Day 16: Declutter And Organizing Challenge

Declutter And Organizing Closets

Take a deep breath as we head into Day 16- we are heading into your closets. Often times our closets become a disorganized catch-all for, well, everything.

Today we will tackle all of your “other” closets or closets that house non-clothing items-linen, storage, junk closets-all of those.

How To Organize Closets

Let’s jump right in and get started!

Use this checklist to organize every closet in your home. If you are organizing clothing use the Master Closet Organizing Checklist already available in the Printables Vault. For everything else, keep on reading!

If you have a large home, push hold on the other spaces and plan to organize them over several days.

Some closets will be straightforward while others will require more of your time. Don’t rush, don’t let anxiety or overwhelm kick in. Remember you wouldn’t eat an elephant in one bite and all that clutter didn’t show up last night. So, create a schedule and work the plan.

Begin as we always do when we declutter and remove everything out of the closet you are working on.
Vacuum, sweep, dust, and wipe out the closet. Wipe baseboards and clean crown molding and light fixtures too. It’s amazing what you’ll find there!
Determine what this closet will hold according to its location and ease of access: crafts, collections, linen, out of season clothing, holiday decor?
Now, let’s sort everything into categories.
Group like items together. One closet may hold several categories but each “family” of items should be kept together and placed according to the frequency of use.
- Save your sentimental items for last as they require more time and are often the hardest things for us to let go.
- Consider keeping one memento from a collection and selling the rest to a collector who would really appreciate them.
- When organizing paper items, consider digital storage but if you’re not there yet (like me!), discard everything you can. Be diligent with this.
For those items you want to store, put them away in proper storage that will preserve them. You can find storage for keepsakes, like acid-free boxes, at specialty storage stores or online.
Label your containers of the items you have stored and place them in an organized way into the closet. Less used items on higher shelves, most used ones on lower shelves.
Repeat this method on all of your closets until each closet is designated for a particular type of storage and is decluttered, cleaned, and organized.