Why Your Closets Need To Be In Order

But it wasn’t what they thought it was.

What they were really looking for was time and peace. They were frustrated with the clutter and lack of organization. What they knew intrinsically, they couldn’t always articulate. “I am not at peace. I waste a lot of time looking for clean underwear and colored pencils and those cleaning supplies I know I bought last month. This makes me frustrated and crabby. And often late. And when I see that messiness, it clutters up my mind. Please fix it.”

What they wanted was the gift of peace that comes from a home base that is in order.

The closets I sold were beautiful, high quality, and functional. I believed in them. I would measure and design, then the installers would come along a couple of weeks later and the client was happy.

I think.

Unless they didn’t take the time to get rid of the things they were hanging onto (like those cowboy boots?), and tried to cram it all in believing that a beautiful closet system would somehow magically solve their clutter dilemma. It won’t. No matter how much you spend on shelves and dividers and bins, unless you remove the excess and maintain the order, you’ll still have clutter.

The purpose of all the organizational “things” is to make what you use accessible and visible. If you’re still stashing, your problem isn’t solved. Closet systems are not a magical product. You still have to do the work. The magic is in the gift of time and peace afterward. Fortunately, the work is simple: pick up after yourself, put things away, and get rid of what you don’t need.

Well. Maybe not so simple for all of us.

Which is where developing new habits and giving yourself- or others- grace comes in. And realizing that real life is never photo shoot ready. What you see in the magazines is no ones day to day reality. Day to day reality is your kids sports equipment and your photography stuff, your piles of library books and laundry, the shoes you trip over on the way out the door. It’s the life you are in and the one you are to enjoy.

Nonetheless, I still love a really good closet.

Because it helps. It does make daily life simpler.

So, back in the days of my closet design, armed with my employee discount, I very excitedly had closet systems installed in my own pretty little condo, and all was well. I could get ready for the day quickly and efficiently and without frustration. I had plenty of space and not that much stuff.

But fast forward a few years and I was married with two babies in a small house with a lot of stuff. And plain old rod and shelf closets. Which can be just fine, but I knew from experience how much better the good stuff works. When I eventually got around to looking at closet design in this house, knowing it would be a DIY project, I went to the big box stores to search out options. There were options, but they were not simple. It would involve a lot of cutting, and would not in the end be the same solid product I was used to. So I searched online and found a great product. The pricing was reasonable and the product appeared to be comparable to the high-quality stuff. And the installation looked manageable. For my husband. So I ordered. Five stars on all the above. I was very happy with it, and hooked.

And then we moved, and I had to leave those closets behind, and only hope the new owner would appreciate them as much as I did.

But the new house, with it’s fireplace and all it’s space, had all wire shelving. I get a little ornery when I see new construction selling wire shelving as a good thing- an upgrade from a standard rod and shelf. It’s not. I don’t often talk about things I really don’t like, but I really don’t like wire shelving. Just because it’s bright and clean looking does not mean it functions well. Anything with an edge will trip over the wires of the shelves and the hanging part is always separated by a support somewhere around 10 inches, so when you slide hangers across, you will hit a roadblock and have a traffic jam, and possibly, actually very likely, pinch your finger. So unless you are a commercial kitchen and code tells you to use wire for ventilation, stay away from it.

So the wire had to go and it was the online company to the rescue. At least for the two girls rooms because they didn’t have any furniture to store clothes in because they shared a small room in the last house and had a great closet system for everything they needed.

Down the road, the next project would be the “supposed to be hall coat closet that instead gets stuffed with cleaning supplies and household supplies and table cloths and while you dig usually a pack of paper towels falls on your head because it’s stashed up high on the shelf in front of those table cloths, which also eventually fall on your head” project.

This household maintenance center was not serving us well. The temporary solution was a bin wedged into some acrylic display shelving I found at a department store liquidation. It helped, but it still was awkward and not easy to maintain. So back to the online company, but now we have gymnastics and dance tuition competing with our closet funds and needed to figure out something even more cost effective.

There are options out there and you don’t have to spend a fortune. I found something for half the cost of the high end stuff. It was not as simple to install, and the quality is not the same, but it doesn’t always have to be. Getting the closet done forced me to pull out what I really wanted and needed, and get rid of the rest. It gave me an easy to use household home base.

Getting your closets in order- in whatever budget range you are in- matters because behind those doors are stored the things you need and use daily, whether it’s clothes or household supplies or food. Having it all visible, and easily accessible makes life just a little easier and a little more pleasant. Instead of them being a source of frustration, let them serve you.