Earlier this week, I took you on a tour of our brand new Master Closet.
It was the first post in a series of posts I’m planning to do about “clothes clutter” and it gave me a good opportunity to show you exactly how Dave and I keep all our clothes organized {and all in ONE closet!}.
However, after hearing feedback from many of you, I decided that accessories should be the next post in this series.
I think accessories are like food storage containers — they magically multiply without your knowledge — and before you know it, they’re everywhere!
If you feel like your accessories are taking over your closet, bedroom, bathroom, etc. Then let me give you a few tips to keep them organized — and show you how we keep our accessories organized.
Jewelry:
I keep my bracelets in an old star ice-mold that sits on the top of my dresser. It looks fantastic and makes it really easy to find what bracelet I want right away. Plus, if the mold starts to overflow, I know it’s time to purge. Cool bowls and baskets would also look nice.
Similarly, I keep all my earrings and rings in an old muffin tin. I actually keep this tin in one of our bathroom drawers so it doesn’t spill or tip over. Ice-cube trays are another great way to store earrings and rings in individual compartments — plus they stack!
I hang all my necklaces on an old ladder — simply by pounding nails into the ladder at differing heights. It’s nothing fancy, but it also serves as decoration for our bedroom and keeps my necklaces tangle free.
Unmentionables:
I got a TON of questions asking how I stored my underwear and socks — so although I never thought I would show a picture of my underwear drawer on the internet…. here it is!
It’s the very top drawer of my dresser and I use these clear plastic drawer organizers to keep everything in neat rows {yes, I always fold my underwear!} Also, I should mention that I actually have a double layer of socks on the right side of the drawer — heavy wool socks and tights/nylons on the bottom; athletic socks and dress socks on top.
Tank Tops / T-shirts / Athletic Clothes:
I have quite a few tank tops, t-shirts, and athletic clothes because that is what I wear most often. I usually wear a tank top under everything, and the minute I get home, I change into a t-shirt. So I like to keep these items easily available and very visible.
As you can see by the pictures below, I fold all my shirts and stack them “horizontally” instead of in a vertical pile — that way I can see every single shirt when I open the drawer. Tank tops and PJ’s are in the 2nd dresser drawer, t-shirts and athletic gear are in the 3rd drawer.
UPDATE: If you would like to see how I fold our t-shirt, click here!!
Shoes:
Shoes were another thing I got a lot of questions about — and I realized shoe storage can be a huge pain, especially if you have big boots, and other more substantial shoes that take up all kinds of space.
I used to have a ton of shoes, but over the last few years, I’ve really cut back to just the basics — a good pair of black and brown flats, black and brown dress shoes, black and brown boots, a few flip flops, a few “cute” pairs, and then my tennis shoes. Besides the boots and running shoes, I keep everything in the basket below.
A few other ideas for shoes would be to use an over-the-door shoe organizer, put shoe shelves at the bottom of your closet, or even keep your shoes by the back door {if you have enough room there}.
Belts, Scarves, etc.
I just installed a clear over-the-door shoe organizer on the back of one of our closet doors to organize all our belts, scarves, and other mics. accessories — we LOVE it!!
Dave even decided to keep his MP3 player, cell phone, sunglasses, wallet, and watch in a few of the compartments {which means they won’t be sitting out on his dresser any more!}
As you can see, we still have plenty of space for more!
A few other ideas for belts and scarves are to install hooks, put the items in baskets, or just hang them on hangers.
Purses and Bags:
Over the past few years, I have REALLY tried to cut back in the purse department too! I have a nice bag for summer/spring and another one I like to use in the fall/winter. I also have a couple smaller bags as well as a couple dressier clutches…but that’s it.
I keep all my purses and bags on the top shelf of our closet. I stuff them with newspaper so they keep their shape and then put them inside cloth bags so they don’t get dusty.
So that’s how I organize our many different accessories.
Obviously, depending on the size of your closet, your bedroom, and the amount of accessories you have, my suggestions may or may not work for you. {too bad I can’t have ALL the answers!}
Do you have any suggestions that work well for your accessories? I’d love to hear them!
And just because it’s been a while, here’s a picture from earlier this week {6 months along}
Chloe Morgan says
This may be an awkward question so definitely dont feel obligated to answer but how do you fold your underwear?
I have never seen it folded like that before and cannot find anywhere online to show me?
Andrea says
haha — I lay them flat, fold the 2 sides in (the hips) to make a rectangle. Then fold the rectangle in 3rds.
This is how I’ve been folding undies forever! Hopefully this makes sense!
Melissa says
Hello Andrea! Love your organizing tips.. Heading tomorrow morning to look for an over the door clear organizer!! I wanted to ask you if you have any suggestions for organizing hats/baseball caps in the closet.. Where there’s no drawers but a shelve on top of the hangers.. And my boyfriend keeps them stacked up one on top of the other… Thanks for all the useful tips
Andrea says
Hi Melissa,
Hopefully you had luck with your shoe organizer (sorry I was a little slow to respond).
I don’t have anything about organizing hats on my blog (we’re not big hat-wearers here) but I found several great resources online.
This blog post has TONS of really great ideas.
