Get your closet in tip-top shape
Dear Heloise: So many of my girlfriends tell me that their closets are messy and disorganized, which makes getting ready for work a chore in the mornings. For example, shoes are scattered all over the bedroom, or they can’t find their white blouse or their gray purse. Since I work for a company that sells custom designed closets to help people organize their closets, I have a few hints that might make getting organized a little easier.
1. Start by removing everything from your closet and cleaning the shelves and floor. If your closet needs to be repainted, this is an excellent time to do it. While the paint is drying, go through your clothes and make three piles: one to keep, one to donate, and one to sell gently worn items at a resale shop or on a website online. Be ruthless and declutter.
2. Utilize other areas of your home. For example, maybe luggage could be stored under a bed or in a guest closet. Rarely worn evening gowns can be placed in a cloth bag and stored in another closet somewhere else in the house.
3. Do you have room for a dresser in your closet under blouses or other shorter items? If so, move one of your dressers or purchase one that can fit in your closet.
4. Hang all long-sleeved shirts or tops together and all short-sleeved tops together. Some people like to organize by color after separating these two categories. Make sure that all suits and all dresses are together, and use hangers with clips for skirts and slacks.
5. Store smaller handbags inside larger ones. Most sweaters should be folded and placed on a shelf.
6. You can store shoes in a hanging door rack to save floor space for the pairs of shoes worn most often. Or you could use clear plastic shoe bins and store them on a shelf in your closet. 7. There are numerous videos online that show how to fold clothing items to save space. In the back corner, you might want to have a basket where you store clothing that needs to go to the dry cleaners or that needs mending.
Getting organized isn’t hard; it’s a habit you can develop. It will make your life a lot easier. -- Kate P., Los Angeles Kate, it seems that whenever I needed to go anywhere, having my closet organized made packing for the trip so much easier. I know where to go in my closet to find everything. No more frustration over a lost shoe and no more hunting for the right purse to go with an evening outfit. -- Heloise SEND A GREAT HINT TO:
Heloise
P.O. Box 795001
San Antonio, TX 78279-5001
Fax: 1-210-HELOISE
Email: Heloise@heloise.com
FLUFFY PILLOWS
Dear Heloise: My pillows would often go flat and offer no support for my head or neck. I found that if I put my pillows in the dryer with a softener sheet for about 10 to 15 minutes, they fluffed up nicely and smell great. -- Ashley M., Scranton, Pennsylvania
NO PLASTIC, PLEASE
Dear Heloise: Many grocery stores now offer paper bags instead of plastic. It’s a much cleaner choice for our environment. Paper bags can be reused as a large piece of paper for children to draw on or to make masks out of them. Many recycling plants don’t want the thin plastic bags, but will take paper. All you have to do is request paper instead of plastic. -- Lauren D., Metairie, Louisiana