Last week we sorted through items on your closet racks, but this week we’re getting into the top & bottom shelves of your bed room closet. These two areas can be real trouble zones for your closet, mainly because closets have a tendency to collect a lot more stuff aside from clothes. Bags, boxes, shoes, along with various random odds & ends can take a up a lot of space and make your closet a nightmare to use.

Because of this, it’s recommended you take a survey of your shelves (both upper and lower) before you start your organizational plan. The truth is, you may be aware of your trouble issues-whether that’s too many shoes, neck ties, lack of space-which can potentially lead you into the same predicament as before. A pre-organizing trip to the organizational section in your local box store or Bed, Bath & Beyond for specific items for your trouble zones can prevent another organizational endeavor.

Also, once you get a few of your organizational items, lay out a plan beforehand as to where your items are going to go once you have your units installed. A pen & paper can go a long way towards making a functional space before you get started!

As in the past, make sure you have a couple of bags or boxes (one for garbage, one for donations), a clean cloth & a cleaner. You may also need a vacuum or broom to sweep out the dust in the bottom of the shelf.

First, let’s start at the top shelf:

  • As always, empty the shelf, starting from the left to the right, and place the items on an open space.
  • Now’s the time to grab your cleaner & rag and wipe it clean.
  • Moving over to the items you’ve moved into an open space, start to take a look at what you have in your piles. Have a look at what you’ve got in there & determine how frequently you’ve used it & the last time you’ve used it. If it’s been over six months since you’ve last used it, or more of a season since you’ve worn or used any seasonal ware, determine if it’s something to donate or throw away.

Now that you’ve got your ‘keeper’ items, move onto that bottom shelf and start the item removal process.

  • Once those items are removed, take your broom or vacuum & sweep it out for dust bunnies & various items.
  • Now, back to your piles: again, sort those items into trash, donate & keepers.
  • Now that you’ve got your keep items, start to take a look at the similarities in your two keeper piles. Are there items in both of these that can be sorted into some clear categories (like shoes, sweaters or ties)? If so, start to sort those into like items. When you’re finished, you’ll see items sorted into several piles or sets or like items.
  • Now that you’re done sorting, refer back to the organizing plan you sketched out for the trouble areas on your pre-organizational survey. Items like shoe racks (whether mounted on the floor or vertical show hangars) or shelving units can help you organize your closet, create more space and make it more intuitively usable.
  • Once you’ve got that plan handy, start you place your organizing system back into your closet & place your items back into their spaces.

Once you’ve got your system installed & your items placed within, stand back & take a look. With more room, you may need to do some minor tweaking to adjust it to more to your needs. Once you get it tweaked to your needs, you’re going to have a much easier to use closet system that should keep you on track for years to come!

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