Do you keep trying to organize your closet only to have it fail over and over? Heres a quick tip on organizing your closet. Organize your closet when your closet is the fullest. Make sure all of your clothes for the season are clean and all of your clothes are back from the dry cleaner. No clothes should be in transit. This way when you begin to organize the space you will be working with all of the clothes you own. After your organizing project is complete you should have a place to put the laundry and dry cleaning.

Warm weather is on its way and although its still cold here is Chicago the heavy down jackets, snowsuits and Uggs may be done for the season.
A little stretch of weather change its a great time to organize and reassess your outerwear. Its not only the perfect time to decide on what to keep and what to get rid of but to also start getting everything cleaned up and ready for next year. Take your heavier coats to the dry cleaner and shoes to the shoes repair. Then start washing some of your delicate items. By the time you get these items cleaned and repaired it might be time to actually store them for next winter.

How many times have you said "I am going to get organized"? But the thought of getting started is just so daunting of a task you decide to do something else? It can be so overwhelming! Here is a tip to help you get started in your closet
Create a "Maybe" box or bag and keep on the shelf or floor. Every time you come across something you are just not into anymore put it in the "maybe" box or bag. This way you don't have to tackle the entire closet at once. Periodically go through this container and decide weather or not you think its worth keeping. If not, donate to a charity or give it away to a friend or family member who you think might like it.

What are you supposed to do with all that jewelry from your ex boyfriend? Your never going to wear it again. If you think you are ready to say goodbye to this old jewelry send it off to Out of your life or post your items on ex-boyfriend jewelry. This is a great way to keep your jewelry organized! Instead of having jewelry your not going to wear cluttering up your beautiful jewelry box get rid of it.

Its possible to organize your life with bags! Ziploc has come out with giant Ziploc bags to help you get organized in your home, office or car. The Big Bags can hold everything from clothes, electronics and toiletries. The Ziploc Flexible tote is cube shaped with zippers on the side which are great for stacking and storing seasonal items in the top of your closet, under the bed and even in the car. Sturdy paper bags such as gift bags or shopping bags are great for storing items on shelves. They can also add a pop of color.

The perfect closet contains clothing that fits and makes you look and feel amazing. Maintaining that perfect closet can be tricky.
Just when you thought you had everything perfectly organized in your closet, the seasons change and a new style comes out to tempt you to jump on the trend train. Top it off with an 80% off sale sign at your favorite department store and your closet will be overflowing again with random articles of clothing.
It's hard to turn down value and when you see a cashmere sweater at 80% off, its hard not to run to the cash register.
Sales can be successful in getting us to purchase like sharks in a feeding frenzy. We think "at this price I should buy one in every color", but often months later we realized that the style or fit wasn't as good as we thought, or that green, purple and yellow have never been our color and the sale didn't change that.

Your wardrobe needs the right mix. Fill your closet with 70% classic pieces. This means solid colors that will not fluctuate as much with trends and will serve as a base for some of your more adventurous purchases. Classic pieces are well made and often have a higher price tag depending on the item. So when you are hitting the sales be on the look out the finer fabrics and wools. Be willing to pay a higher price for those items with the intention of using them often for a long time to come.

The other 30% of your closet can consist of this season's trendy pieces. Assorted prints, patterns and seasonal colors. So don't spend a lot of money here and please don't fill up your closet with these items. It is better to get a few pieces that will go with your staples. And remember these clothes will most likely be out of style by next year.

Trying on clothes is a big part of your wardrobe organizing project. As you pull your summer clothes out of storage try them on. If they dont fit right now, please please please do not put them away. Clothes that you cannot wear right now should not be a part of your current wardrobe. If you try them on and realize they dont fit and your dont like them anymore, get rid of them.
If you cannot part with them right now, put them back into a storage bin. Try them on again in a month or two to see if they fit or if you still want to wear them in the future. Once again if they still dont fit and you want to keep them put them back into storage. At the end of the summer when its time to switch you wardrobe into fall decide whether or not you want to continue storing these items that dont fit. If you are short on space it can be difficult to continue storing items you dont use. And remember clothes go out of style so if you have been storing a jacket from college chances are if you do end up fitting into it you will probably want to treat yourself to something new.

In Chicago where the weather goes straight from winter to summer we seem to skip right over Spring. It feels like its goes from 40 to 80 over night. So you end up scrambling for your shorts and flip flops while tripping over coats, sweaters and other items. It can be difficult to manage two seasons of clothing in your closet. Now is the time to power through your closet organizing project and finalize the seasonal wardrobe switch. Continue to pack up your winter wardrobe and purge what you no longer need.
Keep a few boxes, bags or bins open for donation and try to do a weekly purge. You will notice how much more selective you are about getting rid of heavy winter clothes that do not fit when its 80 degrees outside. But when winter rolls around next year you will not be adding your least favorite clothes back into circulation...again.

