My name is Luv2Shop and I am an organize-aholic. OK, my reason for this post is I want to organize my closet, and by that I don't mean hang things up and make sure things are tidy. I mean "file" my clothes by either color or item. I did this a long time ago, and now that we are settled in our condo I want to do it again. Would you do it by color, or by item like sweaters, cami's, tanks, tees, etc.?
mine is all by item. across the length of my closet it goes:
dresses
pants
gauchos
jeans
skirts
sleeveless shirts
button downs
long sleeved shirts
cardigans
camis
going out shirts
bulky sweaters
blazers
hoodies
i try to keep in mind the lengths of items b/c my shoes have to fit underneath and about 1/2 of my shoe collection i have the boxes too and the other 1/2 i do not.
How's this for anal retentive? I organize by style (camis, tanks, short sleeve shirts, long sleeve shirts) then by color (pink and red, purple, blue and green, white, black, IIRC). My skirts and pants aren't really organized at all except skirts hang on one side of the rack and pants on the other.
I arrange my tops by sleeve length (sleeveless, short, 3/4, long) and then by color. My jackets get a separate section and again by color. My sweaters get folded and stacked. And all my bottoms are hung in groups (denim, slacks, skirts, etc.) and then by color.
Oh..and when I say by color...I mean ROY G. BIV (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) then brown, white, gray, black. Wow. I'm anal.
i am the same way with my closets. i have two closets and i actually do mine by color and item. one closet for my everyday clothes and shoes, and one closet for my dressy clothes and shoes. i go from left to right starting with tanks, then tees, then long sleeves, then skirts, then dresses, then jeans, then pants. i like the items that will hang the longest to be farthest right and the items that will hang the shortes to farthest left. after i have sorted them into those categories, then i do color. starting with the lightest shades to the darkest in each section keeping like colors together. so it would go light blue, medium blue, dark blue, light green, med green, dark green, etc.
JoceyBaby23 wrote: I try to organize by item.. like keep all tanks together.. all tshirts.. all jeans That is the easiest way for me to see what I have.. and I think it is the easiest way to pick an outfit too..
Mine is like this too
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Who do you have to probe around here to get a Chardonnay? - Roger the Alien from American Dad
I, too, and an organize-aholic. When I was working, I used both of the above methods. Now that things are a little more casual I do it a little differently. FWIW, our closet is small walk-in. My 'side' of the closet has 4, 4-ft long hanging rods, with a bottom level and a top level. They're those rubber-coated metal shelving things, so the top surface of each rod is what I use as shelves. I also have a hanging fabric shelf unit that hangs on FH's (single 8 ft rod, suitable for full-length hanging) side of the closet. I also have a belt hanger (technically a tie hanger I think) to keep all my belts organized.
Firstly, all items are organized by category and subcategory, separated on different racks and/or shelves. Most things I then organize by use/dressiness.
Rack 1:Sleeveless and Shortsleeve tops
Sleeveless tops on the left moving toward shortsleeve on the right, then within those categories I sort most casual on the left toward most dressy on the right.
Rack 2:Longsleeve, non-sweater tops and Blazers
Mine go (left to right of course) casual l/s tops, dressier l/s tops and blouses, cardigans, button downs, blazers.
Rack 3:Skirts and Dressy pants
Skirts in order of seasonal relevance with the opposite season on the left moving to current season on the right. Then dressy pants, but I only have a couple pair so they follow on the right of the skirts. Skirts and pants are actually separated by my shoe shelving that sits on the floor and comes up to the level of the hanging rod.
Shelf 1:Casual pants
Jeans and cords, stacked in separate piles of 3 or 4.
Shelf 2:Tank tops and Sweaters
Tank tops in three piles according to color (one pile of black/brown/gray, one pile of solid colors, one pile of fancier/embellished/patterned). Sweaters in piles of 3/4/5 by size with the bulkiest on the bottom, thinest on the top. I actually categorized cardigan sweaters with the hanging cardigans so I don't have to completely rebutton them and fold them all the time.
Shelf 3:Out of season bottoms
Very top shelf (which I cannot reach without assistance). Includes three piles: One pile of jeans not it current rotation, one pile of capris, and one pile of shorts.
Shelf 4: Bags
Very top shelf of other hanging rack - bags are lined up neatly across, in no particular order.
