Cleaning:
- If my closet had any available floor space, I'd vacuum it regularly like the rest of the house. As it is, I remove the baskets on the floor every few months, vacuum, and then put them back.
Organization:
- I used to keep my shoes in their boxes, but that became annoying when I realized I was wasting shelf space. Also, I didn't like dealing with the lids of the boxes. Thusly, I purchased an over-the-door shoe organizer, a cheap canvas affair with twenty pockets. I use one pocket per shoe except for flats (which can fit into a single pocket), and I still have extra pockets. My work boots and one pair of tall boots won't fit, but it's nevertheless a highly beneficial arrangement. Unlike many women, I don't keep many pairs of shoes on hand, but if you do, you can almost definitely get rid of most of them and save yourself a lot of grief.
- I don't keep my slippers in the shoe rack; I instead keep them on the bedroom floor so I can easily change from shoes to slippers upon leaving/arriving at home.
- I sort my closet according to type of clothing, and within that, according to color. On the far left side (harder to reach), I keep jackets and nightgowns not in use. Working to the right, I keep skirts, pants, jeans, shirts, and (on the far right, also harder to reach) dresses. I only wear a few colors—white, red, blue, green, and black—so, within their respective categories, I sort clothes in that order, with the front facing left. It's easy enough to hang things up in order, and it makes clothes super easy to find.
- My closet is tiny, so I use a closet in another room to store out of season clothes, which I sort the same way.
- On the top shelf of my closet, I keep a couple of baskets. One holds purses and out of season hats/shawls. I also keep a couple of shoe boxes up there; they hold boots that don't fit in my over-the-door shoe organizer. I also keep a wicker basket with my old stuffed animals in it.
- On the floor of my closet, I keep more baskets and tools. The less frequently (but still occasionally) used tools go in a basket on the far left corner of the closet floor. Next to that is a cedar trunk housing rarely used items I don't want to get rid of, such as high school yearbooks and my show shirts from work. On top of the trunk is basket for all my bras and underwear. I keep these in matching sets sorted by color, and each set goes in a plastic bag. Then, next to that, I have a basket with all my socks. Finally, I keep a basket for my stockings in the far right corner. Since I have several different styles of stockings which can nevertheless be quite difficult to tell apart when they're all folded up, I keep each set in a labeled plastic bag.
- I regularly go through my closet and weed out the clothes I've outgrown, never wear, or have stains or holes. These all go to Goodwill. I do the same with socks and underwear that are wearing thin, though socks may be reused as dust rags or as part of an art project.
