Do you want to take closet organization one step further and make your storage space more environmentally friendly? You may think that you’ll have to pay more for some of the eco-friendly finishes and alternatives, but you could be wrong. It may take a little shopping around to find a custom closet company that offers the sustainable materials that you want at the price that you like, but they are out there. Some of the items you can simply buy yourself and use them however you want. This is a guide to help you determine how green you can go when building or installing an eco-friendly closet system.

1) When you get your closet emptied out and gutted, you may want to paint it. Paints that are commonly used are filled with chemicals that can be damaging to our health. These chemicals are volatile and exist as a gas that is emitted from the walls. The chemicals that you want to avoid are referred to as volatile organic compounds, or “VOCs”. You should be able to find low VOC or VOC free paints at your local hardware store. Do your research before you go to determine which brands perform best. Some all natural paints still have high VOCs and some low VOC or VOC free paints can take a really long time to dry or they are not to be used in damp areas, like bathrooms and kitchens.

2) Consider taking up the flooring at this time. You will need to wear a good half-mask respirator to avoid risk of exposure to toxic chemical emissions and old dust. Then you can consider which type of flooring meets your needs and has the least impact on your air quality and the environment. Options include bamboo, natural fiber or recycled carpet, linoleum flooring (not vinyl), rubber flooring or cork flooring. All have their good points, it’s more about personal taste and how much you’ve budgeted for.

3) Now your focus is on green building materials. If possible, reuse products that are already built. Sometimes it can be cheaper and easier on the environment if you can install existing shelves and reuse dresser drawers to build your closet system. Salvaging fixtures, lumber, and hardware is cheaper and uses less energy than using recycled products. If you use new wood, look for the FSC stamp. This stamp is from the Forest Stewardship Council and certifies that the wood comes from well managed forests and if it is particle board, ensures that no formaldehyde binders were used in processing. Another option is to use sustainable resource materials, like bamboo. Bamboo is the fastest growing plant on Earth and supports economies all over the world.

4) When you’re finished, outfit your closet with eco-friendly hangers, like bamboo clothes hangers or other hangers made of recycled materials. With a tensile strength similar to steel, bamboo makes a nice and sturdy wood hanger that is strong enough to be used as a coat hanger, supporting tremendous weight, while adding style and functionality to your closet.

About the Author: Charlie Hafter is on the staff of Closet Hanger Factory, a leading online resource for clothes hangers. Get all of the closet and clothes hanger accessories you could need at http://www.closethangerfactory.com, which is recognized worldwide for their excellent quality hangers.

Keeping organized once you get that way can be terribly frustrating! It takes a lot of time, effort, and schedule adjustments to get things organized. Nothing is more infuriating that getting it done and then seeing it almost immediately back how it was; cluttered and disastrous. Use these tips for tackling problem areas and implementing habits that will help you stay organized all year.

1) Getting it done right the first time is important. If you’ve somehow found the time to tackle an area, then you’re not likely to do it again anytime soon. Therefore, make sure that you do it right. Don’t focus so much on getting it done quickly as getting it done correctly. Dumping everything into a box that you’ll “go through later” is only masking the problem.

2) Find a specific place for things. If you think about it, you can categorize everything in your home. For most people, it becomes difficult when it’s time to organize random items, like the kids’ school work, old photos, knick knacks, souvenirs, and even sentimental clothing. If you actually make a list of what you own and divide it into categories, this category would probably be called “miscellaneous”. Ban the miscellaneous category from your life and you’ll begin to see things in an organized manner.

3) Miscellaneous just means that you haven’t thought about it or made an effort to compartmentalize these items. That’s why they build up and cause problems. They’re like the virus of your organized home, taking hold wherever you let them touch. Some things may seem like junk, but they are actually very precious to you. Take the kids’ school and artwork, for example. This is something that would be great to keep, so you make a stack. Eventually the stack has to be thrown away because it’s just mixed up with a lot of other junk. Fix this one problem by making a specific place for all of the kids’ work to go. A portfolio for each child will fix the problem. When you’re looking through their work and see something you want to keep, toss it in the portfolio. If it’s filed, it’s not junk, but the keepsake that you had hoped it would be. Make the file easy to access so that you actually use it.

4) Think conservatively. Only you can set boundaries for yourself. If your house is really full, then you’ve allowed yourself to own more than you need. Clothes can become a big problem because we’re constantly updating our style, size, or simply adding to what we own. Get your closets in order using special clothes hangers, like wood hangers, to keep them nice and neat. Get rid of something every time you bring something in and it will stay organized.

About the Author: Charlie Hafter is on the staff of Closet Hanger Factory, a leading online resource for clothes hangers. Get all of the closet and clothes hanger accessories you could need at http://www.closethangerfactory.com, which is recognized worldwide for their excellent quality hangers.

Creating a closet all by yourself is so fun and also a rewarding experience. Exercise your unique views and creative side by diving into a fun, DIY closet project. Cookie-cutter closet systems are often a waste because they don’t accommodate exactly what you need and end up wasting space, instead of saving space, in your closet. You are much better off either creating your own system or buying a modular system that helps you to make the most of the space you have. Use these guidelines to learn how to best determine what space you’ll need and which items can save you the most time, space and money.

1) Take an inventory of what you have, getting rid of whatever you can as you go through each thing. Experiment with categories of clothing, arrangements by length, color, use, or whatever you can think of that makes sense to you. The most common way to organize a closet is to put the things that you use most often in the front and center of the closet. Everything else will go around that central area getting further and further away as its frequency of use declines. You will need to decide what is most likely going to be effective for you and your habits.

2) Next you can play around with whether your clothing will take up less room hung or folded. Some things don’t necessarily need to be hung, like pajamas, for instance, but you may find that they take up less space when hung on hangers. You may be able to adjust the height of your hanging bar and add an additional bar near the floor, just high enough for your pants to hang. Play around a bit, taking measurements of folded stacks and calculating hanging bar space. You may want to consider clothes hangers that cascade from each other, making 2, 3, 4, or 5 items take up the space of one. This trick can save you a lot of space in the closet.

3) After you determine what is to be hung and what you want to be folded or kept in a container or drawer, start thinking about what types of storage would be most useful or efficient. If you use clear containers, you will be able to easily see what is inside. This will often times mean that you can use slimmer, deeper, or taller containers instead of bulky, shallow ones that take up too much space. Keeping shoes in plastic stackable bins allows you to free up closet floor space by stacking shoes up one corner of the closet. This space can be used for a laundry basket, out of season clothing storage, or whatever you need.

Work with your closet containers, shelving, hangers, and spaces to create a custom closet that is perfectly suited to you.

About the Author: Charlie Hafter is on the staff of Closet Hanger Factory, a leading online resource for clothes hangers. Get all of the closet and clothes hanger accessories you could need at http://www.closethangerfactory.com, which is recognized worldwide for their excellent quality hangers.