Does your coat closet only get more cluttered with the change of seasons? Is it too packed to place the coat of a friend or two in? Then its time to follow these 6 simple steps to organize your coat closet:
Before you begin just make sure you have a good hour or more to complete the job.
1. Remove Everything From the Closet
In order to get organized you need to know what you are dealing with, and you need to start from scratch. You'll probably find coats from every season, a few missing gloves that have been lost for years, more shoes can boots than you can imagine, and who knows what else.
As you remove each item group them into piles based on each person in your home. You may find some people have much bigger piles than others by the time the closet is empty :)
2. Clean the closet
Give it a good scrubbing, dusting, even a quick paint job if you have the time.
3. Evaluate your storage system
Does your closet efficiently store coats, shoes and the other items you store in it? If not (especially if its an older closet) consider going down to the local home improvement store and look at closet organizer systems. You can spend anywhere from $20-$30 for a few new shelves and brackets, to several hundred for entire top of the line closet organizer systems
4. Organize and Store by Person
Depending on the season you want to store 1-2 of the "best" coats for each person in your home. So go to each "pile" you created when you emptied the closet and grab 2 of their coats. If its winter then for each person you may want a really heavy coat plus a slightly lighter coat. Summer time might just be a fleece and a rain coat for each person.
Each person should have their coats in an assigned position in the closet, like Dad gets the far left 2 spots, Mom's coats go next to, etc. Keep it organized as you store the items so you know exactly where to find what you are looking for and where to return them when done.,
5. Store additional items
In winter time store all of the hats, gloves and scarfs in a box. If you have a large family then give each person a shoebox to store their own season items and put the boxes on a shelf in the closet. Also store an umbrella for rainy days.
6. Evaluate what is left
Chances are you still have some piles still left hanging around from when you emptied the closet. If there is still plenty of room in your coat closet then allow each person to have an additional jacket, sweater, or fleece. Do not try to fill your closet, leave room and some extra hangers for guests.
But if you do not have much space then do not try to store all 4 season's worth of coats at the same time. You are far better off getting some plastic bins and storing off season coats in them and place them in the attic or basement. This will keep your closet more organized.
In regards to what may still remain in your piles, at this point you should consider donating them because the plain truth is you don't have room for them or they are just not as important anymore. Or they are simply trash.
So feel good about your new organized coat closet, make a donation and get a tax break! Donating something you've worn and loved in the past can be very difficult, but you will feel empowered by how organized you are now.
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