Affordable Closet Organization

If you follow me on Instagram, then you know I went HAM on my closet last weekend! It was time. There was way too much happening in my closet – clothes piled up, shoes thrown everywhere and I honestly forgot about half the stuff I own! So it ended up being a rainy weekend so I took to my closet and I am SO happy with how it turned out!

How did I do it and how much did it cost me, you ask? I’m going to walk you through it all today and I did it all for under $100! I mean, I wanna be organized and all, but I don’t want to spend a ton of money doing it! PS: I’ve already made back that money too!

The Process

Ok so to start, you need to take every single thing OUT of your closet. All of it. Then dust and vacuum out your closet and wipe down the walls of the closet with a quick Tide and hot water combo – my GoCleanCo gals know what I’m talking about!

Now, you’re going to sort through everything and put them into four piles: Keep, Sell, Donate and Toss. You need to be relentless here. If you haven’t worn it in a year, it doesn’t go back into your closet. If it doesn’t fit, it doesn’t go back into your closet. If its stained, ripped or faded, it doesn’t go back into your closet!

Keep: These are the items you love AND wear. This is important! You may love something, but if you’re not wearing it, it doesn’t belong in your closet. I had these Abercrombie jeans from my early 20s that I absolutely love. They are flared with lots of distressing and bleach marks, but they don’t fit me AND they are so low that its indecent – hey, it was the early 2000s y’all! I then went a step further and realized that I can’t even get them over my hips so while I love them, I’m never wearing them again, I have no daughter to pass them on to so out they went!

Sell: These are the items that you no longer wear or no longer fit, but they’re in great condition, on trend and a good designer. These are the items I sell on Poshmark. Hey, even if you can make $8 on a graphic tee, sell it! That adds up and replaces any money you’ve put out to organize your closet! Like I said, I’ve already made my money back in four days by selling stuff on Poshmark! You can check out My Poshmark Closet HERE

Donate: These are the items that you no longer wear or no longer fit that you can’t sell or just would rather donate! I make sure that I don’t donate anything torn or stained – also no bathing suits or undergarments.

Toss: These are the torn, stained, not wearable items. Don’t forget to sort thru your undies and socks too! Stop holding onto that ONE sock thinking it’ll reappear someday. If it hasn’t in 30-60 days, toss it!

The Layout

Ok so once you sort through everything, you need to decide how you want the layout of your closet. For me, I don’t have a large closet at all, but I make it work. So on the left side of my closet, I hang all of my tops. On the right, my blazers/jackets, skirts and dresses. I also have a shelf across the top of my closet where I fold my sweater and hoodies as well as a few baskets for knit hats, scarves and little random stuff.

What I Use + Some Tricks

ROYGBIV: I arrange everything in color order. I blame The Home Edit. I feel like when my clothes are organized by color, its easier to get dressed bc I can see clearly what I have to work with.

Hangers: I like to use velvet hangers bc they don’t put dents in my shirts and they don’t slip off. I tend to buy mine at Home Goods and Marshalls bc they’re usually pretty cheap there, but I also found a great deal on some HERE on Amazon.

Hanger Trick! Turn all of your hangers with the hook end facing you and once you wear that item, put it back with the hook facing the back. At the end of the season, it will help you to see what you’re not wearing which helps you know what to Toss, Donate or Sell next time!

Denim Hooks: I discovered these denim hooks from my friend Lindsey! I loved the way it helped you to actually see all of your jeans! I had SO many pairs of jeans that I wasn’t wearing bc I forgot I had them since they were just stacked up in piles. With these hooks, you simply take the belt loop on each side of your jeans, fold them in half and loop them on the hook. They hang beautifully, you can see what you have and they don’t take up a ton of space! They’re also only $6 for 20 hooks so its a no brainer to try them out! You can grab them HERE

Sunglass Storage: For someone who wears the same sunglasses every freakin day, I was amazed to see how many pairs I actually own! I have a few vintage pairs and some other specialty ones that I like to keep for certain days, so I needed a better way to store them rather than just piling up on my dresser. A lot of people recommended this case to me, but I needed something that took up less space. So I grabbed THIS! My sunglasses slide in each pouch easily and you can hang it by a nail, over your closet door, or rig it like me and attach it to a hanger and put it right on your closet rod! I’m able to now see all of my sunnies and they take up so little space!

Shoe Storage: Just like my jeans, I had a ton of shoes just piling up and I forgot I owned half of what I do! Again, I don’t have a huge closet so I can’t do a bunch of clear shoe boxes for them plus that adds up quick $$$ Well, I found these stackable shoe racks on Amazon for $23! I bought one just to try it out and love the way it displays all of my shoes so I’m going back for another to rack up the rest of them!

Baskets: For those little things like knit hats, scarves, gloves, belts, etc., I’ve found it easiest to toss them in a basket and place them on the top shelf. I don’t use them so often that I need them front and center, but I do need them handy so this is a great option for me! I’ll link a few affordable baskets for you below!

Wrap It Up

So once you’re all done, admire your new closet BUT you’re not done yet! Start listing your Sell pile on Poshmark (or whatever platform you prefer!), take that Donate pile out to your car and to your local donation site right after you take your Toss pile right out to the trash. IF NOT, you risk it all just piling up in your room and inevitably making its way back into your closet! Trust me, its happened to me a million times! Just take care of it right then and there!

I hope this has been helpful for you when organizing your own closet! I like to do this every spring, summer, fall and after Christmas when taking out one season of clothes and bringing in a new one. If you happen to snap any pics of your newly organized closet, be sure to tag me @jillianrosado in them so I can see!! I looooove seeing people organize their spaces! Now onto Mike’s closet….

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