Make your boring, cluttered old closet look fabulous without spending a lot of money. Do the job yourself to create a closet that is beautiful, tailored to your needs, and so useful that you’ll be happy to keep it organized. These tips can help you get your closet organized and keep it that way, while teaching you methods of organization that will help you keep it looking great.

1) Start by clearing out the clutter. Donate clothing, shoes, belts, and purses to charities that can really use them. Don’t forget to collect your receipt for a charitable tax deduction later. You may be surprised how quickly those closet cleanings can add up to a real tax break!

2) Design a closet model that will work for your belongings. If you have a lot of purses, you may want to designate a shelf designed specifically for holding all of your handbags. A simple shelf with dividers about five inches apart should give you many spaces for keeping purses separated and dust-free.

3) Shoes are a problem in most closets. The floor is not necessarily the best place for shoes. Try to use one inside wall of your closet for shoes. The back of the door is also an option if there is no room inside the closet. A simple peg rack, or dowel rack can be really inexpensive and useful for organizing a closet. Use stain and varnish to make it look like a high-end addition.

4) Find some closet accessories that not only make your closet look great, but are also useful for keeping things organized. Specialty clothes hangers, like tie hangers, scarf hangers, belt hangers, and even jewelry hangers can be used to help keep your closet in order while adding to the high-end theme that you’re going for. Choose wood hangers and matching specialty hangers to make the look uniform throughout your closet.

5) Your clothes hangers are extremely important. Once you’ve got your design down, your hooks, pegs, and shelves installed, finish the look with wood hangers. Nothing is better than an elegant wood clothes hanger. They are timeless, sturdy, and more inexpensive than you may think. Buy bulk hangers or wholesale hangers directly from the manufacturer to save a bundle. Make sure that you choose coat hangers for coats, pants hangers for pants, and other specialty hangers that will make your closet functional and beautiful at the same time. When your closet is done, you’ll be excited to keep it neat and organized every day.

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.

It’s well into winter and your coat closet is probably in need of some organization. Is your coat closet packed with heavy coats, hanging sloppily from flimsy hangers? Are the shoes, boots, gloves, hats and scarves all mixed up? A messy coat closet will not only cost you time when you’re trying to get out the door, but it can also cause your coats to get musty, wrinkled, and lose their shape.

Tailored coats, wool coats, suit coats, and other winter wear is generally shaped at the shoulder. This helps them to look nice when worn over other clothes. It covers bulk and gives you clean lines that make you look sharp. However, ordinary hangers are not meant to hold the shape of these garments. Hangers that are too slim will make shoulders pucker and hang flat. Once that shoulder shape is lost, you could never get it back.

Choosing a coat hanger that helps your coats keep their intended shape and structure can make your coats look nice for many years. A high quality coat hanger is generally curved to fit the shape of the back of your fine coats. The shoulders should be wide, but slope down so that the corners do not push out on the sleeves. There are coat hangers made for bigger coats and plus size coats. There are also ones made in petite sizes and even children’s sizes.

You can stock the rest of your coat closet with clothes hangers that save space. These are great for lighter jackets and sweaters. Your hangers should be sturdy enough to hold the weight of the garments that you put on them. They should also have good enough grips to hold onto slippery fabrics when you pull your other coats out.

Putting wet boots and shoes in the bottom of your coat closet may keep them out of site, but it can cause your coats to smell musty. That musty smell is actually mold and mildew developing in the fabrics. You should come up with a place for your boots and shoes to dry, outside of the closet. If you’re worried about moisture, mildew, mold and musty odors, you might consider wood hangers made from cedar. Cedar clothes hangers not only deodorize, but it actually absorb moisture, keeping your coats safe.

You may need bins or baskets labeled for gloves, scarves and hats in the winter. You can get separate ones for each family member to keep things separated and easy to find. Clear bins can make it easier to see what is in each container. Mesh baskets that hang inside the door are also nice. Check out some pantry organizers that attach to the door and consider them for your coat closet organization.

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.

A small closet can be a real problem if you don’t have a good arrangement. Most closets sport one long hanging bar and one long top shelf. To make matters worse, this bar is often positioned in the exact center of the closet, wasting the space in front of and behind the bar. You can rearrange the closet configuration to make it meet your needs. Stop wasting closet space and get yours organized today.

Start by evaluating your priorities when it comes to storing things. Do you really need every single thing in your closet? Not only can you most likely get rid of a lot of things, but half of the things in there probably could be stored somewhere else. Make rules and boundaries for your precious closet space so that you can make it more efficient and effective for what you really need it for.

Blankets, suitcases, pillows and other items can come out of the closet and be stored underneath beds. You can put them into large plastic containers that will protect them from dust, pests, and pets. Categorize your storage items as much as possible so that when new things show up in the bedroom, you’ll know where you should put it. This will help you keep your closet organized once it gets that way.

Now that you’ve narrowed down what you want to keep in your closet, organize it outside of the closet. Use the bed or the floor to stack up the things that you want to keep in the closet. Play around with configurations to see what you like. Do you think you could make more space if you hung all of the items that are the same length together? Hanging all of your pants together, or smaller shirts together often makes room for a second bar, drawers, or laundry basket underneath. Doing this can actually double your space.

If you install a second bar, consider moving the top bar up a little. There is usually a lot of unused space by the ceiling, so you may be able to move that shelf up higher, too. If you have longer dresses that need a high bar, install a smaller one on one side or the other of the closet so that they can hang down. You may also decide to push the bars back so that you reveal space at the front of the closet.

If you do have some room at the front, you can install shelving. Corner shelves, cubby shelves, or just book style shelving can give you tons of extra storage in a small space. Utilize boxes, bins, baskets and buckets for these little hidden spaces.

When you are done, update your clothes hangers. There are many options here. You may love the look of luxurious wood hangers. You may decide to go with hangers that save space. There are also specialty hangers, like belt hangers and tie hangers that can help you keep the closet 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.