Take a deep breath -- organizing that closet may not be as tough as you think

The seasons are changing, and so are wardrobes.

And as Northwest Ohio residents begin their transition from wearing shorts and T-shirts to donning jeans and sweaters, they may find they need to reorganize their closets to make room for their bulkier duds.

The task can be daunting for some, but closet organization is really a simple matter of sorting, said Lori Eckel, professional organizer and owner of In Its Place Ltd., a Toledo-based organizing business.

“People that are chronically disorganized get overwhelmed with a project,“ she said. “They see it as a huge mess of, `Oh my God, where do I start?'“ The process should begin with turning on music and changing into comfy clothes, said Angie Weid, professional organizer and owner of Organized Solutions, LLC in Temperance, Mich.

Then, “give it a hard look,“ she said. “There's going to be stuff in there that you absolutely loved, but it no longer loves you.“

Both Eckel and Weid recommend sorting summerwear before packing it away or scooting it over to make room for jeans and jackets.

“First, sort through the summer things that have kind of lost their pizzazz,“ Weid said.
“You want the things that make you look and feel awesome.“

Kate S. Brown, a certified professional organizer and owner of Impact Organizing LLC, based in Sarasota, Fla., recommends a different approach.

“First you organize the whole closet, then you go through and subtract the really seasonal (items),“ she said. “And you're only doing it because you need more room, to make it easier to get dressed.“

Brown suggests a specific closet-overhaul organization method that begins with making a list of one's “roles or occasions,“ or the situations for which one dresses. Examples include work, everyday, golfing and gardening.

Then, those categories are arranged by frequency. The clothing for whichever “role“ is filled the most should be placed nearest to the closet door when it comes time to arrange the clothing, she said.

Brown also helps her clients parallel the frequency-of-wear categories with the amount of clothing they own in each category.

“If your closet's too full, I try to figure out which category is out of proportion,“ she said.
“Often, it is a lot of clothes that are serviceable, but kind of not presentable.“

After closet cleaners have had a “meeting with their mind,“ Brown recommends removing 2to 3-feet sections of hanging clothing from a closet each time.

“Empty a section that you can manage on your bed at a time,“ she said. “If it's stained or can't be worn, then it needs to be donated or thrown out ... if it's really unwearable.“

The items that aren't so groovy anymore can be donated to churches or stores such as Goodwill and The Salvation Army, Weid said.

“People need clothes, so don't throw things away,“ she said.

For those who have “sentimental items“ they don't want to part with, “it's OK to keep a couple, but keep your favorite couple,“ said Weid, who appeared on the TV show “Hoarders“ last September.

Leftovers should include “only your best and favorite things,“ she said. “If you haven't worn it in a year, even if it fits, for some reason your heart doesn't love it,“ Brown said. “And I think you should release that to someone who would look good in it tomorrow.“

In addition to getting rid of items that are stained, not worn anymore, the wrong size, etc., closet cleaners should also get rid of duplicate items, Eckel said.

“A lot of people are numbers people,“ she said, explaining that she asks clients if they have room for 25 pairs of jeans or five pairs of the same style of shoe.

“In a week's time, how many of these pairs of jeans are you going to wear?“ she asked. “Put (the shoes) on, walk in them. Are you really going to wear these again?“ People tend to wear 20 percent of their clothes 80 percent of the time, Weid and Brown said. In Brown's process, after a section of hanging items has been sorted into piles to keep, repair, donate and throw away, the keepable pieces should be placed back into the closet to begin organizing them by frequency.

Loosely-tied ribbons can be used to mark off the sections, as they're easy to slide, she said.

She also recommends dividing each frequency section into tops and bottoms, and organizing all items by color, starting with blacks, then whites, and then colors by rainbow order.

When the sorting and replacing process is complete, transseasonal clothing can remain with the sorted, hanging items, but “the things that are clearly seasonal,“ like Christmas sweaters, “are the things that I would subtract,“ Brown said.

“I am bundling them up by their frequency, their occasion, and I'm putting them somewhere,“ she said, naming lessaccessible parts of walk-in closets and off-season storage places as examples.

In Eckel and Weid's processes, once the summer clothing has been sorted and stored or donated, it's time to go through the same sorting process with fall and winter clothing before placing it on the cleaned-off racks and shelves, the organizers said.

“As you're putting the clothes away ... group the things together in the way you would wear them,“ Weid said.

She explained that longand short-sleeved shirts, skirts and pairs of pants can be grouped into their respective genres.

“The closet rainbow“ is also an option for those who want to sort their clothes by color, Weid said. Eckel said she likes the look of using one color for hangers.

Neither Weid nor Eckel necessarily recommend buying special closet-organizing supplies.

“I tell people off the bat, `Don't buy anything yet,'“ Eckel said. “I try to be budget-conscious for them.“

The products Weid might recommend depend on what people are trying to organize.

If items are “stacking up and falling out when you open the door,“ the organizer might want to add another shelf, she said.

“I try to work with what people have without bringing products in,“ Weid said. “Fancy boxes and pretty bags aren't going to make you organized ...
living with less is going to help you be more organized.“

Brown said she suggests removing closeted items that aren't working once a quarter.

“I try to say one in, one out,“ she said. “When you add something, the space stays the same, so physics still applies.“

Reach-in closets can take four to 10 hours to clean, while walkins can take anywhere from seven to 14 or 16 hours in her experience, Brown said.

Kids' closets take less time because it can be easier to make decisions about other people's clothing, she said.

One can make his or her closet into a serene spot “if you want to come in here and have a short moment visit with your closet,“ she said.

For those who simply want to make their closets work, they can thin them out, keep the items they love and use and donate the rest.

“Don't keep things a prisoner in your closet,“ she said.