Have you ever walked into your closet or opened up the door, only to find a mountain of stuff that you can barely get through? A closet is a tricky place. On the one hand, it’s where you store items you don’t want lying around all the time. However, the closet is one spot that can easily become a disaster zone if not kept organized.
We know that we should regularly clean out our closet to avoid a disaster. Unfortunately, though, that isn’t always the case. Life happens, and the closet is the least of our concerns until it’s too late.
If you’ve neglected to organize your closet, here are five red flags that are telling you to get on it.
You Can’t Find What You’re Looking For
Probably the most obvious warning that you need to clean your closet is when you can never find what you’re looking for. When you open up the closet door, it should take you very long to grab what you need and carry on with your day. If you’re spending an hour going through everything to find one item, it’s time to declutter.
If You Have No More Space
Maybe you finally found what you’re looking for, but now don’t know how to get it back into the closet. There’s another sign that it’s time to organize the closet. If you’re struggling to find space for everything, especially new items, there are likely things in there that you could part with.
You Can’t Closet the Door
Do you struggle to try to close the closet door? Do you have to push everything in then quickly shut the door, so nothing falls out? That’s a big sign that you need to organize the closet. If you ignore it, eventually things will fall out and could hurt someone depending on the size of items, or you could have something get stuck in the door.
You Bought New Storage Containers
If you went out to get new storage containers for the closet, you likely already know that you need to organize it. Instead of throwing everything in new containers or piling up items on the shelf, spend an afternoon and go through all the items. Sort through things you could put up for sale, donate, or throw away.
You Started a New Job
When you start a new job, you likely need (or want) a new wardrobe that is work-appropriate. That means adding new clothes into your already stuffed closet. As you buy new items, go through and see what you don’t wear anymore.
A couple of tricks to help with this is when you do laundry, put the clean shirts at the front. After six months, if the same clothes are still in the back, you likely can live without them. Another useful trick is to hang your clothes inside out. After you use them, hang them back up the normal way. After six months, whatever is still inside out can go.
Don’t let organizing a closet get the better of you. Take an afternoon to go at your pace. Once you have it organized, you’ll be more inclined to keep it that way.
