A small, disorganized closet is not only an eyesore but can also negatively impact your daily life. We all know how much time and energy can be wasted when looking for your favorite shirt or pair of jeans in a mess, not to mention the whole ordeal is bound to stress you out before you even leave the house. The good news is that you can organize your closet without breaking the bank, as there are cheap ways to organize a small closet.
Here are the nine cheapest ways to organize a small closet:
- Declutter your small closet.
- Sort and group similar items together.
- Hang some of your clothes.
- Provide a home for each item.
- Use hooks wherever possible.
- Organize your jewelry.
- Organize your accessories.
- Utilize the closet’s bottom space.
- Use the space above the closet.
In this article, I’ll walk you through the tips mentioned above in greater detail. You can cheaply organize your small closet if you have patience, creativity, and the right products. Read on to learn the cheapest ways to organize a small closet.
1. Declutter Your Small Closet
One of the cheapest ways to organize a small closet is by decluttering it. If you have a close and honest look at your closet, you’ll discover that some items are simply clutter; things you don’t need. If you remove the clutter, you’ll create additional space and make organizing your closet easier (source).
Removing clutter also makes organizing the remaining clothing items far more easy.
Therefore, you want to remove anything you consider clutter from your closet. Clutter may include:
- Things you haven’t worn in a long time.
- Torn items.
- Items that don’t fit you.
- Stained items.
Once you have decluttered your small closet, it’s best to pack and store the items neatly in your garage before you decide what to do with them. Some cheap ways of keeping the decluttered items neat include:
Using Plastic Bins With Lids
This WYT Using Plastic Box (link to Amazon) is ideal for storing decluttered items from your small closet before you decide what to do with the stuff. The reasons plastic bins with lids are suitable for storage include:
- They protect your items from moisture as they have covers.
- They are durable and thus give you value for your money.
- They are stackable and therefore don’t take up lots of storage space.
Using Cardboard Boxes
If you plan to store the decluttered items for a short period before removing them, you could use Bankers Box Classic Moving Boxes (link to Amazon). Cardboard boxes are ideal for short-term storage because:
- They are light and inexpensive.
- Easy to pack and label.
- They are stackable and thus don’t take up a lot of storage space.
It’s good to deal with the decluttered items right after packing them in cardboard boxes or plastic bins so that they stop hogging storage space in your home. So, decide what you’d like to do with the items. For instance, you could do the following:
- Sell them in a garage sale.
- Donate them to charity.
- Throw them away.
2. Sort and Group Similar Items Together
Once you have decluttered your small closet, sorting, and grouping similar items together is best. By sorting and grouping, you can see just how much clothes you have and decide how to organize the items. For instance, you can group these items seperately:
- Pants
- Tops
- Jewelry
- Accessories
- Undergarments
- Coats
- Sweaters
- Dresses
3. Hang Some of Your Clothes
After sorting and grouping similar items, hanging some of your clothes is the next logical step. Hanging clothes creates order in your tiny closet, helps the clothes remain neat, and prevents creasing. When hanging your clothes, it’s good to hang similar items together so you can easily access them (source)
When hanging the clothes, it’s essential to use some products to help you organize your small closet. The following cheap products can help you hang your clothes and organize your small closet:
Additional Hanging Bars
If your closet has a single hanging bar, it’s best to install additional hanging bars to give you extra hanging space for your clothes.
Below are some great, cheap hanging bars you can add to your small closet:
- Double rod garment rack: Simple Houseware Double-Rod Rack (link to Amazon) gives you plenty of space to hang your clothes and is thus ideal for use in a small closet. It also enables you to separate different clothing items; for instance, you can hang tops on the upper rod and pants on the lower rod.
- Closet extender rod: If you have many clothes to hang, you can purchase the Whitmor Double Rod Closet Extender (link to Amazon). You hook it to the existing hanging bar and get lots of additional hanging space for your clothes.
Use Hangers To Hang Your Items
When the hanging rods are in place, you can use hangers to hang your items. Luckily, there’s no shortage of cheap, high-quality hangers on the market.
Some of the hangers you could purchase include:
- Tiered hangers: You can use these BadiJum Pants Hangers Organizer (link to Amazon) to save space and organize your small closet. These cheap hangers have tiers, and each can accommodate multiple skirts or pants.
- Cascading hangers: These hangers are perfect for saving space in a small closet, as one hanger can hold multiple garments. Fifata Space Saving Clothes Hangers (link to Amazon) are usually strong, and you can use them to hang light coats, sweaters, or any other clothing items.
4. Provide a Home for Each Item
Instead of placing assorted items on one shelf, providing a home for each item is better. It means storing similar items in one place, and whenever you pick an item from its home, you return it to the same place after use. Doing so keeps your small closet organized and makes your life easy.
Below are a few cheap ways of organizing different items in your small closet.
- Drawer organizers: You can organize your messiest, small items using Whitmor Honeycomb Drawer Organizer (link to Amazon). Some items you can arrange using drawer organizers include bras, underwear, socks, and handkerchiefs. Just purchase some drawer organizers, place them in the drawers, and organize your small items.
