With spring cleaning on my mind these days, I am back with another home organization post. Incase you don’t know yet, I have OCD!  (read my confession of being an OCD here. ) Before we tackle the closet, first lets do a recap of the the areas I have already organized in this OCD series .

1. Makeup  & Watches Organization
2. Caps Organization
3. Sunglasses Organization (with a DIY solution)

Now, the lets get to the monster.. the CLOSET! When I was looking for closet storage solutions, I came across these huge, dreamy walk-in closets and I just took a deep breath and sighed.… I mean look at these… Aren’t these every women’s dream?

*Sighhhhhhhhh*

Now back to reality, living in Qatar, there are two practical issues with having a walk-in closet..

1. I live in a 3 bedroom apartment, with small bedrooms and built in closets. The rooms are so tiny that I can’t even keep an extra 2 door closet.. Walk-in closet? Ha! Who am I kidding!
2. Secondly, I feel even if I had an extra room that I could spare to convert to a walk-in closet (there is a big list of extra rooms in my wish list like a proper guest bedroom, a study/library, a photography and Art studio etc etc.), the dust in this desert land would ruin everything! (My shoe drawers which are closed, get dusty all the time even though we have central A/C)

I then look at these almost empty closets like the one below, and wonder which woman has only these many clothes to wear.. and store! How come they have so much space between hangers when my closet is crammed up with clothes and I struggle to put the hanger back in the closet!

Back to my reality, of having a 3 door built in closet and a chest of drawers, to accommodate my Western Casuals, Western Formals, Desi Casuals, Desi Formals, PJs , Tank tops, Delicates and what not! Not to forget Hand bags, Jewelry, Makeup, Watches and Shoes!

So lets get back from La La Land (like in the Oscars, lol) to REAL life Closet Organization. How I have managed(or try to) to keep my tiny closet organized with my (gazillion) clothes.

The VISIBILITY Factor

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How many times has it happened to you that you have something that you can’t find at the time you want to wear it? It happens to me ALL the time! Hence, Visibility is the key factor for me in my organization. I like to see what I own and the options I have, to decide an outfit – right in my face! So all these tips have a common factor – VISIBILITY!

1. Scarves

Ikea’s KOMPLEMENT Multi Use Hanger works great! 

But there is a trick that makes it even better! Don’t hang it in-between the clothes, because everytime you need to pick a scarf, you have to pull the hanger out and then choose. I have it hanging on the inside of my closet door and I have the whole collection of my scarves right infront of me!

2. Jeans and Trousers

How much I would love to hang all my pants on the hangers, I don’t have the space for it in my closet. So hence they all go in my chest of drawers. I have arranged them in a file system manner rather than on top of each other, so I can see all of my lowers as I open the drawer!

For my Jeans, I have again used the file system, just making sure that the label is visible, so I can easily spot my favorite pair!

So these 2 drawers hold,all my jeans, pants, cargos and tights!

3. T-shirts and PJs

T-shirts and PJs go the same way.. in a drawer. Again, the key is visibility!

4. Shirts and Tops

I came across these Wonder Hangers on As Seen On TV, and I HAD to get these! These are such an awesome space saving solution  for crowded closets. Each hanger holds five hangers!

And thanks to these cascading hangers, my closet is breathing again! (well somewhat! LOL!)

5. Tank Tops And Camisoles

Now for the smaller items like Tank tops, Camisoles and Cami Secrets (LADIES, these are the best thing ever, specially for summer and perfect for anyone who HATES layering as much as I do!), I rolled these up, and kept them in a drawer (of course sorted by color!)

For the smaller items, like the cami secrets, I rolled them and arranged them in my  iPhone box and cover (REUSE! The iPhone box is excellent for storing small items!).

6. Desi Casual and Formals

The rest of my Formal Desi clothes can hang, while the casual Desi clothes are kept folded in the wardrobe section. (Please don’t judge, I try keeping the folded clothes as neatly as I can, but the different materials and size of the piles, keeps them getting tilted all the time! True sad story of an OCD! 😦 )

Then there are these very formal shaadi wear clothes, which are hardly worn specially here in Doha. Like my own wedding outfit or the heavy work sarees and all. These are wrapped carefully, in malmal fabrics that my mum made to pack my shaadi clothes (She hand sticthed all the gota on these very colorful fabrics that I still use). They are then packed away in the rolling plastic organizers and stored in the space underneath the my hanging clothes.

7. Miscellaneous Small Garments

I find IKEA’s ANTONIUS Wire Baskets extremely useful to put inside the closet if you have space below the hanging clothes. Perfect to store inner wear, socks etc.

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Some More Ideas?

I find Nadiya Najib’s Organizing Chaos series very informative and detailed ,where she shares her reasons for the need to declutter and organize your life!  You can check out her wonderful ideas to tackle her wardrobe, tips on which clothes should be on your eye level and the need to put things back in their original place…and much much more (click here or the image below to check it out)

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Until next time with some more of my OCD stuff!