Smart Organizing –

Simple Strategies for Bringing Order to Your Home

2005 by Sandra Felton

Published by Fleming H. Revell

Meg Connell wrote a preface to:

Closets Set the Tone for the house –

Chapter 11

Every closet in your home should be assigned a specific, unique function. First, go through your home/office/apartment and give each closet its "job." Then, one closet at a time, go through and remove any items not related to its newly assigned function. As you clean, create three boxes for the outgoing clutter: donation, throwaway, and sell. One tactic I suggest is to remove everything in the closet first, and sort items as you are putting them back. (Make sure you give yourself enough time to complete the task. It takes at least 2–4 hours for a coat closet, if fully packed, and 4–8 hours for a fully packed bedroom closet.) But before putting everything away, stop and ask yourself: Does the closet need painting? Airing out? Vacuuming? Do you want to install another shelf? Repair the rod? How about adding another hanging bar and increasing your short hanging space? Or robe or hat hooks on the internal walls or door? Do you need a shoe rack? Is there enough lighting?

Once you have matched the contents to their assigned closets, you are one step closer to making items easier to locate when you need them. Next, put your most frequently used items near the front of the closet – this is your Ergonomic Storage. Store items that are rarely used in the backs of closets or in areas that are harder to reach – this is your Seasonal Storage. Also remember to group "like items" together within the closet, like sports equipment, cleaning products, or hats and gloves.