comprehensive closet reorganizations are currently on a semiannual cycle

[cimorene]

Does everybody else go through this neverending cycle of trying to do a systematic purge of clutter and excess stuff like... multiple times per year? Because I've just dragged all the stuff out of the closet to re-fold and attempt to reorganize for the second time in less than a year in the vain hope that after this time it will all fit.

It's not that we have lots of clothes! (Especially fervently said after watching Marie Kondo's reality show.) It's that all the storage is terrible for storing our wardrobes. There's enough hanging rods in them to store three times the hanging stuff that we have, a ton of shelves which are fairly terrible for storing folded clothes - especially deep shelves where you can't see anything! - and no drawers at all.

The struggle with inappropriate shelves is real. All the stuff will fit on the shelf when stacked up neatly... but you'll only be able to see and reach the ones in the front! Putting baskets and boxes that you can pack like a drawer on the shelf is possibly the best way, but it has its own problems.

Every time I do this I throw away some stuff and fold all the things and it all looks amazing and it all fits and then it only lasts for a few weeks because actually there's literally no way to fit the stuff in the shelves that doesn't involve things being precariously and inconveniently behind each other and on top of each other within the same shelf, and that's just a recipe for disaster (or rather a recipe for the shelf ending up with a mixed-up pile of crumpled laundry on it).

I suppose drawers are really the only good solution available, and having no good place to fit a chest of drawers becomes the new problem...

Comments

[flamebyrd]

I'm definitely the type who reorganises my Accumulated Things a couple of times a year, although not as bad as my mother, who rearranges all the furniture in the living areas several times a year.

I don't know if you want suggestions (please disregard this if you don't!), but: Since you have hanging space, can you use those hanging shoe/sweater organiser things? Like the one in the IKEA Skubb series (but they're pretty common all over). I have one I currently use for stuffing clothing I've worn that isn't dirty enough to wash, but before I got a chest of drawers I used it for all my tshirts and jeans and so on.

[cimorene]

We used to have one that I kind of hated and eventually got rid of, but it might be the fault of the individual and not the class. The hanging space isn't full-length so the one we had wouldn't have fit there anyway, but I think there are probably shorter ones. It might work for sweaters and the like...

[twistedchick]

I live in a house whose builder didn't see the need for a lot of space being taken up by "useless" closets. The gardening and outdoor tools are in the front closet with the coats. The bedroom closets are tiny. There is half a linen closet, with luggage storage under it and a laundry chute in it.

So I don't wrestle with them as much as I might because of the frustration. I do have some of my mother's clothes that I've kept for sentimental reasons, and I have hundreds more books than there is really space for. I weed the books when I realize I'm not going to reread them, and those go to the local veterans-run collection group for resale.

[cimorene]

I know this place was built in a different era, but sometimes it's really hard to imagine what they were expecting the people who live there to do. From my perspective it seems like a residence with too much closet space would be preferable to one with too few (not that I've ever seen such a place).

[twistedchick]

I can think of all sorts of things I'd do with more closet space -- like getting storage bins out of the living room, and being able to manage the kitchen better. From my view, there is no such thing as too much closet space.

[cimorene]

Yes! And yet closet space is in such short supply everywhere!

[lotesse]

I put together a closet earlier this year in a studio apartment w/ no room for a chest of drawers, and I've got a mid-to-fair amount of clothes. Have you looked into "drawer" or cubby systems that you hang from a hanging rod? You can almost assemble a fabric chest of drawers under the rod. In the US, I found them at most of the big stores - Target, Ikea, Bed Bath and Beyond - and there's a fair amount of variety in available systems.

[cimorene]

When I had one of those small ones in the past, a shoe organizer, dust collection was an issue, and anything dust-related is worse now with angora rabbits. But on the other hand, we have some of those crocheted Ikea hanging organizer things, and they're not really a problem, so perhaps I can find something if I investigate Storage Systems a bit more.

[mirabile]

You totally aren't the only one who sorts through clothes and closets several times a year! I'm very strict about clothes in particular; if I haven't worn something in a year, off it goes to St Vincent's. My husband made me very happy this year because for the first time since we moved here (2 1/2 years ago) he sorted through his closet. Oh my god, I couldn't believe how much stuff was so old and ratty we just threw it out or re-purposed it as cleaning rags. But the biggest pile was off to St Vincent's. I put it in the trunk of my car immediately so we (well, he) couldn't see it anymore. Now he has room for clothes in his closet -- no more floordrobe. THANK GOD.

We don't have enough closets, either, which really adds to the problem. Who builds houses without closets? Jesus. You have my sympathy about the drawers, too.

[cimorene]

I do throw away/donate a bunch of things - not just clothes - semi-frequently when I do this, but somehow I never seem to gain enough closet space and it never seems to last!

