How to Organize Your Closet for Under $50

Closet organizers are a million dollar industry. Most closet organizing products can cost you anywhere from a few dollars to thousands. Companies like The Container Store, Home Depot, and almost any other home improvement type store sell a myriad of professional storage systems and organizers. There are quite a few inexpensive projects you can do on your own that will get you organized while saving you a little money. Use that saved money for clothes to fit into all the extra storage space you will have in your newly organized closet. I am basing my closet organization projects on a standard closet with one main hanging bar and shelf installed across the closet. All of these ideas are perfect for renters and anyone on a budget!

1. Add a shelf. Most people have a standard closet with one hanging bar and one shelf about 60 inches high. Typically you will find about 2 ft of air space above this. Most people stack anything from t-shirts to shoes on this one shelf and find that this stuff is continually falling out on them every time they open the door. So, avoid this issue by buying a few inexpensive brackets at your local home improvement store. You can also buy a piece of laminated shelving cut to size for about $9.99 as well. Install this shelf half way between the ceiling and your existing shelf. If you can’t drill into your walls you will need to look into buying some of those closet maid organizers meant for kitchen cabinets that double shelving space.

2. Now, time to organize your shelves. I am always on the lookout for affordable storage boxes that look good. There are so many cute ones on the market, but they cost a lot of money. $6 a box doesn’t seem like a lot until you realize you can fit 10 into your closet and your now out $60 before taxes. So, save your money and use existing boxes you already have. If you don’t have any you can buy regular moving boxes for about $1.50 a piece. Now, they aren’t cute, so you will need to work on them a little. My favorite trick is to assemble the box, tape the bottom likes usual, then push in the top flaps so the box is open. Try to find boxes that fit your shelving exactly. This will provide for the most amount of storage.

Now, to make the boxes look at cute as the expensive ones wrap them in some wrapping paper. You could also use contact paper or even a stamp and ink to print a design on the box. Another idea would be to simply attach cut labels you print on your computer to the storage box. Use what you have and save money. I stack off-season clothing into my boxes and only have to pull them down once of year. Be organized. Put all purses in one, all sweaters in one, all jeans in one…

Finally, label the boxes so you know what is inside. This will save a lot of time when you are looking for something specific. When you switch clothing out for a season change relable the box or flip it around and write on the backside.

Copy paper boxes work well for this inexpensive closet organization. So, stock pile a few at work and use them.

3. Invest in a few storage hangers. Specifically these great hangers that can hold about four or five pairs of pants. This will thin out your jean collection by hanging them more vertically. You can usually buy 1 of these hangers for about $6.99 at stores like Ikea, Target, and Wal-Mart. Avoid the plastic ones because they can sag and stretch under the weight of a few pairs of pants.

4. Invest in those great vertical hanging shoe racks. They take up the least amount of room and hold the most amounts of shoes. Make sure you buy the ones that hang all the way to the floor – more storage. These are a great alternative to wasting the valuable shelf space above your hanging rack. Save that area for your storage boxes for items you don’t use every day. Some of these hanging shoe racks are available with small boxes that fit into the cubbyholes. They are perfect for jewelry and belts.

5. Finally, my favorite inexpensive closet organization tool: drawers. Put some drawers in your closets. Specifically, install them below where your shirts hang. This is often wasted space and you will be surprised how much storage and organization you can get out of your closet with this one simple addition. I bought a set of four drawers for $19.99 at Ikea and it has saved me a lot of time in the morning.

Buy drawers that fit your closet. Measure how deep your closet is. Also measure the height you have below you hanging shirts. Then measure the width you have available. Buy the largest drawers that will fit into this space. Rubbermaid drawers are inexpensive and perfect for this project as well. Now you have somewhere handy to put all of those t-shirts. Best of all when you want the one on the bottom the rest of them won’t end up on the floor.