Winter is almost over. Even though it still gets cold here in Chicago its time to start packing up those heavier clothes and start looking into spring. Soon you will be wearing shorts and flip flops!
It can be difficult to determine what you should put away until next year and what to keep out. If the temperature drops you want to be prepared.
Here are a few items that you can put away that will jump start your closet organizing.
Heavy wools
Heavy coats
Velvets
Bulky sweaters
Winter sports gear-hats, gloves scarves or ski pants
Winter boots
Organizing your heavy winter clothes now will make the change of seasons a little easier next year. Also, by opening up space in your closet you can start adding a few of your warmer weather clothes like rain jackets, lightweight materials and cottons.

I live in a building that has a laundry room containing 10 washers and 6 dryers. Having many machines makes the chore of laundry go much quicker. I can get about 4 loads of laundry done in 1 1/2 hours - folded, hung and put away. The trick to quick laundry folding is to organize your laundry before folding. Start by quickly sorting out all of your clothes then fold. I separate all of the t-shirts, socks, pants and hanging items. Then go down the assembly line folding. Once you fold 1 t-shirt and stack, its easy to fold 10 more. Same thing goes for socks, sweaters etc. You can get on a roll of folding and it can actually be fun!

Happy Folding

Its time again to take inventory of your closet and get organized! This is one huge way to save money in 2009. If you don't know what you have, you don't know what you need. If you know exactly how many black turtlenecks you own, you won't buy three more just because they're on sale.

Organize a clothes exchange with your friends. Bring everything that doesn't fit or doesn't suit you and have your friends do the same. You'll come home with new outfits without spending a dime.

Organizing baby clothes is a full time job. The sizes change so quickly theres no time to dig through clothes that dont fit. The easiest way to organize and keep track of clothes is to have 4 areas where you keep the clothing. Typically clothes are either too big, too small, currently fit or close to fitting. I call the clothes that are close to fitting "on deck" because they will be wearing in the next couple of weeks.
Keep an open bag or bin for clothes that no longer fit so you can easily separate from clothes that do fit. Have the bins of larger clothing labeled by size in a 3 or 6 month range. Clothes that currently fit should be in the drawers and the "on deck" clothes should be in a drawer or close to the drawers so you can easily access.

Before you make out another grocery list organize your pantry. By organizing your pantry you can categorize your canned goods, boxes of rice, pasta and snacks and get rid of stale open packages and expired food. Remember some of those items have "best if used by" dates so don't waste them, eat them! A really great way use up this food is to find a recipe for each product on the products website. For instance if you have a can of beans from Bush or box of barilla pasta find a specific recipe for that product and be sure to purchase additional ingredients on your next grocery shopping trip.

You could help other women achieve the success they deserve by interviewing for a new career in a new suit. How will you do this? By organizing your closet and getting rid of suits, separates and accessories you no longer wear.
Donate your suits and accessories to Dress for Success so women can interview in style. Dress for success is a not-for-profit organization that helps women finds jobs, remain employed and give support. Women must have an interview scheduled to receive a suit and once they get the job can come back for a second suit and additional outfits for her new job!

If you decide to organize your home this fall and you come across any unwanted outdoor equipment like back packs, boots, and camping gear. Send it to the Gear4Good program. Used gear will go youth hiking programs in the U.S. and porter support programs in Nepal, Peru and Tanzania. This sturdy gear can also go to the Search-and-rescue teams teams in developing countries. If they cant find a home for your gear they will list items on online auctions and use money to support programs.

Summer is a wonderful time of year but it will soon be coming to a close. I know its a sad thing. The seasons change and so does your wardrobe. This means you have to put away your summer clothes and start pulling out the winter clothes. Im not saying you have to switch out all of your summer clothes right now but its time to start pulling out a few bins and bags to have ready for donation, packing or giving away to a friend. Its also a good time to start getting rid of items you did not wear this summer and you know you will never wear again...ever!
Its an even greater time to take a peak at what you stored away from the last winter and see if there is anything you can purge out. If you didn't wear it last year there is a good chance you will not wear it this year. While you are at it pull a few fall and winter items out of the storage you may need them sooner than you think.

Bonus tip! Consignment shops are putting out fall and winter clothes so bring those warmer weather clothes you no longer want and you might make a little money.

If you went through your closet recently looking for empty hangers you may have found a few extra plastic bags that contain clothes cleaned and pressed by the dry cleaner. Or you found empty hangers with a plastic bag hanging over it. This is a huge waste of space.
I recommend taking the plastic off of all of your clothes as soon as they come in from the dry cleaner so they can breath and you can see what you have to wear. I don't recommend using the plastic dry cleaner bags as a dust preventive. Add a garment bag to your closet for special occasion clothing for protection.
Hopefully by removing the extra plastic bags and hangers and adding a garment bag you can not only gain space but protect your clothing and start categorizing your wardrobe.

