62: Practical Tips for Organizing Closets Without Clothes

We tend to think about closets and immediately think “clothes” or “linens”, but other things are stored in closets, too! This week we get into the topic of organizing closets that don't have clothes in them. We talk about different organization strategies and solutions and we share exciting news about upcoming celebrations and a new guide called “I'm Stuck: A Guide to Decluttering with Compassion,” designed to help listeners navigate cluttered scenarios. Tune in for our expert insights into transforming your non-clothing closets and get inspired to declutter and organize your space with ease.

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In this episode we talk about:

• Common Items Stored in Non-Clothing Closets
• Advice on creating a system that makes sense for individual needs
• We talk about food closets, office closets, cleaning supplies closets, craft closets and kids closets

Mentioned in this Episode:

Episode 044: Let’s Organize Your Party and Home Decor Closet 

https://theorganizedflamingo.com/44-lets-organize-your-party-and-home-decor-closet/

Episode 005: Set Yourself Up for Success With A Capsule Wardrobe

https://theorganizedflamingo.com/5-set-yourself-up-for-success-with-a-capsule-wardrobe/

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Review the Transcript:

Hey, listeners and friends. Welcome to our episode here. This week we are talking about closets. So we're just gonna get straight to it this week with some practical tips that I think will help you go out and tackle your closets. But more specifically, as you can see from the title, we are avoiding the conversation on closets and clothes. So these are closets, all the other closets that may exist in your hemisphere in your home in your space, that are not a hosting or holding everyday clothes. Okay, that's an entirely different episode, we actually did an episode on organizing your closet, capsule wardrobe, which I will put in the show notes. And so I wanted to talk about closets and organizing them. Because a lot of us have other things that we store in them. But we don't talk about it. And we don't talk and we don't we forget that those things exist in there. So I wanted to make an episode specifically for those items. And how you know, some tips that I have for you some things to think about. And then I'll just kind of give you what some of the like what what do people normally do when you know it's overflowing? Or what do people usually store in there? And how do they handle it so that things are not forgotten all in the closet, you know, and it goes into the abyss of the black hole. So let's get right into it with the tips. Welcome to the organized and productive podcast with the organized Flamingo. I'm your host, Stephanie, a professional organizer and productivity expert, ready to explore the right organizing and productivity solutions for you. Yeah, well then let's go.

Okay, so to get started, let's talk about the most common items, or groupings of items that are stored in closets that are not clothing. So what I ended up doing is I grouped the grouped five categories for you that are very typical. And so we ended so then I will talk about each grouping and put in tips for each grouping. You may have closets that have a combination of these groupings. And that's okay, I also addressed that in this conversation. But I know I know our community, you all have given me feedback, and you like it when I group things for you. So that you start to you know, get an idea and have a starting point. So it's not just so overwhelming. So I did just that I went ahead and grouped it. So the first type of items is going to be kitchen and or food. The second is home office. So think home office closet, you know, things like office stuff, very differently, though, is the craft closet. So we're tackling this in two different sections. And then the third is, or the fourth is cleaning supplies, or something like it. And then the last is the kid's closet. Because so even though you do store clothing in kids closets, I did separate it from clothing because you don't always store clothes and your kids clothing, right? So so that's why I am talking about it. But I'm not really talking too much about everyday clothing in the kids closet section. Okay, so All right, so those are categories. Let's start with the kitchen, pantry and or food for closets where you are storing food. Here's a couple things for you to consider and for inspiration. First, if you're wondering why people transfer their food from the original packaging container to another one, like a clear one, you know, became a trend for a couple of years, I think it's dying off a little bit more. But there is actually practicality to that. I'm not saying that this is a good idea for everyone. But I'm going to give you the behind the scenes as to why it could be a good idea for you. The concept is called a canteen. And what that means is that you are putting the items from its original packaging or box or whatever the package and then putting it into something else. It does a couple of things, it airs out some of the food that needs it to be aired out. And then of course, if you're transferring it to a bin that is well labeled, or the bin that fits in the area, you're trying to store it, it's great. So this is something that restaurants do quite a bit. People that make their own food or harvest their own food, right so you have these really big packages that it will be originally in and then you need something smaller you can actually carry move around and store in our kitchen closets or our food pantry type of closets. And maybe you have it in a like a basement or garage or something like that. Um, you can't always fit those really big sacks or big bins that you get from a big box store. So then you end up decanting it or putting it into something smaller, where it got out of hand and the trend started to just, you know, put a bad label to it. No pun intended.

