Simple Organizing Tasks (tidying a clothing drawer)

School is about to start next week in our neck of the woods. There always seems to be a never ending to-do list this time of year because of that, doesn’t there? I don’t know about you, but I often seek out an easy project when my to-do list is getting out of hand. Something about choosing a task, that can be wrapped up start-to-finish, in a small space of time, leaves me feeling a lot more in control of everything. That normally translates into the motivation to tackle many other things waiting for my attention and before I know it, I’m feeling like a boss in life.

One such easy-to-tackle project is a clothing drawer. Obviously, you can work your way through all of them, but sometimes it’s okay to take them one at a time. There are so many great ways to organize clothing and I guarantee we have tried and used all the systems on The Orderly Space Team. Some of us love folding. Like, give us a floor full of your laundry, and we are in folding-heaven. I know, we’re weirdos. But, if you’re going the DIY route and wanting to tackle it for yourself, we have a few helpful guidelines you can use, when you go about creating this order that you seek.

Set Yourself Up for Success

Before you start, set yourself up for success, by creating a nice, clear dump-out space. (A made bed works great for this.) Gather a few boxes or bags and label them “Trash,” “Donate,” “Consign.” You might also want to grab some cleaning spray and rags, so you can wipe out each drawer once you’ve emptied it. Assuming you have all the same items in one drawer, go ahead and dump out the entire thing to be sorted. Now, if you’ve got things all over the place, rather than keeping like items in one spot, you might need to jumble through a few drawers to collect all of one type of item- such as socks. But go ahead and gather them all up, on your sorting surface. Once you’ve got those items, take them one by one and make a quick decision about it. (If a sock doesn’t have a mate, tell it goodbye. It’s okay, you have our permission to do this. And yes, you’ll find the mate next week. It’s okay, it’s just a sock.) Trust your first instinct and try not to over-think or wait too long before deciding to keep or toss. Make a keep pile, and use your labeled boxes for any donate, trash, etc. Having those boxes handy will help you move quickly through the process. If something is torn or stained, trash it, if it no longer fits, donate or consign and if you love and wear it, keep it. Simple right? If you aren’t sure, set it aside. You want to move quickly through this process, so if something needs more time to decide, just come back to it later.

Creating Order

Once you have your keep pile, you can begin to create some order. Our team loves to color organize things by type. So if you’re working on a tee shirt drawer, we might begin with lightest to darkest tees. There are lots of ways to fold things, so find the one that will work long-term for you. File folding is beautiful but it often requires retraining yourself, and could take a few more minutes to do. If you’re able to commit to that process, go ahead and re-fold all your tees that way. You’ll love the results. If that’s not for you, and you’re more of a stacker, you might do well to stack the items you reach for on top, and seldom used items below. There are no rules, but we like it when things function well for our own unique lifestyle and also look pretty. It’s definitely worth taking the time to think about how to accomplish both of those goals as you re-organize your drawer spaces.

Choosing Containment

One way to really dial in your drawer organization, is by choosing containment for your items. For example, you might have a combined sock/underwear drawer. By tucking a container for one or both into the drawer, you can clearly keep things separated and find what you need without disrupting the whole drawer and wasting time. There are so many great options that work in drawers. Do measure your drawers first, so you’re not running back and forth to a store. Consider getting all the same style of bin or drawer dividers so that everything has a cohesive look when you open the drawer. Felt or fabric can be nice options in a drawer. (And I must say it. Often we go into a home and there is clearly twice the amount stuffed into a drawer than there is room for, so nothing can be found. If this resonates with you, there are a couple solutions. Consider how often you do laundry and let that be your guide on what volume to keep, pull out seasonal items to be stored elsewhere and rotate them in and out as needed, reconsider where you’re trying to store those items. You may need to edit-to-fit, or invest in a better situation.)

Another way to keep things orderly are by using drawer dividers. We honestly love these things. They squeeze to fit and come in a variety of finishes and costs. If you’re looking to go a bit more budget-friendly, you can always choose these plastic ones, but we also really like using these bamboo ones.

Pro-Tip- Create a Boutique with your own clothing

Don’t be afraid to arrange things in such a way that it almost feels like you’re shopping in a boutique. It just feels good to open a beautifully organized drawer. Laying your bras out, by color not only looks pretty, but makes it that much easier to grab just what you’re looking for, saving you time, while making you happy. Win-win.

Know when to fold ‘em

Okay so not everything has to be folded perfectly. (That’s a bit hard for us to choke out.) A good rule of thumb- if an item is seen on the outside of your body, take care to hang or fold it nicely, and if it’s not seen on the outside, you can probably toss it in a drawer with some containment and call it good. I suppose in the end it’s about clarity and sanity, not perfection.

What are your biggest challenges when organizing your clothing drawers? We’d love to hear what’s worked (or not worked) in comments!