Save a little space in your closet by getting rid of used hangers. Go through your closet and pull all of the empty hangers. Now take a look at the pile. What do you have? A lot of wire hangers, trouser hangers or clip hangers that you got with your last department store purchase? If you are not using these in your wardrobe let them go. Wire hangers from the dry cleaner can be recycled so bring them back on your next trip. Those small trouser hangers are of no use to you if you fold your pants over a hanger. Finally those freebie plastic hangers from the department store should never come home with you if you are not using.

Tip* If you have some items in your closet like a silky blouse that falls off the hanger, get a specialty hanger with a non slip surface that keeps clothes on the hanger.

Time to take a look at all of those towels packed in the linen closet. Is your closet overflowing? Do you ever get to the bottom of the stack or do you keep rotating the same towels? You can gage how many towels you need in a week by how much laundry you do. Its a pretty small number 2 or 3 towels per person if you do the wash weekly. So time to organize those towels and let go of some of the older ripped or stained towels. You can repurpose those towels for cleaning or donate them to your local animal shelter.

Spring is finally here! Here are a few recommendations on getting started on your spring organizing

Closets

1. Change out your wardrobe – Put away your heavier fabrics such as velvets, heavy wool, and winter coats to make room for spring and summer clothing - BUT It still gets cold in Chicago, so keep one warm jacket handy until Memorial Day.

2. Before storing clothes - go through items and purge any that did not get much use the last season.

3. Toss out mate less gloves and socks.

• Storage Tip: Clean clothes before storing - dirty clothes are more likely to get moth damage or become permanently stained.

• Storage Tip: Use plastic bins to make it easy to see the contents and space bags are a great way to get more into a little space.

• Storage Tip: As you sort through clothes, make a note of items you’ll need for next winter, such as gloves or a jacket. Then use the list to hit end-of-season sales. If you can’t find what you need, slip the list in with your stored clothes, so you’ll know what to look for next year.

Let go of any clothes that have stains, rips or are beyond repair.

Let go of clothes that don't reflect your current lifestyle. If you used to work in a corporate office and now work from home, think about getting rid of the suits.

If you can't remember the last time you wore an item...time to let it go.

And finally get rid of the clothes that don't fit, or don't look good on you. You really need to love they way your clothes make you look and feel

Storage Tip: Keep the sentimental clothes like your collage sweater outside your immediate closet space.

Tip: You should never feel bad about getting rid of clothes because you are really helping out people by donating to your favorite charity you may also get a tax deduction.

You should plan on going through your closets every season.

I just heard about this program by Nike that recycles athletic shoes in any condition, any brand and turns them into sports surfaces! They collect shoes from partnering retail stores, National Recycling Coalition and other shoe collections. The shoes get ground up and used for running tracks, tennis cort's and play grounds. They use a system called the Nike grind to separate the rubber, foam and fabric from shoes. The recycled material gets used again to make the surfaces and more shoes!

Do you purchase clothing that comes with an extra button or two? Maybe even extra thread? Do you know if the buttons go to a shirt or pair of pants? Do you own this article of clothing anymore? Here's a quick tip on keeping those loose buttons together and giving them an i.d. so when the time comes to repair a button or thread you know where to find the replacement.

1 - Buttons and thread usually come inside a small plastic ziplock bag. When you cut the tags off write the purchase date and clothing description on the back of the tag or write on a post it note. Fold up the note and stick inside the bag.

2- Keep all of your buttons and extra thread in a box, sewing kit, or business card folder and store in your or closet, laundry room.

One of my favorite organizing tools for clothing clutter is a simple hook. Hanging something on a hook takes less time and is just easy to do. It's especially helpful when you are in a hurry or just too tired to hang something on a hanger. I like to recommend using hooks in the closet as much as possible. One of the easiest ways to hang items is on a belt hanger. It hangs on the closet rod just like a hanger but has 4 sides containing hooks. Hang up your pants by their belt loop or even shirts or jackets. Now you have everything up off the floor and not draped over a chair in the "clean" section. No installation required on this project and anyone can do it!

A basic rule in organizing a closet, cabinet or drawer is purging unused items. In order to gain space we do need to let go of some of the items we no longer need our use. But not everyone has time to purge and reorganize their spaces.
A quick tip purging items in your closet is keep a small bag in your closet for items that you are sure you will no longer wear. Hang a shopping bag on a hanger or place a basket on the floor. Wherever you have an item in your hands that you know you will never wear put it in the bag or basket instead of throwing it back in the drawer, floor or laundry. Get rid of it once and for all. As soon as the bag is full donate it!