This is the Fifth in a series on the common problem of organizing laundry in your home:

women's clothingWomen tend to have more types and styles and variety of clothing, as well as accessories, such as jewelry, scarves, under garments, casual, work, athletic and dressy items. This is also true with shoes. In my experience, the overwhelming number of master closets are three-quarters full of women’s items with the man garnering the small space that is left, unless the home contains two closets with one for him and one for her. Regardless of the space it is important how clothing is grouped. For both persons, it is important to have like items grouped together by type and style – pants, jeans, shirts (dress, casual,sport), skirts, suits, dresses, dressy and then by color and sleeve length. This really lets you see what you have, makes putting an outfit together easier and might prevent you from wasting money by buying more when you already have several.   As space permits, hang as much as possible, since this saves time required to fold items and prevents wrinkles, too.

When folding shorts, pants or t-shirts and putting them in drawers fold them in half or thirds and store them vertically in rows rather than piling on top of one another. This way you can see each item individually and can easily take things out or put them away. You will be surprised at how efficient this is in drawers. This can be applied to undergarments, as well. If you have so many items of clothing that there is no way you can put everything away, it is time to do some purging, whether in your drawers or your closets. You might want to start practicing the one in one out rule. When you buy a new item let go of one or two old items that are worn out, stained, need repair (which you probably won’t do) or do not look good on you any longer. We all have some of those items. Let them go and make some space in your drawer or closet. Just because you paid a lot for something five years ago, does not mean you still look good in it nor that you have to keep it. Your clothes should look and make you feel good. They should not bring back bad memories or make you feel badly about yourself.  Is it time for you to do some purging?

Next Week: The final post in Tackling Clothing-Pairing Down!