It’s the new year and a new start!

January is National Get Organized Month!

Established in 2005 by the National Association of Professional Organizers to help people get a fresh beginning on a new year by getting organized!

Getting organized doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Try setting aside just 10 minutes a day to concentrate on organizing ONE area- a drawer, a portion or your closet, your jewelry box, etc.

By the end of January you will be amazed at all that you’ve done.

Streamlining your closets can feel like a whole fresh start—seriously it’s shocking how good it feels to organize and downsize, plus it makes room for fabulous new finds!

Here are a few tips to get you started:

• Designate a staging area and empty your closet or drawers out. You can use your bed or a cleared-out corner of the room. This important first step requires you to remove everything: clothes, hangers, boxes, folded blankets, piles of old magazines, candy wrappers…lol. This will create a clean slate for you to get organized.
• Now that it’s empty “clean” the closet.  Wipe the shelves down, vacuum, sweep and touch-up paint!
• Organize your things the way you use it. Group clothes and accessories by purpose based on your lifestyle. For example: store your fancy pieces and going-out clothes in one area and your casual-chic pieces in another.
• Arrange by color.  This helps when making quick selects!  Where is that black top I wanted to wear?  Oh it’s in the back blouse section!
• Declutter- Remove unwanted space filling items. This part is difficult.  You may need a friends help to decide what to toss what to donate and what to keep.  Donate pieces you don’t wear- or that don’t fit.  Toss pieces that have non-repairable rips or stains. Do you really need 12 black dresses that look exactly the same?  Donate a few.
• Store your most-used items at eye level, less-used items below, and least-used items up high.
• Use coordinated hangers for a clean look that will care for your clothes and help you stay organized.  I prefer Velvet hangers because you get less “hanger marks” and clothing won’t slip off of them.
• Store Seasonally- I move summer clothing to back during Fall and then in the Spring back to the front row.
• Keep shoes and handbags in dust bags and store pointy toes shoes with a bit of tissue paper in the toes to keep their shape.
• Make it Fancy.  Your closet should be a happy place not a sad one.  Add a decorative rug, a fun step stool, some art work even a chandelier if you have the room!
• “Just Say No” to over stuffing your closet with Fast-Food-Fashion (cheap, poorly made pieces that you buy simply because they are cheap or on sale which may not even fit and you will most likely never wear- or wear one time and they fall apart).

Bonus tip: Mark your calendar to donate the clothing you’re not wearing regularly. If you haven’t worn something in a year, give it away. Instant closet-booster!

Here’s to a Happy, Prosperous and Organized year ahead!

Click to SHOP some of my Favorite Get Organized Helpers: