Are you living with a tiny closet? A small closet can be especially frustrating in the winter months. You have larger shoes, pants instead of shorts, sweaters and coats instead of tanks and t-shirts. Everything can seem to grow when you get your winter clothes out of storage. Did you organize over the summer and now you’re finding out that you didn’t consider the larger winter clothes? Well, now is the perfect time to do it over and do it right. Getting your closet organized to match your larger, more bulky clothing will ensure that your summer clothes fit back in with ease at the end of the season. Even if your closet is super small, we can help you come up with a plan that lasts all year.
1) First, let’s talk about shoes. Winter boots are big and bulky. They can also lose their shape if they get crushed at the bottom of “shoe mountain” in your closet. You can use a low rack for your tennis shoes near the floor, but boots may cut into your hanging or shelving space. Use metallic clips to hang your boots from hooks up one side of the closet. Dress shoes can be kept in an over-the-door shoe storage organizer. Another option is to use a shallow container that slides or rolls under your bed. The shoes are easy to get to, but at the end of the cold season, they are already in storage for next year. Saves you space and makes your life a little easier.
2) Sweaters are also bulky items that will be coming in this time of year. You won’t necessarily want to hang your sweaters, because they could get stretched out at the shoulders. Sweaters should normally be folded or laid flat. You only need an 18”x18” shelf to store all of your winter sweaters. A milk crate or other cube shaped storage container is perfect for storing sweaters whether you have a shelf or not. We like ones with lids so that you can remove the lid for winter and then simply replace it and move the container back to the top shelf for summer storage.
3) Coats are by far the biggest problem in a small closet at this time of year. They can seem to take up every inch of space that you may have had to work with. You should start with your coats when hanging winter clothes so that you can see how much space you’ll have for your clothes. You may want to consider moving things up so that you can add a second hanging bar for your pants at the bottom. Then, coats can be hung properly on coat hangers so that they retain their shape. The rest of your clothing can be hung on space saving hangers, like velvet hangers, combination, or multi-garment hangers to save space.
About the Author: Rick Miller is on the staff of Only Slimline Hangers, a leading online resource for velvet hangers which are space saving hangers, non slip hangers and slim line hangers. For more information, please visit http://www.onlyslimlinehangers.com.
