my work slacks on a cascading hanger (pic)
I take all of my colored pants and skinny jeans and keep them on pant hangers because it’s easier to look through them that way versus digging through a pile in a drawer or on the top shelf of my closet.



My jackets and hoodies are all hung (I purged them as well.  Really, I only need 2 fitness jackets ,2 nice zip jackets, and 2 pullover the head hoodies.


Then I hang everything else up by color.  I make sure to purge things as often as possible.  (see my purge post here LINK!)


CLOSET SHELF
Most people have different shelving unit set ups in their closets.  I just have the simple shelf that goes across the top. 

The following are some ideas of what you can put on the shelf:
  
I store 6 plastic shoe boxes (we’ll get to what’s in them later) on the left side

I keep little plastic baskets (3) on the top shelf in the middle that contain my most often worn in-season jeans . It’s so easy to pull these out and root through.

My favorite handbags and clutches go on the right side




STORING EXCESS SHOES/BAGS
So what do you do when you have off season shoes, bags,and no drawers or closet space for them?   Easy… Go out to pretty much any store and buy those big plastic bins with a lid on top.  The clear ones are great so you can see what’s in them. 

What To Store in Them:
Purses
Off Season Shoes

HOW TO STORE OFF SEASON CLOTHING
Get those Plastic zip up storage bags and slide them under your be dlike I do, or get the vacuum seal ones if you wish but I always end up sneaking in mine half way through the season so I don’t want to worry about vaccum sealing them again!

How to Decide what Goes and Stays with Off Season Clothing
Whenever I’m prepping my closet, I go through every summer dress and summery blouse and decide if I can wear it with some of my winter clothing.  Sleeveless blouses look great under a cardigan, while sexy tops don’t really do anything but make you freeze in the winter, so I store those.   

How to Decide what Goes and Stays with Off Season Accessories
If I have a dressy pair of heels, a great pair of sneakers, and some other fancy formal event heels, I keep those in plastic storage shoe boxes on the top shelf in ym closet so I don’t have to go into storage when I rush to get ready for an event.

With purses, I put the white ones and the summer color ones away for winter.  I always keep my favorite fall ones as well as my FAVORITE universal cluth bags in my closet on the top shelf.



CLOSET FLOOR
I got a wooden shoe organizer where I keep flats and heels and booties on the top. Then my tall boots are standing on the bottom.



And one step beyond that.... I get my boots to stand up tall by rolling up a magazine and putting it in each!



So… any questions?

7 comments:

  1. Great tips! I definitely recommend adding shelving in anywhere you can! I purchased more shelves from Target to place on the floor of my carpet to add extra stacking room for shoes!
    www.amemoryofus.blogspot.com

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  2. Can't say that I've ever seen the idea of putting items in dresser drawers standing up vertically - I love it! In the second pic of the shoes on the floor, I see a woman's face or something, upper left. What is that?

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    1. Oh yea totally forgot to explain that. It's a painting of a photo of my Best friend who passed away 5 years ago. I keep it in the closet in a plastic trash bag to protect it for now because i am not hanging it up until i get my own place again!

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  3. Happy to say I utilize most of these tips! :D

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  4. I love the idea of rolling a magazine to keep boots standing tall and straight! I live on on boat, my limited space makes any other space look grand, so I'm still working on ideal tricks. But this was cool to see your solutions!

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    1. Whoa u live on a boat? Thats awesome!! I gotta see how you do it!!

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