organizing my closet - a summer project

Let's face it: I have a lot of clothes. I mean, what girl doesn't? And while I was living at home this summer, I could never find a way to organize them well. I share a room with my sister at home and therefore I only get about half a closet to put my clothes in.

When I came home for the summer, I put all of my clothes into the closet and they just did not fit. And as the summer went on I never had a lot of time to put my clothes away completely due to how much I worked. So after a while my closet started to look like this:

And it wasn't fun. I could rarely get clothes out and when I did, I threw them on the ground. I blame half of  the mess on me and the other half on how small the closet was. So I spent a whole day researching closet cleaning tips (by the way, this is my favorite blog ever and has amazing organizing tips) and shopping in Target until I found a few solutions that I am absolutely in love with.

First off, I knew I needed to tackle the clothes. So, I took everything I wanted on a hanger out of the mess that was my closet and put it on the floor so I could sort and organize it. 

I turned on a little bit of eye candy and got down to it.

To hang up the clothes, I knew I had to fit a lot of clothes in a very small space. So, I did a lot of research and decided to buy Wonder Hangers. They take the clothing and extend it downwards - which helps to fit even more clothes in your closet and worked very well for my small space. 

Once I figured out what I really had, I sorted all of my clothes by use and then by heaviness. Shirts went in first, followed by cardigans then jackets and sweatshirts. I tried to keep the clothes in an order that would easily translate into my school closet. I know I use shirts more than jackets so they went in front and jackets went in back. As clothing use changes or I notice what I use more/less, I've changed the order around. I enjoy doing it this way so that way I am not searching for something I use most.

To help keep the clutter off of the floor as well, I found a shoe rack for cheap at Target. I love the color and how it extends - perfect for someone who will be moving closets a few different times over the next few years.

So I put it in my closet and threw my shoes on it

Tossed my clothes on the rack

Made a few labels so nothing gets lost (designed them myself and everything!)

And voila! Look how much cleaner this looks! 

And the best part? I've been packing for college and it was so easy to pack up. I just grabbed the hanger and threw it in the box. No more folding/unfolding and hanging/rehanging - just keep my system and take a ton of time off of my move!

How do you keep your closet organized?