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Organize your closet with your computer

Develop your own system to easily find your outfits

By Tara Nolan

Have you ever rooted through your drawers or gone through your closet only to come across an article of clothing that you had forgotten about?

This spring, as you start to prioritize your annual cleaning to-do list, let technology come to the rescue of your clothing chaos. Simple steps can help you organize your closet’s outfits, accessories and shoes. We asked professional organizers from coast to coast for tips on how to get you on track.

Start by sorting your clothes

The first step is to empty your entire closet and sort your items into piles. “Create different boxes to give to charity, consignment stores or friends,” suggests Janis Nylund, owner of Orderly Concepts & Solutions in South Surrey, B.C.

The hardest part of this process can be deciding what to get rid of. “A good rule of thumb is to discard anything that is over two years old, has never felt right or doesn’t fit,” says Jane Woolsey, co-owner of Toronto-based ProfessionalOrganizers.com.

Create a space-conscious closet

Some minor adjustments can be made to your closet to maximize space and accommodate your wardrobe. Jane Veldhoven, owner of Get Organized! Professional Services in Halifax consults sites such as EasyClosets.com to get ideas and to tailor systems for her clients.

Suspending a second closet rod will create two tiers and increase the space for short-hang items, says Woolsey. A simple shelf may be all you need to add a little extra space. “If possible, we encourage our clients to purchase as many shelves as will fit in the closet without interfering with hanging clothes,” she adds.

Arrange your apparel

Once you’ve established your keep pile and your closet organization plan, start putting your clothes away. “The standard method of sorting is suits, pants, skirts, shirts, sweaters, etc.,” says Veldhoven. “Some people like clothes grouped by outfit if they have difficulty putting outfits together. I usually separate dressy from work clothes from casual clothes and store them in separate sections of the closet or in separate closets.”

Label containers of accessories

Keep shoes, off-season clothing and accessories such as scarves, purses and belts in stackable bins or baskets. Use a word-processing program such as Word to print labels that you can affix to your containers.

Using digital photographs is also a good way of organizing your belongings. Print photos to slide in the clear pockets on the sides of your storage bins to identify what’s inside.

Establish an outfit inventory

If you are super-organized or have an exceptionally large wardrobe, consider taking inventory and storing all your clothing information on the computer. “I use the computer so much, I feel that is the way I can find things,” says Debra Milne, Woolsey’s partner at ProfessionalOrganizers.com who has organized her entire household on her computer, including her bedroom closet.

While Milne uses a searchable, paper-organizing software program called Paper Tiger, she explains that you could use a program such as Excel to organize your wardrobe. You could open a new document and create five columns: item description, item location, keywords describing the item’s characteristics, comments about the item such as “in need of mending” and care instructions so you don’t have to keep the tags.

To find an article of clothing in your spreadsheet, press Ctrl F and, under Find what, enter a keyword. By clicking Find Next, the program will highlight every section with that keyword until you find the item you’re looking for.

Tips from the experts to keep closet clutter under control

Purchase plastic hangers in one colour and discard wire ones.
Remove empty hangers to free up space and keep them in a bin for future use.
Every time you buy something new, get rid of something old.
Use clear plastic storage bins with tight lids to keep dust and insects out.
Every time you visit your dry cleaner, bring in a supply of hangers and ask for your clothes to be returned on them.
Face all hanging items in the same direction to save space on the closet rod.