Clothing organization

my clothes are a mess. when i moved in with my boyfriend last august, he got me two tall white ikea shelves on craigslist to put my clothes in. i usually throw the shirts into one cube, underwear in another, pants in another, etc. very messy. a while back i wrote a lesson on home storage and organization, so i should be able to handle this. if you are interested in cleaning out your wardrobe, this is a step-by-step of how i did it.

First, i took everything off every shelf and tried it all on. after the "fits/doesn't fit" evaluation, each time i got done with an article of clothing, i either put it in the goodwill garbage bag, put it in a "sell online" pile or threw it into a pants, shirts, or etc. pile.


Identify your Under-shirts.

i was thinking, undershirts...tank tops...but really it's more than that. i mean the shirts that don't look good on their own, but provide effective cover under a loosely-knit sweater. also longsleeve shirts that are a little too goofy to wear solo but look excellent under certain t-shirts. and basic long-sleeved shirts that are the perfect length to protect my neck and wrists from a super itchy but very warm and/or awesome-looking sweater, but are too boring to wear on their own. Under-shirts.


Start Rolling.
i finally decided to start doing this clothes rolling thing. i'd heard it recommended for packing luggage, and for drawers, and even done it a few times only to go back to folding and eventually tossing things in a pile again. Lay your clothes on a flat surface, fold the sleeves in, then fold them in half and in half again, then take the edge on the right and roll it to the left. you have a nice little rolled bundle of clothing that you can stack or stick  in a drawer. fold t-shirts so part of the logo (if there is one) shows on the outside, so you can identify what shirt it is.

Don't Cry, It May Be Destined for a Higher Purpose.

The old t-shirt that is way too small but still awesome might be the dream of some skinny teenage kid who would love to discover it in a thrift store. if i love it too much to let go i cut the fabric and put it in a picture frame and hang it on my wall.

i stuffed the undershirts together in an ikea clothes organizing box and turned it sideways so i could see the stuff on the shelf. i have a lot of t-shirts so i stacked them in another cube, with the lesser-worn ones in the back row. all the "destined for a better purpose" t-shirts that i'm not ready to cut up yet go in another organizing box and stay on a low shelf i don't look at much, so they're not in the way and if i need them for any reason i'll know where they are. the three pairs of pants that still fit me get a small shelf. the other pants are in limbo. if they don't fit in the next six months they go. i got a diamond organizer from the container store to separate my socks and stood it upright at the back of a shelf so i can see them all at once.

you get the idea. roll up everything into little packages, see where your stuff will fit, and put it there in a way that makes sense. some people organize stuff by color or by purpose or both. keep it up and you'll never have trouble finding your clothes again.