Hanging shelf unit:
I use 3 of the 6 cubbies in this unit. Bottom one is rarely used pajamas and sweat pants, second up is regularly used long workout/sleep/sweat pants, third up is regularly used workout/sleep/sweat shorts.
Full length Hanging:
I use maybe 12 inches or so of FH's full-height hanging space (which is separated from his clothes by the hanging shelf unit). Here I hang my dresses, shortest to longest from left to right.
Shoe storage:
As I mentioned before, I have 3 stacking shelf units under one of my lower hanging rods. Highest heels go on the top (and therefore not height-restricted) shelf, followed on the next shelf down by lower heels, followed by more casual shoe/loafer types, followed on the floor by athletic shoes. Boots stand next to the shelving on the floor, under the skirts.
How's that ?
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To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment ~ {Ralph Waldo Emerson}
For me it's easier to keep things separated by color, then subdivided into type. That way, if I want a cream cami, I know right where to go. And, um, my closet looks nicer with big blocks of color. It makes me happy... And ooh Elle, I love your dressiness factor! That is brilliant! I'm reorganizing this weekend...
And ooh Elle, I love your dressiness factor! That is brilliant! I'm reorganizing this weekend...
Thanks! I find that I'm more adventurous with the way I combine my items this way as opposed to when I organized by color - I used to get really stuck on what color something needed to be to go with whatever else I was wearing, and in the process totally missed some things that would have worked just fine because they were a different color then I had original thought of wearing !
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To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment ~ {Ralph Waldo Emerson}
I arrange my tops by sleeve length (sleeveless, short, 3/4, long) and then by color. My jackets get a separate section and again by color. My sweaters get folded and stacked. And all my bottoms are hung in groups (denim, slacks, skirts, etc.) and then by color. Oh..and when I say by color...I mean ROY G. BIV (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) then brown, white, gray, black. Wow. I'm anal.-- Edited by TexasGal at 14:51, 2006-01-13
This is me minus the ROY G BIV...I really hated that part of elementry science
Section 5: Sweaters, then sweater vests, then puffer vests, then ponchos, then jackets
Section 6: Long sleeved shirts, each separated into color and also by style (example: the white section moves from l/s tees to l/s knits to l/s button-ups)
Section 7: Jeans and sleeveless shirts and camis
I also have 2 sections of drawers (4 drawers in each section) and one half of the island (the open shelving side). The island houses all my purses, sorted by size. The drawers just hold the undies, socks, pjs, ratty tanks, ratty tees, shorts, and sweats.
Oh, and I have a seperate closet just for shoes and jewelry.
Oh..and when I say by color...I mean ROY G. BIV (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) then brown, white, gray, black.
I have a reasonably organized closet too, but you are my hero! I used to go from light to dark but that gets problematic (I wanted to keep all the oranges and greens together but it's weird to have a light to dark progression of each color. Now I am going to have to start assembling my clothes into ROY G BIV formation!
I have two closets that are teeny-tiny and don't even add up to one normal sized closet (so don't be jealous).
One I use for work clothes mainly. I have it grouped by (from left to right): cardigans button-downs SS work tops sleeveless work tops SS sweaters sleeveless sweaters my two suits silk/chiffon skirts work pants Then the bottom has two shelves, on which I stack my handbags and main shoes for that season.
The other closet has (also L~R): casual LS tees LS or 3/4 sleeve sweaters/tops for work my skirts made of sturdier materials jeans hip length jackets/blazers arranged my color (black, brown, tan/neutral) knee- or 3/4-length coats dresses All the off-season shoes are in there, along with other random seasonal stuff (scarves, gloves, etc)
I also have a drawer where I fold tees/tanks/casual sleeveless stuff.
Okay here is the anal part: within each section, I put the stuff I just wore recently on the left side. That way when I think "hmm, how about a SS sweater today?" I know if I pull from the right side of that SS sweater category it will be one i haven't worn the last few weeks.
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Veni, Vedi, Visa.
I came, I saw, I did a little shopping.
ha most of my clothes are in piles even though i have a pretty big walk in closet and another walk in closet in my babys room. i am a very messy person but it is totaly organized caos!
I do item then color so all my white buttons down shirts are together I also try to move through the color wheel like my pants go from khakis, to brown tweed, to dark brown, to grey, to pinstrip then to black.
I did organize my t-shirts by color whites, pinks, yellows, reds, oranges in one drawer blues, blacks, greens, purples in the other. This does not work because all the black shirts look like the other ones and I end up digging!