It was when we started to dive into the aesthetically pleasing sector of the canteen where people just did it just for it so that it looked pretty, which is could be a great reason for you and if that is your path wonderful Have at it, but there is an actual there are good reasons for it. So I wanted to give the good side of it and how it's not just the trend that we know of. Now you know, this has been around for a long time. So the canteen could be a good reason and a good thing for you to put in your, in your closet of food. Because again, it just might be easier to grab and get and not as heavy to put on some of those shelvings that have you may have in that food area closet. Alright, so the second and third tip within the kitchen and food closet areas is the labeling and grouping things with you know with like I like items or categorizing it into and sorting into things, actions that makes sense to you. So I did a kitchen organizing episode, I've actually done a couple. And this is where you get to decide of course what what sorting what, what function will make sense to you. Some people organize their kitchens and those closet food areas based on what they bake the most what they need the most. So this is where you get to decide what makes sense to you, you may want to sort by colors, you know you are such a visual color person that you you like all the reds and the yellows and the whatever it may be all in the same sections. Because that makes sense to you. That's how you go grocery shopping. That is how you store food like items and based on the packaging, have added but just come up with something that's consistent, and group them and label it so that other people know how you group them together especially of course, if you live with other people that may not have been involved in how you organized this food closet. So the to the second and third tip are group similar items together based on how you gather and get get stuff from this closet. And then the third is label it so that it makes sense. And you remember how everything is being stored. Because with closets, those are the places that you're not necessarily accessing all the time. And you know, except for like a coat closet. And of course your clothing closet, which is again, why I didn't want to have why I wanted to have a different conversation. These are these are closets that you only go into when you need something every so often. So when you label it, you don't have to worry about remembering where everything and how everything was sorted to begin with. Okay, so let's move on to home office closet organization tips. The first is find a filing system. If you are a paper person, great you understand the power of a filing system. If you are not, you should also understand that there's a power to the filing system. Even if you're the most no paper person having some kind of system where how things will be filed is useful for you. So that if somebody comes and delivers mail or puts paperwork in your closet in your closet of that, you know the home office, they know where things go. So filing systems are really important I say this to everyone even again, if you're not a paper person have one in mind how is it going to be an action based filing system which is a retrieval is we also call it a retrieval type of system. So that means how do you retrieve things and that is the label in the sorting name. So you retrieve things on Mondays so you retrieve things on Tuesday when you know whatever the day of the week. So that filing system that will be labeled as such because it is when you retrieve the items when you need to take action of some sort. So a filing system very important. The second is it's all about furniture so picking the right Furniture and this tip is in particular is about having furniture that you can easily move around as needed. Especially in the home office. I also will talk about it in the Craft and Hobby closet area. Basically you that your system in bins or whatever it may be that you're using to organize those closets can be easily movable and functional because you're taking things in and out as you need them. So if there is going to be a closet where that will be needed like or furniture or bins are easily movable. It's going to be in your home office and in your craft and or hobby closet areas. Okay so fun fact with home office closets. This is actually one of the very first places I organized it was for a business that I was organizing the ribbons for and I went into their closet

