How to Maintain a Wardrobe with Limited Space

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?