Street Peeper Zimbabwe Street Peeper April 2018 | Page 41

If your closet is notoriously small, you
might find yourself wondering how to pack
clothes and other items into that tiny space
without turning the whole thing into a clut-
tered mess waiting to spill out as soon as
the door opens. Organizing any closet starts
by weeding through your belongings – but
for small closets, you'll also want to make
use of creative storage options to maximize
the amount of usable space.
ward the front during winter and sandals
toward the front during summer. Install
hooks above the door. If you have empty
space inside the closet, just above the door,
you can install hooks or pegs there and use
the area to store suitcases or other hang
able items you use infrequently.
Place additional storage on the door it-
self. As long as there is space for it on the
inside of the door, you can add hooks or
Part2
bins to the inside of the door for extra stor-
age space. You can use this space to hang
Organizing the Contents
small, flat objects like scarves, hats, or
Add adjustable shelves. Adding shelf space gloves "Catch all" baskets also work well
to your closet allows you to stack items
when attached to the inside door. You can
more effectively, thereby letting you make place small items like handbags or scarves
use of the vertical space in your closest as
inside these baskets. When all else fails, you
well as the horizontal space. You can use
can at least add a hook to the back of the
fixed shelves if you so desire, but adjustable door. This hook can be used to store your
shelves offer the added benefit of being
everyday purse, your pyjamas, your robe,
easily altered if and when your needs
or your outfit for the following day.
change.
Use wicker baskets and small plastic bins
or drawers. You can store smaller items in
small containers like these and rest them
on the shelves in your closest. Doing this
makes it easier to access your items as you
need them while also getting the most out
of the space. If using wicker, opt for a linen
or canvas lined basket, especially if storing
items made from cloth. The lining should
prevent your items from getting snagged or
ripped.
Clear bins are especially helpful because
they allow you to see your items, making it
easier to recall what is contained in each
bin. If you end up using bins or storage
containers that do not have see-through
sides, you should label those containers so
that you can remember what each one
holds.
Put a shoe rack in your closet. If you keep
your shoes in your closet, keep them organ-
ized with a shoe rack that either sits on the
floor or hangs from the closet rod. This will
make better use of your space and help you
keep your shoes more organized. You can
use an actual shoe caddy, or you can buy
stackable plastic shoe boxes. No matter
what you use, the idea is to organize your
shoes into pairs while minimizing the
amount of space you use to do this.
As with everything else, rotate your shoes
according to the season. Bring boots to-
Consider adding more rod space inside the
closet. Installing a second rod halfway in
between the floor and the original rod in
your closet can allow you to make use of
any empty space not taken up by a storage
bin or other hanging clothes. Mount a peg-
board on one wall. A pegboard can be used
to hang jewellery, sunglasses, or other ac-
cessories. Since these items are all fairly
flat, you can store them on one of the side
walls in your closet without taking up too
much valuable or usable space.
Hang bags up. If you do not have much
space for bins or other stackable storage
containers, you could hang bags up and use
those for storage purposes instead. Keep
the contents of each bag unique and sepa-
rate from the other bags. For instance, keep
your underwear in one bag, your socks in
another, hair accessories in another, and so
on.
Part3
Arranging Items Compactly
Use space bags. Space bags (also known as
vacuum bags) allow you to organize clothes
for long-term storage while minimizing the
amount of empty air space those clothes
take up. Place the folded clothes inside the
space bag and use a vacuum hose to suck all
the air out of the bag, leaving it as flat as
possible. Most of these bags work with your
own home vacuum cleaner, so there is no
need to go out and buy a special machine.
Another advantage offered by space bags is
that they protect your clothes from mold,
mildew, and insect infestations. This option
is especially good for seasonal clothing,
winter coats, blankets, and pillows. When
you remove the items from storage, they
should "fluff up" to their original thickness.
Replace your old hangers with tiered
ones. Tiered hangers are essentially hang-
ers with multiple hanging rods on them.
They allow you to store more than one shirt
or pair of pants on each hanger. As a result,
you can use more empty vertical space in
your closet. For added convenience, use
hangers with grips or a cloth lining to pre-
vent your clothing from sliding off. Create
DIY tiered hangers, if necessary. You can
place soda can tabs over the hanger hook
and attach additional hooks through the
second slot on the tab. Alternatively, you
could also hang a heavy chain from the
closet rod and insert the hook of each
hanger through a link in the chain.
Choose a sorting system. For the sake of
easy retrieval, you should organize your
clothing by color and type. Organize the
rest of the items in your closet by whatever
sorting system seems the most reason-
able. Divide your clothes into as many dif-
ferent types as possible. Separate sweaters
from sweatshirts, pants from skirts, and
casual shirts from dressy shirts. Further
divide your organization into colour or
material.
Keep items you use frequently at eye
level. Clothes and other items you plan to
use most often should be front and center
in your closet, while items you have less
use for can be placed up high or on the
floor. Rotate these items as necessary. If,
for instance, you store both long-sleeve and
short-sleeve shirts in your closet, place the
short-sleeve shirts up front during the
warmer months but hide them away up
high during the cooler months, when your
long-sleeve shirts should shine.
Take a step up. Do not forget about the
space you have above your head. Even if
you cannot readily access this space, you
should grab a stepladder or stool and stack
items you do not frequently use in that
spot.