Organization is one of my passions, and while this post may seem a bit out of the ordinary from my deeper posts, one of my favorite ways to destress and praise God is through organizing the things He’s blessed me with, and who doesn’t need an organized closet? This is something I’ve gotten pretty good at over the years and developed my own system and preferences for, so I thought I’d share my process. You can make this as simple or OCD as you want; of course I prefer the latter, but hopefully you will gain some insight on how you can go about arranging the clothes in your closet for maximum practicality.
Like I said, I’ve tried going about this numerous times in the past, but I’m pretty satisfied with the way I have it arranged right now. I included some extra steps this time because I have accumulated more clothes, but you can take as many or all tips as you want from me. Here’s how I start and then gradually get more specific with arranging:
By Season
The easiest way to automatically split things into four categories is to break things up by season/warmth. This could vary depending on the climate you live in, but this works well in Iowa because we definitely experience all four seasons, sometimes simultaneously. Otherwise, what I do for this is just break things up by how much coverage they have.
In my closet, this looks like: knitwear and jackets (winter), long-sleeve shirts and cardigans (fall/spring), t-shirts and blouses (spring/fall), and dresses and tanks (summer).
By Thickness/Coverage
This goes along with above pretty well usually as the different seasons typically demand thicker clothing and longer sleeves the colder they are and vice versa as it gets warmer. An easy way for me to break things up within categories is to put the thickest, more concealing items in the back and then work my way backwards so it gradually gets thicker and warmer as you go along each section. That makes it easy for me to judge what to wear given the weather and then to painlessly find something appropriate.
In my closet, this looks like: winter coats to jackets, hoodies, sweaters, loungewear sweaters, cardigans, long-sleeve tops, t-shirts, dresses and rompers, and tank tops to camis.
By Color
The other main way I organize things once I’ve got my categories is to begin arranging within those according to color. You can pick your color scheme according to your own preferences; I find that the easiest way for me to do it is with the rainbow. Some colors definitely take up more prominence than others in my closet, but it’s the easiest way for me to quickly know where to look for what I’m wanting.
In my closet, this looks like: blacks and greys in the back, the colors of the rainbow in between, and whites and nudes in the front.
By Occasion
This is where I start getting into more precise specifics, and you don’t have to go quite as in depth as I do, but the greater variety of clothes you have, I definitely think it has helped me. For example, if you have your workwear and then your more casual, everyday clothes. Breaking it up like this offers that much more structure and makes it easier to find specifically what you’re looking for depending on the day’s activities rather than clumping it all together.
In my closet, this looks like: I tend to break my wardrobe up into three major “occasions”: my everyday wear from casual to fancy, my loungewear for when I’m just hanging out at home or not doing anything special, and then my athletic-wear specifically for activity. Also, within my everyday wear, once that has been organized by season/coverage and color, then the order I place tops in depends on how casual to fancy they are, so the casual tops appear first, and then they gradually get more occasion-specific. Also, event-related tops, like sports team shirts, I move to the back within their categories so I know they’re related to those type of things and because they tend to get worn less.
By Sleeve Length/Top Length
This is also more of a minor little thing, but again, if you have a lot of clothes and a variety of them, I find it really helpful to also incorporate this into your organization. A sweater dress, for example, provides more coverage than just a sweater. Also, t-shirts are not all one and the same. You can get tops that are off-the-shoulder, one-shoulder, a mix between a tank and short-sleeve, etc., so this is one extra little step I find makes it all the easier for me to organize within broader categories.
In my closet, this looks like: sweater dresses to sweaters, regular t-shirts to cold-shoulder and cut-outs to crop tops with shorter sleeves.
By Neckline
This is probably the last main little detail you can look for as far as major organization goes. Within each category, I typically also like to arrange from the lower-cut necklines to the fullest ones. Once again, it’s just that much easier to see which top has more coverage best suited for various occasions.
In my closet, this looks like: turtlenecks to crew necks to round necks to square necks to henleys to v-necks.
One Extra: By Fabric
This is really paying attention to specifics, and honestly I don’t even know what materials half my clothes are made of, but I titled this point that because I didn’t know how else to describe this, but the final step I’ll think about when I have lots of tops still in a category is to basically arrange them with the more casual-feeling fabric in front and move back to the more ornate or luxurious. So if I have a casual cotton white tee, that would probably go in front, but if I had the same type of tee in more of a softer-feeling fabric indicating more quality/occasion I’d put that farther back. Or if I have a ribbed sort of top, those would be more casual and go near the front. Likewise, if I have a sparkly cover-up, that’s probably going in the back.
In my closet, this looks like: more casual-feeling fabrics take priority in the front, gradually moving back with the more elaborate and expensive fabrics to be saved for more dressing up.
What It Looks Like
My closet is a bit cramped so these aren’t the greatest pictures in the world, but hopefully you can get a rough idea of what this looks like applied to my wardrobe.
And that’s it! You now have a great, thorough method for reorganizing when the mood strikes! I’d love to hear your tips for organizing your closet and hear how you do yours. The most important thing to me about organization is it allows me to reflect on all the things I love—in this case, my clothes, and just praise God and draw close to Him while I’m going through it all. It’s not a sin to enjoy nice things as every good gift is from Him (James 1:17), so when I’m looking through things like my wardrobe when organizing, it just makes me all the more thankful for His presence in my life, which is ultimately why I wanted to share this.
