How to organise your clothes drawers?
Achieving a beautifully organised clothes drawer is a straightforward task that anyone can do, and doesn’t cost you a thing to achieve.
If you’re thinking ‘why do I even need to have an organised clothes drawer?’, then here are 3 reasons why it can help:
- You’ll feel more relaxed and confident every time you open your drawers to get dressed
- You’ll make the most of every item of clothing you own
- You’ll save money because your clothes will last longer and you’ll use all of them more
My name is Edward, I am part of the Ella Dash team and I am an organisational super-freak. I know exactly how to organise things so I get the best result with the least amount of effort.
In this Ella Dash expert guide, I will talk you through everything you need to know to create the ultimate organised clothes drawer.
I will share all my insider tips, so you know literally everything about organising your clothes drawers.
Everything should have its place
Ok, let’s start with some simple logic. The secret to being super-organised is that everything you own should have its own space.
Now, this concept can be a bit daunting, when you think about everything you own however just focus on your clothes drawers for now.
Take a step back from your clothes drawers and look at all the space you have available. Start to mentally place things in each drawer.
Do this for a moment and then stop. Don’t worry if you haven’t got everything sorted in your head just yet. Simply starting to think like this, right now, will help.
Take everything out of your current drawers
Next thing you need to do is remove all items from you current drawers.
You need to start afresh with a clean slate. So you need everything out that’s currently in there.
If you’re lucky enough to have just bought new clothes drawers then you’re all set.
Empty clothes drawers, ready to be organised
Group by category
Right, so now you have everything out of your clothes drawers, you want to start grouping items together by category.
Think simplistically here, start by separating tops from bottoms, and socks from underwear etc; and then later start to group the bottoms, for example, into smaller categories.
Here is a full breakdown of how I organise my clothes drawers, for an example:
TOP DRAWER:
- Boxers
- Socks (everyday socks, running socks)
- Ties
MIDDLE DRAWER:
- Shirts (work shirts, non-work shirts)
- T shirts (everyday t shirts, running t shirts, pyjama t shirts)
BOTTOM DRAWER:
- Trousers (jeans, work trousers, jogging bottoms, combat trousers)
- Tops (hoodies, jumpers, tracksuit tops)
What not to store, e.g. shoes
It’s also important to think about what not to store in your clothes drawers.
If you’re anything like me then space in the home is at a premium so you don’t want to store non-clothes items in your clothes drawers.
The biggest culprit of being incorrectly placed in the clothes drawer are shoes. Whatever you do, do not be tempted to put your footwear in your clothes drawers. Find another place for them!
Other things to be mindful of then should not be in your clothes drawers are accessories (like jewellery and watches) and your coats. Both these items need their own storage area, away from your clothes drawers.
You choose the right solution for you, don't let anyone tell you different
You are the one that will be using your clothes drawers everyday and you are the one who decides how it is organised.
Everyone has their own unique way of organising things and it’s not fair for other people to pass comments on how you organise your clothes drawers.
There is literally no, single correct way to organise your clothes drawers. So go with your instinct and group things together exactly as you see fit.
Folding stuff, keep it uniform
Hopefully, by now you should have an empty set of clothes drawers and a good idea of where you want everything to go.
The next step is to start folding your clothes and placing them lovingly into your drawers.
Now, you might very well have heard of a method of folding clothes where you stack them vertically in your drawers, to maximise space. A lot of people refer to this as the KonMari method.
I can confirm that I have tried this method and it really doesn’t work. It looks great when you first do it and you have all your T shirts vertically stacked, for example. However, as soon as you only have half your T shirts left, then the vertical stacking method means everything just falls down.
The secret to folding your clothes is to simply make sure that everything is folded the same way. However you decide you like your clothes folded, just make sure you always keep to the same method. That way, everything looks uniform and tidy.
If you’re lucky enough to ever have someone else fold and put away your clothes ( a partner or parent, for example) and they fold things differently to you. Just let them fold the way they want, and you just keep your method.
Organisational containers
Is it a good idea to out your clothes into organisational containers within your actual drawers?
Clothes put into organisational containers
Well, in my opinion, I think they are a great idea for smaller items like socks or underwear. Keeping these smaller items in an organisational container is a great way to keep things tidy and organised.
For larger items, like trousers or tops, I would say organisational containers are not required. They won’t make you larger items any more organised and they will actually take up valuable space.
Rotate based on seasonality
If you live in a country where the weather can change dramatically between the summer and winter months, then you’ll have a wardrobe for winter and a wardrobe for summer.
If this is the case, don’t forget to replace your clothes inside your drawers with the changing of the seasons. The great thing about have an organised clothes drawer is that it makes swapping your clothes around really easy.
Keep the space on top of your drawers clear
Last but not least, make sure that the top of the clothes drawers is always clear.
There is nothing more frustrating than seeing beautifully organised clothes drawers with a big pile of mess above on top of the drawers.
Organised clothes drawers with zero clutter on top