This hanger idea is super simple and could be done in just a few minutes.
This peg-board idea is also very clever, simple, and space-saving.
Hope these help!!
Veronica says
The shirt folding is epic. I just have one question/issue. When you pull out a few shirts, don’t they all collapse? And it seems like you have to take them all out to put them back in when you. Do laundry. This confuses me.
NaturalNivia says
I suffer from OCD. I’m realizing bow that I’m a mother and older I NEED things in some kind of Structure! I’ve seen other blogs that touch on this, But You Explained everything Easy enough to follow. With Pictures!! Lol Thank You so much for sharing!
Andrea says
you’re welcome!! Structure is a good thing for most people — especially anyone with OCD tendencies! Glad to help!
Andrea says
I am renting a home with both inadequate closet storage or poorly designed shelving. When using both sides of the master walk-in for hanging, one side partly covers the door. Because of this, we push our clothes toward the back and cannot hang anything close to the door, leaving wasted storage space. Also there is a shoe rack all around the closet near the floor which is covered by shirts, tunics or long skirts on two sides, but can be used on one wall for one person. The second “man’s” closet is being used for the non-existing master linen closet and for partially hanging our dressy clothes for church or special occasions. We cannot hang anything towards the middle of the closet because it is shallow and hems of anything squeeze out between the doors.I’d like to rearrange the shelves here to accommodate linens and my clothing accessories such as hats, purses, shoes, wigs, vitamin bottles and jewelry. These items are now clogging up the guest bedroom closet along with out of season coats, luggage and a storage box of a few winter clothes for visiting northern relatives at Christmas time. Any tips to redesign shelves, or move things to better locations would be appreciated.
Tiffany says
More helpful than you know…thank you for sharing.
Ophelie Stone says
Great organizing ideas! I have problems with the clothes storage all the time. My husband never finds the t-shirt he needs. Stacking you tops and tees horizontally is brilliant! I’ll reorganize some drawers tomorrow. Thank you!
Debbie says
I like using those craft bead plastic containers with dividers to store my necklaces, and jewelry box for earrings. I used to leave the necklaces hanging on a jewelry stand but I didn’t like how it got so dusty. I guess it just depends on how dusty it gets. The bed containers are perfect because you can see each necklace even when it’s closed and the dividers keeps them from tangling. Then I put the container inside one of the drawers of the dresser so there’s nothing on the dresser except the jewelry box of earrings.
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Joshua says
I was so excite about this… and I fold up all my shirts and got them ready to go… and my drawers are too shallow to stack them like that. 🙁
SAD. FAIL.
🙂
Guess I need that new dresser now. 🙂
Andrea says
Shoot — one other option would be to fold your shirts into thirds instead of in half (for the very last step). I’ve done this before in really shallow drawers and it creates the same effect. It might be worth a try before you purchase a new dresser 🙂
Meg says
This is so great!
My boyfriend is a baseball hat freak! Does anyone have any ideas on how to keep them organized and looking tidy?
Meghann says
Meg, the best way is just like the ‘Lids’ store. Push the back of the hat toward the brim and they should sit in one another easily. They can go in a drawer or top shelf of a closet.
clothing and accessories says
Thank you for these organizing……
Cindy Lou says
What a find! I did not know there was another organizing nut in this world! I will surely be looking again and I want to thank you for the hints.
Theresa says
I saw someone asked, but didn’t see a response…how do you fold and organize your pants/jeans to save on space???? Love this. So neat, clean, and perfect to pick an outfit out of in a pinch with out ruining all the drawers!!
Andrea says
Theresa, I actually keep my jeans and pants in my closet, so I just fold them into thirds and stack them on the shelf. That way, I can easily see what pair of pants I’m grabbing — and I don’t take up drawer space.
April says
Andrea, I love you ! You should win a Nobel prize for this.
My drawers drive me crazy, no matter how many times I fold and put everything away nicely (for me, husband and 2 kids), they go back to their normal (!) messy state in about 2 days. So I have long given up and resigned to live with messy drawers for the rest of my life… That is untill I stumbled on your blog.
Just now, I I did my drawers by your way of organizing and I can’t help myself shutting and openning them and looking at their contents with a smile. I know they won’t get messy anymore as I can see every single item. I keep thinking, why didn’t I think of this before ? So simple and so effective.
Thank you for sharing !!
fightingcomet says
I found this linked from another blog, that I found on pinterest- this is a brilliant way to fold shirts! I just organized a couple of my drawers using your method, and I have so much more space now~
Here’s my blog about it: http://fightingcomet.blogspot.com/2012/07/getting-organized-clothing-drawers.html
I posted how I folded mine too, because I wear a L or XL, so I found folding the side with the sleeve made more room.
Stacie says
I LOVE THIS! I found this on Pinterest & as an avid organizer am always looking for something to kick it up a notch!!! CAN NOT WAIT TO ORGANIZE MY SHIRTS!!! I chose to do the “framed window screen” for my earring organizing (so super cheap & easy plus…they never spill) & I had a couple plate holders (you know the ones that you display plates on the wall) never found plates for them so they became my necklace holders! Thanks for posting this…& explaining how you fold your shirts!