Many of us are guilty of throwing things into our wardrobes without much thought - after all, out of sight, out of mind.
As a result, once we open the doors, we typically find ourselves faced with crumpled clothes and out of shape accessories.
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Luckily, the YourHomeStyle team have spoken to the experts at My Fitted Bedroom, to discover the three simple tips that will help to ensure we keep on top of our wardrobes.
Read on to discover how to tackle your wardrobe, and transform it into clutter-free zone we can be proud of.
How to organise your wardrobe
Take a 12-month approach
This tip is a nice simple one to start things off - if you haven't worn something in the last 12 months, it's time to donate it – provided it’s in good condition. If not, recycle or throw it.
Organise your items by season
Wardrobes are often untidy because they’re overcrowded, so it’s useful to rotate your clothes on a seasonal basis rather than keeping everything in one place.
There's little point having thick winter coats hanging in the wardrobe when we're in the mid-20s, as you almost certainly won't be wearing them. Similarly, when it's in single figures, you're unlikely to be reaching for your beach shorts, so it makes sense to keep them somewhere else until you need them.
This is where vacuum storage bags come in. Vacuum storage bags are fantastic for keeping your wardrobe organised because they take up so little space – you simply put your clothes in them, suck the air out with a vacuum, and you’ll be left with a very compact package that can slot into drawers, cupboards, or under the bed.
When the winter is over, store your winter clothes in these bags so you can make space in your wardrobe for new season clothes, and repeat the process for each season. This will leave you with plenty of hanger space so you can see exactly what you have, and save you having to go through rails and rails of clothing to get to what you need. Our top tip? Look to The Anna Edit on Youtube if you need some inspiration!
Put your clothes in colour order
Putting your clothes in colour order isn’t just visually appealing – it’s actually a really practical way to make sure you have a place for all your items. By organising your clothes into colour categories, you’ll have little sub sections - or categories - of your wardrobe where different items live.
You can do this with all of your items at once, or separate them into smaller sections - for example, black tops, blue jeans. This will save you so much time in the morning as you'll know where everything is, and you’ll also be much less likely to untidy your wardrobe in the getting ready process, as you won’t have to go through everything. It really is a game changer!
Have dedicated hangers, and different ones for different categories
On a visual level, it can be quite useful to have different hangers for different items - velvet hangers for tops, proper trouser hangers for trousers, jeans and skirts - as it makes it easier to see what's where.
It's also worth having one dedicated hanger per item and leaving it empty when it's being worn, rather than just hanging clean clothes up on any hanger and chucking it anywhere in your wardrobe. This will just allow it to get messy, you won't be able to see everything you have, and then you'll have to start from scratch organising everything again.
Have a 'tomorrow's clothes' section
As well as organising your items into colour order, it can also be really useful to have a little section of clothes based on priority. To make sure the items you want to wear are readily available, move the outfits you plan to wear for the day or week ahead out of their colour section onto the opposite side of the rail. You could even have a separate freestanding rail to put them on.
It makes them so much easier to grab, and by deciding on your outfit the night or Sunday before, it'll give you those valuable extra minutes in bed... who doesn't want those!
Roll clothes that you don't hang
Neatly roll the clothes you don't need to hang up and stack them side by side, rather than folding them one on top of the other. If you can sort these into different storage boxes, it's even better - you can just slot the boxes into the base of your wardrobe and access them easily.
If you roll your clothes, they'll take up less space and stay neat, even when you move things around. Again, try to organise these into colour order so you can see what you have.
Sort accessories into boxes
Sort accessories into little boxes by category, for example, one box for belts, one for socks, and so on.
If you want, you can invest in little dividers that allow you to put items in different sections of the box - again, this lets you see exactly what you have.
Feeling inspired? Don't forget to check out our DIY storage ideas for eight easy projects to increase your storage space, plus our roundup of the best storage ideas for small homes.
