Five Ways to Keep Your Closets Tidy

It's Monday morning and you wake up to the buzzing of an alarm clock. After slapping at it a few times, you finally hit the 'off' button and drag yourself out of bed. You jump out of bed and walk over to your closet to pick out your clothes for the day, and - "gasp!" - it's an absolute disaster! Who could find anything in there?

Instead of getting your feathers ruffled, set aside a couple of hours that evening to clean your closets. You'll feel much better afterwards.

Start by pulling everything out of the closet or space you need to organize and sorting it. When you're done with that, here are a few tips for getting that disorganized closet into ship-shape.

1) When in doubt, throw it out!

I know... you really treasure that porcelain kitten statuette that your girlfriend gave you in second grade. Guess what? You'll probably never use that in any home for any purpose, so keeping it really is trivial. Throw it away!

Keeping a clean house and an organized closet is about reducing clutter above all else, so the most logical first step is to get rid of things you'll never use.

Don't assume that if you shove that porcelain kitty into the bottom of a box that it's okay to leave it there. It's not.

Other items to throw away:
- Outdated home décor
- Things from ex's or people you don't really know
- Other 'sentimental' items that you never think about unless you're cleaning out your closet (ask yourself: "When's the last time that I looked for this and couldn't find it?")
- Clothing that doesn't fit or is damaged
- Empty boxes (seriously!)
- Anything else you can manage to part with

An even better idea is to take the items that you've discarded while cleaning out your filthy closet and donating them to a local church, charity, or consignment shop. These donations are usually tax deductible and it serves the community as well as the environment.

2) Ditch the cardboard boxes; say 'hi' to plastic tubs.

They're free, they're convenient, and they're everywhere. Cardboard boxes are a household organizing staple, and they're cluttering closets everywhere. Lose them.