Decluttered your wardrobe, magically enlarged your bedroom with our tips, but still supremely pressed for space? I feel you, girl. Spring cleaning is all well and good, but it’s tough to get started on your wardrobe if you can’t open your closet without being scared of being crushed by a mountain of jumpers and clothes hangers. If you’re struggling for space, try these easy, no-DIY-required closet space hacks.
Boost storage space in your wardrobe
You can probably divide your closet into three zones: the middle (where your rail is), the bottom (where piles of shoes go to die) and the top shelf (if you’re lucky to have one). For easy-to-reach convenience, your most-used items should be on the rail while your least-used ones should be on top. Then help your closet reach its maximum potential with small, life-improving storage tricks: clothes dividers like this one separate the top shelf so you can stack piles of jumpers without worrying they’ll topple into each other. Meanwhile, maximise the floor space in your closet with tiered shelvesand stackable boxes. No elbow grease required.
Figure out what you actually wear; store appropriately
Are you actually going to wear the black floor-length Morticia Adams gown you bought for Halloween? Are you actually going to wear any of your ten billion floral crowns at any time other than a music festival? And now that it’s getting warmer, do you honestly need to keep your fur coat in your wardrobe?
Store special occasion dresses, accessories and cold weather clothes, preferably in boxes on top of your wardrobe or under the bed (you can use bed risers to increase the amount of space). Or try the ‘hipster storage container of choice’ – a stack of vintage suitcases, which is pretty enough to use as a side table. Bonus!
Use overdoor hooks and shelves
These babies are the upgraded version of command hooks (which we’ve waxed lyrical about before). There are millions of variations – for coats, handbags, even shoes– and they can be hung over both closet and room doors. Before you buy, measure the dimensions of your door to make sure they’re compatible with the rail. I like the look of this one, which adds a separate clothes rail onto the back of your door.
Choose the right hangers for the right clothes
Fold knitwear, cotton T-shirts, sportswear and jeans – unlike shirts, silks and jackets, these don’t wrinkle as easily. Then, get smart about clothes hangers: look out for space-saving hangers and opt for ones that are flocked or non-slip, so your clothes stay where they should. Cascading hooks are genius and can double your wardrobe space – you can buy them or repurpose the tabs off old Coke cans. And if you’ve got more skirts and trousers than storage space, tiered clothes hangers are a godsend.
Get smart about folding clothes
Folding clothes theoretically saves space in your dresser, but stuff inevitably gets messed up once you go rooting through drawers for a blouse that’s gone walkabout. Fold your clothes and stack vertically rather than horizontally – you’ll be able to see what’s in your drawer at a glance. If you can’t be bothered to fold them, roll clothes up like a burrito and store them that way.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.