it and it was just a mess. So I said, Hey, would you mind if I organize this like it would be my pleasure, and they were just so kind to me, and gave me all these referrals all the times and I said, you know, if to repay, repay you for just going above and beyond, I would love to, you know, organize this area for you. And that is really like how the spaces organizing sector of my business started. Because I was organizing events before, you know, producing events and helping people with that. And they're very similar types of

talents. So when I went to start to organize their closet, like their their office closet, I just immediately fell in love. And anyway, the rest is history. But the point here is that I have a lot of experience with these areas. And in home office, or even just business office closets in general, that is an area that is almost more like a community warehouse, a place that you really just go for whenever you need something that you're running low of. So you probably have your pens and your sticky notes and the paper or whatever it whatever else. Most likely you have that within your desk or somewhere outside like in your in the actual office. Even if it's like your papers, they're probably in a filing cabinet and not necessarily in the closet most of the time. So in the home office in business office closet, I would or I would recommend some kind of area where you're filling in what your what you're running low on, or having some kind of system that tells you I'm running low on this. It could be if you're if you're a tech person, you know you do a every month you do an inventory check and then you put that in your notes so that when you're at your local store or you're ordering through whatever online platform, you can go and refill for the items that you need, especially when it comes to maybe paper for printing paper or if you're creative that is always printing things like labels and things like that and your rent low. And this is where the inventory really comes in most closets you should have some kind of inventory. But our everyday closets we don't write because it's not really like a little mini warehouse you're not really shopping for things that are running low except for your like food and home organize excuse me and home office business office closet. So Inventory section pad reminders, very useful to to help you remember what you need, and you're not buying too much of it so it doesn't become so cluttered in there. So that is my my last tip here on this section. Next up, we've got the cleaning supplies closet, this is one of my favorites as well. It's really fun that to categorize all these cleaning products. I don't know why just they just it always has been but anyway, the one of the biggest tips that I have for you is to keep the the items organized in caddies or some type of removable pad or removable bin or box or tray. Because as we all know, sometimes there's a spill, of course there's toxic could be toxic stuff down there. And you don't really want it to be ruining your shelf, your closet, your carpet, whatever, you know, however your closet is designed. So this is one of those areas that I would I would recommend you do that also that way where you can take the cleaning supplies wherever you need it. So if it's in a caddy, you can just grab and go and and clean up whatever section of your house or item or whatever you need it for. But primarily one of the reasons I give this tip is because of the spills and the damage that these items can do. So it's just so much easier to do the cleanup when they have some kind of caddy bin situation type of thing. That will help you get organized down there. Okay, tip number two because most of these cleaning supplies are heavy, you know they're water. So they're just heavier type of items. This is where a tear type of system works really well like underneath your sink or wherever the closet is going to be like you if you do have an entire closet for it. Having some kind of like tiered where the heavy items go in the back and then the lighter stuff in the front but so that you can see what is in the back there is this tiered type of shelving unit. Sometimes it's a shelving unit sometimes it is a they make them actually we'll put the Amazon storefront in the show notes but they do make almost like a spice of the spice rack type of of tiered shelving that you can just put on the floor of the closet and so that way, you know you can see what's bought like in the very back and then this heavier stuff can just be in the bottom

and easy to grab and you don't have to put that in shelving and shelves in the closet which can weigh down the shelf. So storing bulky items.

At the bottom are very sturdy, high shelves, and things like that also in a closet where you're keeping cleaning supplies, hooks, this is where hooks are amazing. Anything that where you can just, you know, think vertical space, like the door, the side of the closet, where you can just hang them up the broom that whatever it may be, sometimes even the rags like this, this type of closet is the perfect candidate for hooks, and anything that adheres to the vertical space. So that you can just grab and go grab and go, and then you know exactly where it belongs. Last tip on the cleaning supplies closet is having this is a really good place for you. And for you to do like a

