How to Declutter Your Closets

When you live in a small space with limited storage (like an apartment), clutter tends to accumulate quickly, especially in closet spaces. Solving the problem of how to declutter your closets is simple: you need to tackle the problem step by step.

Step 1: Take Everything Out

Go around to each closet and empty its contents. You can do this room by room or take all items from each closet and make one big pile. From there, make three separate piles:

1. Stuff you’ll keep
2. Stuff that’s trash
3. Stuff to sell/donate

If you’re going to declutter, you might as well be thorough in the process. Take a look at each item from your closet individually, and decide in which pile it belongs.

Step 2: Keep Your Mind on the Mission

If you find your “keep” pile growing excessively larger than the other two piles, you need to ask yourself if you’re being objective in your decluttering. Chances are you’re holding onto items you only think you need to keep, but rarely use. Your objective is to free your closets of clutter. If you think you can still accomplish that mission by hanging onto everything in the “keep” pile, proceed in the process. If you are going to struggle finding a place for those items, go through the pile again for a second round of sorting. 

Step 3: Use Tools to Create an Organized Closet

Aside from willpower, your greatest weapon against closet clutter is a closet organizer. The best part is you can find them at many different price points. Stores like Bed, Bath and Beyond and Target sell collapsible cotton canvas hanging organizers for about $30 that are great for organizing clothing in bedroom closets. For your hall closet or closets in other areas of the apartment, use a couple of stackable cubes as a way to compartmentalize your belongings. No installation is required for either of these kinds of organizers, and you can easily take them with you when you eventually move.

Step 4: Find a Place for Everything

Now that you’ve taken everything out and sorted it (keeping only one pile of the three), it’s time to put everything away. Organize your belongings in a sensible manner. For instance, the box of keepsakes you seldom take out should be stored in the corner of the closet and out of the way of the things you use regularly, like the spare blanket you keep to curl up with on the sofa or your umbrella in the hallway closet. As you put things away, everything should have its place. Don’t allow items to be tossed haphazardly into your closets. If you do, you’re simply inviting clutter to accumulate again.

Look at cleaning and decluttering you closets as an opportunity, not a painful chore. Not only will you free your apartment of unused and unwanted items and gain precious space in the process, you could potentially make a few extra bucks by either consigning the items, selling them on eBay or holding a small garage sale. It’s a win-win situation.

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Rachael Weiner: I’m a communications professional for a non-profit, which financially necessitates my status as an apartment dweller. Constantly “on-the-go,” I’ve resided in five different apartments across the United States over the past five years. Roommate issues, budgeting, organizing and handling problem neighbors are my specialty.