[stranger]

I have some Extraneous Shelves, and filling them with (cardboard) boxes with Stuff in has worked for me. Shoe boxes, shipping boxes, that kind of thing. Pros: cardboard boxes are cheap or free, and can be cut down if necessary; rectangular boxes fit on rectangular shelves. Cons: boxes not transparent, so you can't see what's inside without pulling them out. Also, looks kind of tacky unless you want to look like you have a dedicated shoe closet. Still, it more or less reinvents the chest of drawers if one is strong-minded enough to remember *this* box is socks and *that* box is underwear, or label them. Signed, My House has Storage But Inconveniently.

[cimorene]

Yes, this is a great idea for stuff you don't need to get out that often! I have several shelves that have things like this on them - spare electronics parts and art supplies, that sort of thing. It doesn't work for clothes, sadly - we actually kind of tried that. Although I do have some big shallow boxes/box lids - trays kind of - with the clothes stacked in them on the shelves for clothes.

[krait]

Yeeeeeep.

My biggest struggle is clothing; no matter how I purge it and reorganise it and rearrange it to fit, three months later I have two overflowing hampers, stacks on the floor, and a pile on the bed. Yet the drawers aren't empty! Where does it all come from??

Some days I mutter darkly to the disaster zone that nudists may have the right idea...

I need someone better at Clothes Stuff to come assess and fix the entire "clothing" category of my life, from amount to storage units, because at this point it's clearly a skill I don't possess and can't develop. D:

[cimorene]

Right?? I have a friend who actually only owns like 3 pairs of trousers and 5 shirts and a couple of t-shirts. That's probably the only way, right? Except I don't think I could adjust to doing laundry that often. Plus to even get there I'd have to toss so many tshirts...!

[krait]

I would have to toss. SO MANY. T-shirts!

It's not that I buy clothes; I hate clothes shopping and, aside from cosplay items, buy as little clothing as I can get away with!

I probably have bought myself five tees (or fewer) per year, in fact.

It's just that, well, they don't wear out very fast. :D Five shirts a year times the last fifteen years of my life adds up to a lot of shirts.

My mother's obsession with expanding my wardrobe also has a lot to do with the state of my closet/drawers/hamper/bed.

[cimorene]

I actually have tossed a LOT in the last couple of years - all the ones with spots or holes or too worn or too stretched or... the ones we never wear... (we used to share 80% of our tshirts, but Wax experienced a size change after quitting an SSRI like 6 years ago).

When I was a kid, my dad had a dresser drawer - an old, solid oak dresser, chest high, so the drawer was the size of a classic footlocker or larger - completely filled, often overflowing, with tshirts, collected since he was in college (he never agreed to throw one away until we used a scanner and heat transfer to make copies of some of his favorites). I wore shirts from it to school regularly for several years (as tunics, though some were more like the size of dresses...) and so did my mom, when I was a pre-teen and she was in grad school. I've never been that bad, but a tendency to accumulate them and a tendency not to get rid of them was kind of ingrained. However, we've never had close to that kind of storage space...

I think right now we each have fewer than 15. And I can only remember buying a total of 3 for both of us in the last 2 years...

[copracat]

I also have annoying cupboard shelves and found that I get some relief by using different versions of this kind of thing: pantry shelf. While you still have to move things around, it means you don't have to move what's on top of the wee shelf to get to what's under it.

[cimorene]

Oh, thanks! That's a good idea. I have seen those before on closet-type shows, but putting them in the kitchen cabinets could actually enable (almost?) everything to fit in there...

[devon]

I always purge and sort my clothes. I have a lot more space now than I used to, but I still have to put some of my seasonal stuff in storage in another room/basement. I buy too much second hand clothing, because it's so cheap and satisfying!

I used to fold all my t-shirts into one huge drawer. It was so heavy that the bottom of the drawer is still un-tacked, and it won't close all the way. But here we have lots of hanging space, so I bought a ton of cheap hangers (slick plastic) and hung ALL my teeshirts! It is so nice to have open drawers for other stuff. I can even sort my hanging tees by sleeve length and color! And all non-tees hang above. And the other side is also two tiers of short hanging, so it gets sweaters above and skirts/pants below. It's really designed to accomodate two people's clothes, but that's just how much I have.

So. ... hanging things that you might not otherwise hang might help, based on what you said. Good luck!
(Nice sweaters can be hung after folding in half and then draping them over the top of the hanger. It keeps the weight of the sweater from stretching it out longways. Maybe Google can show you what I mean - that's how I found out.)

[cimorene]

I just googled that sweater hanging thing and it is weird af. I can't help thinking I'd always just be knocking them off the hangers though...

[ephemera]

my wardrobe also has annoying deep shelves, and I have very limited draw space elsewhere.

I'm using a mix of large boxes that I can slide in and out and effectively use as a drawer for smaller things, and one experiment in using cardboard boxes side-on to provide some structure for rolled up cardigans and wraps, which are essentially big enough to use the whole depth of the shelf. That way I can more or less see everything, and it's stood up to use for a couple of months, although it's not perfect.

[cimorene]

The deep boxes were a problem for us because of the weight and the fact that you have to hold them when you pull them out, unlike drawers which just balance where they are. It means you have to take stuff out, or search, with one hand, if you don't go set it down somewhere else, so they are even more prone to getting filled with a jumble of tangled, wrinkly clothes.