like a label system as to where things are meant to go back into or tape so that the tape of the shape. So I'm actually going to talk about it more in detail in the kids closet in just a second. But basically the shape of the item, almost like the parameter, tape it with some painters tape so that you know it belongs there and other people know that it belongs there. And it just kind of gives you this visual parameter of what's supposed to be there. So this is a really good place to do that. I wouldn't necessarily do that in a closet where you're keeping, you know, other things like you're definitely not your clothes. I mean, there's just other places there just doesn't make sense. But in a cleaning closet, it does. Okay, so let's talk about the Craft and Hobby closet. So this is the place of that my number one tip is just to sort and declutter regularly. I mean, this goes without saying for all closets because like I said, at the beginning of the episode, this is black hole of spaces, this is where you go and you know, someone came over. So you just shoved everything in the closet. This is the place where things go and get forgotten. So it's just the abyss, it just definitely gets lost. So this should be for all closets. Declutter regularly clean him up regularly. But in the Craft and Hobby closet, it's even more more important because this is where you you finished a project like for a hobby or whatever. And then a really gets forgotten for a long, long time. And it's not, it's a hobby, so it's out of necessity, so you're not thinking about it all the time. So this is a place where I just say go in and make sure that you're sorting what you do have that when you finish that last project, that it didn't just spill over everywhere. In that way, you know, you have so through clutter regularly in the space. But let's talk about storage solutions that I would recommend pegboards great place for you to be using them because you can hang things you can you can easily hang things that it looks visually more appealing than maybe just like a simple

hook, you know. And so I mean, hooks are great in that area, just like the cleaning closet. But pegboards are just making it some what a little bit more appealing to your creative mind is great for this type of closet. This is where the clear containers also come in handy so that you can see what you have, especially if your hobby or your crafts or small pink beads or buttons and things like that, that you indoor whoever is using that closet, you can see what's inside. So anything that's clear, or anything that you can easily label, it would be wonderful, especially for the very little things that tend to get lost in there and you didn't even know you had. All right. So last week got a B children or kids closet, this is an area that well things really tend to just kind of get shoved in some of you that are super organized, you have your bins in there, and it's just well labeled. And that's awesome high five. So some of these tips, I think will still be useful because this hopefully will get you more inspired to create a new system that can work with your children as they get older. And as or just as things you know, move and change around. So the first thing is pick a storage solution like the bins that I just talked about, that are big enough to store both little things and of course big things. So don't just have the really big totes, where things tend to get lost. And I'll tell you why. I think you know those little itty bitty parts that come with the little car or the Legos or building blocks or whatever it may be that you know the accessories to the toy. There is nothing worse than having those really big totes that you have in your closet and then having to dig really deep in the tote to find that one little piece that you need it. So this closet is the perfect place for you to have a mix of small bins for the accessories and then the big one, and then you will match them together. So you will do so when you do the label outside of the bin. It will say been one of two or if this is a very a particularly large type of toy like like maybe a doll house or a playset right that has different parts. You'll have the bigger parts in the big bin and then the smaller parts in the small bin sometimes a small bin will go into

Big Toe two, it'll be nested in there awesome. But if it's not, then that way, you know, it belongs to the rest of, you know, there's other parts to this assembly line. So topes, big, small and nesting is very handy and very helpful in kids closets, to is the labeling and pictures. So because you know, you hopefully are encouraging the children to help you put away stuff and also be organized because it's their stuff ultimately. So putting some kind of label system that makes sense for them, and their learning ability and age appropriate. So everything from labels to pictures to color coding so that they know where things belong, super helpful. And that way, they just know, okay, this is where it belongs. And I can just close it. And then you know, that that's that. And then the last is the lecture, there's two one is the rotating toys. We actually talked about this, and maybe we've talked about this in me and like just in general, right, you should always be looking at your closet on a fairly consistent basis, not every day, not weekly. But probably I would say every quarter is a good, happy medium, maybe every six months even. But just doing like a really good purge of those areas works great especially in in toys, where they may be outgrowing them. And there's new ones coming in, because of the holidays or giveaways and then you know children's parties and their birthdays or whatever. So that is one of those areas where they're consistently changing in development and development. So you need just to be careful to not be keeping everything because then you will start to spill over. So definitely do declutter per gene or

