I Stopped Organizing My Closet Only by Color, and It’s Simplified My Mornings
Many professional organizers and personal stylists recommend organizing closets by color, which used to be my entire system. Not only was the method expert-approved, but it also made my closet look more aesthetically pleasing. Win-win, right? Five years ago I was cleaning out my closet and realized, out of the blue, that this actually didn’t make sense for me.
At the time my wardrobe consisted of a limited neutral palette that made it tough to quickly distinguish between pieces. Nowadays, even with more variety in my closet, I feel strongly that organizing first and foremost by color isn’t the most functional approach. My current system has been tested over five years in six different closets, and I’m convinced it’s the way to go.
Here’s how you can replicate it.
Step 1: Categorize.
When I wake up in the morning, one of the first decisions I make is whether I want to wear a dress or denim. Do I have a fun meeting or event to look forward to, or am I going to be in mom mode most of the day? The answer to this one question cuts my wardrobe in half, almost literally. I have dresses on the right side of my closet and tops and jeans on the left, so once that’s decided, I can completely focus on one part or the other.
Step 2: Sort by length.
If I’m looking at tops, I’m choosing between tanks, short sleeves, and long sleeves. The consideration here is obvious: How warm is it going to be? Because I live in Texas, I wear tanks and short-sleeved tops more often, which is why they are placed closer to denim (it’s easy to once again shrink my area of focus). My dresses are divided between short, midi, and maxi. This is intentional too: My short dresses, which are the ones I reach for most often, end up in the middle of my closet, closest to my shoe rack on the left side. The goal is to make putting an outfit together quick and seamless.
Step 3: Factor in color last.
Color organization has its place, and for me, it’s at the end of my closet system. I follow the rainbow order and add white at the beginning and black at the end. When I can, I try to organize from light to dark shades and put clothes back on the same hanger to maintain order. This can take a little extra effort, but the muscle memory that results is just one more way I make getting dressed as easy as possible.