No matter how tidy we like to have the closet, there always comes a time when everything ends up out of place. The rush of everyday life makes us accumulate all kinds of objects inside it, as well as the task of organizing it again. This guide will help you avoid 5 mistakes when organizing the closets that you should not make so that it ends up being a chaos.
I love having everything collected and tidy but it is also true that, precisely for this reason, sometimes I tend to accumulate (which is not the same as keeping) objects inside the cabinets. It usually happens at the typical moment that catches you in a hurry and you place in the closet that you have closest to hand what you do not want to keep. When this same operation is performed several times you find that:
- You no longer remember what you have kept inside that closet
- You’re looking for something you know you’ve saved but can’t remember where
- When you open the closet it makes you want to run out
At this point there is no choice but to organize the cabinets inside and put into practice what I call the space optimization plan (you can see it in this link). This plan basically consists of emptying, eliminating, classifying and reorganizing everything that you have been accumulating inside.
To get a good organization you have to avoid a series of mistakes that, in the short/medium term, will make the wardrobe messy again. As a practical example, I want you to see how I have reorganized all my craft and DIY material, which is not a small thing. I had gotten to the untenable situation where I was wasting a lot of time searching and getting what I needed because it was not easily accessible.
After the new organization I have not only managed to know what I have and where I have it, but I have also learned how to do it to get the most out of the space and waste less time locating what I want to find.
Apply the same organization to all cabinets
For example, Organizing clothes closets is not the same as organizing kitchen or bathroom closets.. First of all, we have to see what we want to store (clothes, belongings, materials), how much depth we need (60 cm, 40 cm…), and how much space we have.
Keep in mind that if you use a wardrobe for clothes, which is normally 50/60 cm deep, to store supplies, tools or food, for example, you will be wasting centimeters of depth. To solve this problem, the best solution is to store these objects in a closet with less depth.
If you don’t have a wardrobe with these characteristics, you can use a bookcase with doors that you can place anywhere in your home since when it’s closed you won’t see what’s inside (in this link you’ll learn how to take advantage of every last hole you have at home).
Do not label until the last box
Keeping everything in boxes not only helps us to keep it organized and classified, but it is also a good option to make the most of the interior of the cabinets. However, it can make us lose a lot of time if we have not labeled everything inside it. For this I recommend the following:
- Place adhesive vinyl labels on the outside of the boxes and write a short description of what is inside with a permanent marker. If at any time what we have stored inside the box changes, we will only have to remove the marker with a little acetone and write again.
- Place a list inside the box with what is stored inside. This trick will save us a lot of time since, while the short description is generic, the inner one will be specific and will help us to know what is there without having to scramble everything. For example, if we have written “jerseys” on the outside of the box, on the inside list we will write: red wool sweater, flower print sweater, fine green sweater…. Of course it is essential to keep the list updated.
Have a static space
The first thing I look at when buying a wardrobe or bookcase is that the height of the shelves can be changed, since it is the best way to optimize interior space now and in the future. You must bear in mind that the furniture must adapt to our pace of life and the changes that occur in it. For this reason, a closet that you use today to store baby clothes, tomorrow can be used to store their toys.
For this to be possible, it is essential that you can adjust the height of the shelves and even add new ones if necessary. In addition, the following must be taken into account:
- Shelves should not be overloadeddo not place more than two boxes on the same shelf since Murphy’s Law will mean that what you are looking for is always in the bottom box, so the less time it takes to remove and insert boxes, the more optimized your space will be.
- Plan what you are going to put on each shelf so calculate the distance between them. Always place what you are going to use the least in the upper part of the wardrobe and daily objects in the central part. Measuring the space you need for each thing before you start placing the shelves will save you from changing them every two times three (I tell you from experience).
Not leaving a single hole
This mistake is very common and I have to admit that I tend to repeat it: overcrowding the cabinets and not leaving free space to store more things inside. Normally we want to take advantage of the interior so much that we forget that a closet is a living space in which we are going to remove and add objects.
If you have occupied every last millimeter, you will have to use other cabinets to place new things and the disorganization will return because everything will no longer be stored in the same place. For this reason, do not fill the boxes and shelves to the top and always leave some empty. If it is not possible, remember the maxim of removing an object before putting away a new one, that is, finishing a can of paint before buying another, donating the clothes you don’t wear before buying a new one, etc.
For example, if you have a pants rack with room to fit half a dozen pants loosely, don’t buy more until you can remove one of them. If you want to know how to make your own removable pants rackdo not miss this tutorial.
Not wanting to spend time organizing closets
I’m not going to lie to you, organize the interior of the cabinets from top to bottom and classify everything it can take you hours and even several days. But it is also true that this time invested will generate short-term benefits that will more than compensate you:
- It won’t take a minute to find what you’re looking for.
- You will keep things in their place even if you are in a hurry because you will immediately locate the place where you should do it.
- You will feel so satisfied and proud of the organization of your closet that you will want to show it to all your friends.
- A well planned and organized closet takes much longer to return to chaos.
Summarizing…
Beat the chaos in your closet by following these steps:
- Plan what you are going to store and where.
- Label everything, everything, everything.
- Adjust your space to what you are going to store and not the other way around.
- Keep in mind that the cabinet must be able to continue storing more objects.
- Invest as much time as necessary, you will recover it multiplied by a thousand!
If you don’t want to continue wasting time searching and rummaging through the cabinets, I advise you to take these into account 5 mistakes when organizing closets that you should not make when optimizing your space.
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