- Stackable baskets: You could also use the Phyllia 4-Pack Closet Basket Shelf (link to Amazon) to organize small clothing items in your small closet. Place the baskets on the closet’s shelves and put similar items in each basket. Doing so makes it easy to access each article.
- Shelf dividers: You can also use shelf dividers to organize your small closet. When you slide the dividers into the shelves, they help you separate and manage large items. In your small closet, you can use shelf dividers to organize blankets, linen, towels, pants, etc.
5. Use Hooks Wherever Possible
Using hooks is one of the cheapest ways of organizing your small closet because you can fix hooks in any free space in your closet. You can, for instance, put hooks behind the closet doors and any free space on the closet walls. Hooks are versatile, and you can use them to hang practically anything.
Below are some cheap but great hooks you can use to help you organize your closet:
Single hooks: Franklin Brass Wall Hooks (link to Amazon) are the kinds of hooks you can fix on any free space in your small closet. They are usually easy to install, and you can use them to hang towels, scarves, ties, and even jewelry.
A rack of hooks: If the space allows, you can put a whole Udenis Over Door Hanger (link to Amazon) to make your closet look neat. For instance, you can fix such hooks behind the closet door and use them to hang purses, coats, or scarves.
6. Organize Your Jewelry
When organizing your small closet, you should not overlook organizing your jewelry. There are numerous advantages of organizing jewelry in your small closet. Some of the benefits of organizing jewelry include:
- You can easily find the pieces you’d like to wear at any time.
- Keeping your jewelry organized in your closet also protects the jewelry.
- You can keep track of the jewelry you have.
- It provides peace of mind; when jewelry is in chaos in a small closet, it can become an eyesore and cause stress.
How To Organize Jewelry in a Small Closet
There are several approaches that can help you organize jewelry in your small closet. Here’s how you can go about it:
1. Put all your jewelry together and look at what you have.
2. Place jewelry into categories, such as all bracelets together and all earrings together.
3. Decide how you’d like to organize them, depending on the space available in your small closet.
Cheapest Ways of Organizing Jewelry in a Small Closet
There are several cheap ways of organizing jewelry in your small closet. Some of the methods include:
- Storing jewelry in closet drawers: One great way of storing jewelry in closet drawers is using an Oyydecor Stackable Jewelry Trays (link to Amazon). Once you place the stackable organizer in your closet drawer, you can store different types of jewelry. You could stack the trays on top of each other, thus enabling you to keep as many pieces of jewelry as you wish.
- Hanging jewelry in the closet: You can also hang your jewelry in the closet; one of the best places to hang jewelry is behind closet doors. You can hang jewelry using BAGSMART Hanging Jewelry Organizer (link to Amazon). This organizer is inexpensive, easy to use, and can hold a lot of jewelry.
7. Organize Your Accessories
Keeping accessories organized, especially in a small closet, can be challenging. Different accessories can scatter all over the closet, making it difficult to find what you want to wear. Luckily, you can use cheap products to organize your outfit add-ons, making them neat and easy to find.
Below are cheap products you can use to organize your jewelry:
- Over-the-door sunglasses organizer: It’s best to use a Triumph Vision Hanging Sunglass Organizer (link to Amazon) to store and organize your sunglasses in your small closet. The organizer is easy to use; you hang it behind the door or wall of the closet and then place all of your sunglasses neatly.
- Over-the-Door Accessory Organizer: An Evelots Rubber Coated Hooks (link to Amazon) is great for organizing accessories such as belts, scarves, and ties in your small closet. You can mount the organizer on the wall or door of the closet and hang your accessories.
8. Utilize the Closet’s Bottom Space
After hanging your clothes, there might be dead space at the bottom of the closet. You can create extra storage space by utilizing the unused space at the bottom of the closet.
There are several approaches you can take to utilize the dead space under the closet, as explained below:
- Put under-the-shelf baskets: Eleattrun Undershelf Storage Basket (link to Amazon) are handy for storing and organizing your small closet. The baskets are easy to install as they slide easily under the closet’s bottom shelf and create extra storage space instantly. Depending on the size of the baskets, you can fold and store towels, pants, and other items in them.
- Consider a shoe organizer: You can also consider placing a Sorbus Shoe Organizer Bin (link to Amazon) in the dead space under your closet. You can then store your favorite pairs of shoes in the shoe organizer. Doing so helps you maximize the storage space in your closet while keeping the space neat and organized.
9. Make Use of the Space Above the Closet
Sometimes, the top space above the closet is left unused because it’s too high to reach and therefore impractical to store items you use frequently. However, you can use the space above your small closet by storing items you use occasionally. For instance, you can store suitcases in this space.
In addition, you can stash some of your seasonal items in the suitcases. Some things you can store inside the suitcases include:
- Smaller bags
- Blankets
- Coats
Stashing items that you occasionally use in suitcases and storing the suitcases in the space above the closet helps you to organize your small closet and maximize the (limited) space.
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