We’re pleased to announce our newest affiliate from Dallas – Tonia Tomlin who is the Founder and President of Sorted Out™ She has been featured on HGTV’s, Mission: Organization, and is the author of the book Chaos 2 Calm: The Moms-of-Multiples’ Guide to an Organized Family. Tonia is Level 2 Certified through the Institute for Challenging Disorganization in CD and ADHD. We hope you enjoy her tips on closet organizing and hope you can put some of these valuable tips to use!

1. Invest in the Right Hangers. Hanging garments require proper hangers and breathable garment bags. Hanger selection should take into account the type of garment and its weight. Heavy garments such as winter coats should be stored on strong, padded hangers. In most cases, pants and slacks should be hung from the hem or cuffs to avoid creasing. Take advantage of a garment’s support straps or loops to avoid stretching. Using wire hangers aren’t ideal for your clothing and can snag nice sweaters and silk. We love the felt hangers and they are more affordable these days on Amazon.com.
2. Divide and file your folded items. Drawer dividers keep underwear, socks, folded t-shirts, spanx folded like a file drawer. Use narrow drawer dividers or boxed dividers to subdivide drawers, or store lingerie and other not so used items at the lower level drawers.
3. Color Code. Sort your clothing by color, then by type of shirt/pant. Sleeveless, short sleeve, crop sleeve, long sleeve. You get the idea. This will make it easier to find things and put away more efficiently. When in doubt use ROYGBIV. ?
4. Don’t over organize. Don’t over do it by over organizing your closet. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It has to function properly for your life style and time you have to maintain your closet. If you spend time folding things SO perfect it makes it hard to maintain when life gets busy.
5. The Right Storage Solutions.   Store your accessories by category.  Purses store best up right on the shelf or hooks while scarves work well on scarf hangers or in baskets.  Hang hooks for items such as belts or larger totes. Another great solution is utilizing Garde Robes Cyber Closet Option. The Cyber Closet is customized to suit your individual needs and allows members to view where an item is, when it was worn, create tags, create outfits or ensembles, add descriptive information such as style numbers and/or garment values, and much more.
6. Maintenance. Maintain your closet organization system daily, that way you won’t fall back into a disorganized state and have to start the whole process over.
7. Out of Season Storage. If you have limited space in your closet, store out of season clothing with Garde Robe. They will take care of all the heavy lifting so you don’t have to. Garde Robe will deliver desired garments in ready-to-wear-condition and pick up off-season items, which frees up closet space year-round and ensures your off-season wardrobe will be in pristine condition, not shoved to the back of the closet. Proper storage conditions and ventilation is essential. Garments should not be subjected to dust, sunlight, humidity or drastic changes in temperature, so basements and attics are not recommended in most cases. Proper spacing between garments must also be taken into account – never crowd garments into a small area in the back of the closet because the fabrics need to breathe. Be extra cautious when storing leather and suede as these fabrics can dye transfer into one another – use acid-free tissue to separate these garments.
8. Accountability Buddy. All of this sounds super easy, but when life gets overwhelming and over committed its hard to get your closet organized and purged.  Hire a professional organizer, such as Sorted Out or set up a wine date and purge time with your BFF and use this time to hold yourself accountable to the process!