How to organize a closet

Our walk in is split pretty even.. his half on 1 side mine on the other... it is not super huge...

I wear scrubs to work so those are at the very front as i open the door... then tshirts or dri-fit work out type tees.. then blouses or dressier tunic type tops.. with skirts n dresses in the back...

I don't wear a lot of super dressy stuff...
I don't have a rainbow break down.. I don't have "outfits"...it can all be worn however...

I don't store anything on the shelf above the rod.. so thats where my bottoms go... scrub pants 1st above those tops.. then stacks of shorts capris jeans leggings last..

Tennis shoes flip flop n flats tossed in a Landry basket.. boots heels n nicer type shoes stacked along the back wall..

I just went from a huge walk in (done by California Closets so it had all kinds of shelves and hanging places and drawers...) to two small apartment size closets with those metal bi-fold doors. I am also wondering how to organize my new closet space. 

Before, I had a spot for long sleeved shirts/work shirts and suits, a spot for short sleeve shirts, a place for pants/skirts, a place for cardigan/sweater sets, a place for winter stuff, a place for long sleeved tees...and some shelves for shoes.

So...here's a little known fact about me. I am an absolute shoe whore. Really. I love shoes. I have probably 30 pairs of flip flops. And my good shoes? They are all in plastic shoe boxes. We moved my closet this week and my children have been laughing at me hysterically and teasing me about my shoes having their hermetically sealed little homes. OMG. They won't stop.

Anyway, bottom line. I like to group like items with like items. Like having all my dresses in one spot, or pants. I don't really do by color, although sometimes in fits of organizational zeal I will.  

I organize by type. Dress pants together, jeans together, long sleeve tees together, etc.

I don't have a huge closet, so I use the closet in DH's office for out of season clothing.

I use the tiniest Command adhesive hooks on the back wall for my costume jewelry necklaces. I do it where the rods go from two to one (for longer clothes).

Same types of clothing together. I also actually put a smallish dresser -cheap IKEA type - in the closet for underwear, bras, camis, etc. And yes to the command hooks for costume jewelry and scarves. Oh, and I have a couple of shoe things that hang from the rod that I use for my dressy/least worn shoes. The rest are just lined up on the floor.

Oh, and DH bought me a long mirror that's mounted in the closet, and it has jewelry hooks inside it for some of my costume jewelry, like long necklaces, bracelets I wear all the time etc. It's great because it keeps the clutter hidden and also functions as a good mirror for getting dressed.

I have a decent size walk in, all to myself. I primarily arrange by type of clothing. The colors I look best in are blues, greens, and purples, so I'm particular about only buying those colors. And of course I have neutrals as well. This makes my closet less busy looking.

To the right I have tops arranged by style first (cardigan, blouse, button down, knit) then sleeve length. Then I have my work tops, most of which are polos so they are arranged by color. Below that is my luggage and a small dresser with undergarments.

The wall across from the door has hanging racks to the right and left of wide shelves. The right side holds my pants. Dress pants and work pants on the top rack, arranged by color first then length. Jeans on the bottom rack. I also have my tall boots hanging on that rack.

The bottom 3 or 4 shelves are angled, and they hold my shoes, arranged by style then color. The first flat shelf has my short boots and the next up has sweaters, arranged by color only.

To the left of the shelves I have jackets and then out of season clothes. Bottom rack is extra hangers

The left wall has one rack for longer items, so it has my dresses and my skirts. I don't have a lot of either, so they aren't really arranged except that skirts are separate from dresses. I also have a hanging belt holder and scarf holder here.

The wall with the door is all shelving. I have a big bin full of pajamas, not organized at all. I have clear drawers from the Container Store with t-shirts and camis folded Kon Mari method, winter accessories, work out clothes, and socks. Shirts and socks sorted by color.

To decide how to set up your own closet, think about how you approach getting dressed. First I think of how I want to look/what's appropriate for where I'm going, then weather (for sleeve length), then color.

Um, badly? We have a good sized walk in closet that's split pretty evenly between us. The problem isn't the space, it's the configuration of storage in there. The people who built the house had a lot of hanging clothes such as dress shirts, suits, dresses, blouses and that's simply not how we live, LOL. It's jeans and t-shirts for both of us pretty much every day. DH and I could both fit all of our hanging clothes on one combined 5' bar, and most of that hasn't been worn for probably five or more years. We both need less hang bars and more shelving or cubbies for the kinds of clothes we actually wear.

Granted, I probably should whittle down my t-shirts from the 150-200 I own down to maybe the 50 I regularly wear, but then I'll find I need something to paint in or some other messy job that will take a week and I don't have anything ratty anymore, LOL. I have a pile that are worn out and soft that I like to sleep in and those you'll have to pry from my cold, dead fingers LOL.

I have a walk in closet in an old house, so it is no where as big as most. And I share it with dh. He has 1/3. His area has built in cabinets and a rod for his shirts and suits. I have a rod for longer dresses and sweaters. On the other wall, I set up wire cubes and have a rod for shorter items. I have a hanging bag organizer with my exercise clothing. Another one for purses. Bags I don't use as often are on the shelf above. Shoes are also in hanging organizers, but I have more shoes than fit. Oops. Should probably purge down to what I wear. The cubes are sorted by clothing type- sleeveless tops, short sleeves, long sleeves, leggings, sweaters, sweatshirts, etc. Overflow is on the shelf above and on top of the cubes. Have moved a bunch of stuff to the top shelf. If they sit there untouched for 2 years, the plan is to purge them. I do need to go through every once in a while and flip what is in the cubes so I rediscover what was on the bottom!

I do mine by style, then color...sleeveless shirts/dressy tanks, plain t-shirts, patterned (Or with words/pictures)t-shirts, dress shirts(short sleeved to long sleeved), sports shirts. Within those categories, I put them in rainbow color order.

Here's my tip: I have a set amount of hangers. I REFUSE to buy more. If I run out of hangers, I have to get rid of clothing to free one up. I faced that problem this week. I have bought some new clothes recently and found myself without hangers after I washed all my laundry. (I've had a big pile of dirty laundry lately that's freed up a lot of hangers. But when everything was actually clean, I found I have more clothes than hangers). Yesterday, I had to make some difficult decisions and get rid of some stuff. But I know I will probably never miss the discarded items, I never do...

It's this one: www.target.com/p/storage-mirror-black-room-essentials/-/A-15120921

We wall mounted it instead of hanging it on a door, though.

Me too!

Very similar to what's been described- similar items together and then by color. But. One of the best ideas I ever heard was to put the oddball items together. By that I mean the blouse that only goes with one suit hangs with that suit and the scarf that matches one sweater stays with it. Otherwise I either forget to get it or waste time looking for it.

The other is to hang the hangers backwards. As you wear things out then back the right way. After a period of time it is obvious what you use and don't use.