Organizing Bedroom Closets – AKA The Black Hole

I don’t know about you, but the floor of my bedroom closet has become my dumping grounds! Done with my purse? Just throw it in there! Kick my shoes off on my way to chase the kids down and they end up all over the place in the bottom of my closet. And if mine wasn’t bad enough – my husband’s closet was a black hole!! Seriously! You would not believe the stuff we pulled out of his closet!  

How you organize your closet(s) will definitely depend on the size closet(s) you have! Thankfully in our current house we have decent sized closets. Our house in Chicago had amazing HUGE walk in closets. Our first house – itty bitty closets we could barely even use!  Since we don’t have a basement, our closets store everything we don’t have room for. Extra sheets, wrapping paper, ribbon, gift baskets, photo albums, Easter and Halloween supplies, toys/presents bought on clearance, stationary…..you’ll find it all in our closets. In my husband’s closet you see above that we have a tie rack. The really nice thing about this tie rack is that it does not hang on his clothes rack and take up space. This one is actually mounted onto the wall behind his clothes.

In the top of my husband’s closet is large storage totes filled with extra bed sheets, and beach/swimming gear (towels, swimming suits, snorkels, swimmies, etc.) In the top of my closet is all of our extra gifts/presents we buy on clearance throughout the year. I have 3 large cardboard boxes in the top of my closet which I put all of our gifts in. Being a thrifty family I stock up when I find cheap candles, stocking stuffers, and other random toys or gifts for family and friends. Then when birthdays and Christmas come around I can pull down my boxes and see what I have inside. My husband has been able to supply MANY “thank you” gifts for his helpers throughout the school year. This is a great way to save money and be able to give generously as well.

I thought I would mention hanging organizers. Normally I personally do not prefer them, but I have found for my kids closets that this is a great way for easy access items like towels, blankets, and bed sheets. Hanging organizers come in different sizes and styles. The one picture above we actually found on the side of the road, sanitized it down, and voila! Instant storage!

Don’t underestimate the ability of a simple wooden shelf! I think EVERY closet should have one! As you can see above we store our photo albums up in the top of the closet as well as other holiday decor. 

Another gem of an idea that I use for storage in our closets is drawers. Whether it’s dresser drawers or plastic storage drawers – I use both. We even bought a tall skinny lingerie chest to use in my kids room for pull ups, shoes, socks, etc. The drawers you see above are stored in my closet and contain all of our artsy stuff – stamps, stationary, extra photo albums, ribbon, etc. In my kids closets storage drawers hold winter clothes, clothes in different sizes, Legos, and more.

Shoes – possibly my nemesis. I have seen cute wooden or wired shoe racks, but to be honest, I just have not found a suitable solution for shoes other than neatly lining them up on the floor. I have a small box in the bottom of my closet for shoes I rarely use, and the rest of my shoes are lined up on the bottom of the closet for easy access. 

ANY time I see storage drawers on the side of the road or at a yard sale – and the price is right – I buy them. No matter whether or not I need them. I can ALWAYS find something to do with them, and they are not cheap to buy full price. 

As for clothes that is totally a personal preference on how you want to organize that, but here are a few ideas.

By Size

By Type (Pants, Shirts, Dress, etc.)

By His/Hers (if sharing a closet)

By Season

Dress Clothes VS. Casual Clothes

By Colors (way too much for me!)