schedule for that area. And then the last is installing hooks and rods, or anything that is also age appropriate. So here's what I mean by that. closets are amazing because you can, you know, you hang things, you can stack things up, you kind of design it however you want or need, according to what it you know, the space you're working with, right. But when it comes to kids in their, their age, their you know, sometimes are shorter or longer, and they need to be able to reach so the top sections sometimes don't get utilized as much because only the parent or the person, the caretaker is the only one that can reach it. So this is a really good place for you to have some kind of stool that is within the boundaries that you need them to be. And then everything else and rods and everything else that should be within their height. And then everything above that is either off limits. So you know you work through that I like to suggest to people that the lighter stuff goes at the top, or the stuff that you just put very clear boundaries like stuff that's locked in, there are bins that come with like a lock in them. So maybe that's the

the bins where it has like the the toys that they're not getting until their next birthday. So anyway, off limits area can be the top and then the bottom can be for the children so that they can access it easily as well. And then have some kind of stepping stool so that you when you do need to get the stuff from the very top, you can safely do so. Alright, so those are the fast tips on things that I think you should consider. Or maybe think about that could be helpful in organizing your closet that is not just for clothing. So think about those things that are super handy. I'd have put a couple links down in the show notes, so that you can just click through and get some visualization. I know I'm a very visual person. So sometimes when someone says to me use this or like this, I want to see what you mean. I want to see a product example. And then I can do my own shopping from there. Just remember that anything that we may earn commission is of no additional cost to you. And we always put that next to the link so that you know not all the links are associated with a commission based type of storefront some of them are that's just the way some of the websites are handled. But just know that anything that we recommend to you or that we want you to click on is something that we actually use we trust and could be a good option for you. But definitely do your own shopping definitely look around look at local marketplaces and see if they have a version that you can get locally or from the thrift store or from a market online marketplace where somebody else is selling it that is in great condition. So definitely consider your options. But if you're a visual person like me and you need to see examples then head on down to the Amazon storefront. Also a quick note. It notice here if you made it past this, it means that you are probably part of our community and and you know you enjoy seeing and hearing about the behind the scenes. Number one, we are celebrating five years at the organized Flamingo this between this month and next

We registered in March. And then we opened the doors officially in April. And with it is we're starting some, like sweepstakes and some things that you can enter to win, like gift cards and stuff like that. So you will get, if you're listening to this within the March April timeframe of 2024, then just know that that comes into the email newsletter. So you will want to subscribe to that. If you are listening to us pass that not a worry, then I'm so glad that you're here, you can always subscribe to our email newsletter, where we're always celebrating different things. And we're giving you all of the behind the scenes of what's going on with our brand. So head on over to our email newsletter link, which is also in the show notes. And lastly, we do have a new guide that we're offering to you, it's called will tentatively as of the recording, okay, but by the time this is live, you will for sure know what it's called. But we're calling it unstuck a guide to decluttering with compassion. And it's an easy to follow guide prompting you to take compassionate actions to critical messy scenarios in your organizing journey. So it's scenarios that I have outlined for you, about 20 of them, and then responses that we think are going to be helpful either for you to respond to yourself or to a loved ones. And we also have actionable tips within the response like what can you actually go do about it. So head down to the link, I'm so excited about this guide. This is something that's been in the works for a really long time. There's 20 prompts and scenarios to start off with, and it's completely free. And this is something that you that has come directly from all of you, you know, you've given me scenarios that you've been under, and I have helped you through the process. This is some from some of our clients. This is from our community. And I think that these universal prompts will at least help you to create an action plan and get you one step further to living a comfortable guilt free life with when it comes to your stuff. So I'm excited. Check it out. Let me know what you think. And yeah, until next week, happy organizing.

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