How I Finally Organized My Closet Using a Digital Inventory System
I’m going to recommend something that sounds like a lot of work. Honestly, it’s a lot of work, but I want you to hear me out: you should take a real inventory of your closet. There are many great methods for organizing your closet (or closet , drawer , room , or any other space), but almost all of them rely on a few principles that can make your items easier to find in your newly organized storage space. difficult.
Typically, when organizing storage, you have to use containers to keep similar items together and make sure they all have a designated place. But what happens when you can’t remember which container something is in? You burst through them all, creating a mess.
So, take inventory. Yes, it will take some time. But it’s really useful. I did this with my clothes and accessories a few weeks ago and it was surprisingly helpful.
How to make your own inventory
All I used was the Notes app on my phone because it has a built-in search function. You can create an entire table in Excel or Google Sheets, but a note here does the same thing.
I did this over time, taking out pieces of clothing and accessories and using decluttering techniques to pare down what I had. The project was doubly beneficial for me then because it gave me a reason to sit down and go through my things, getting rid of things that no longer fit, were not in style or were of no interest to me. I already had an organizational structure in which I used tiered hangers and cubic racks to sort my clothes into very specific categories, so I simply categorized them. If you don’t have such a system, install it first. The goal is to be as specific as possible. Tank tops, shirts, leggings and sweatpants can (and should) have their own designated space.
After tidying up a bit, I put the categorized items back in their designated spaces, but it took me extra time to add the details to the note on my phone. I’ve listed each item along with its location and a few searchable words. Here’s what one section of a note looks like. These clothing items are all similar but stored differently according to my organizational system.
What I Learned from Taking Inventory
This is much more useful for things I store in containers or bags than for things that are easily visible on a shelf, although it is useful for those too. Sure, I can look at a shelf and see if it has something I need, but a lot of the cube shelves I use have little boxes so they don’t look too cluttered on the outside. It was helpful to have a system where I searched for certain keywords, figured out which box or drawer something was in, and didn’t have to open and sort through a bunch of other stuff. It was also handy to be able to search for keywords like “gym” and get an idea of everything I needed and where it was located.
The past month has been just a trial run for me. Since I’ve decided that I like this system, I’m going to get more detailed. Instead of just “spaghetti strap tank tops, tank tops, summer hot clothes – left pink rack, top shelf, far left,” I’m going to start adding articles individually. The white Skims tank I pull out when I’m trying to create a “clean girl” aesthetic is stored in a different place on this shelf than the Champion tanks I run errands in, so they should be listed more specifically to avoid getting ripped apart. a bunch of clothes in vain.
I also plan to start doing this for every container in my house. I have at least 20 drawers in my tiny apartment, and I’ll be honest: I don’t always know which one holds what stuff, from a spare bottle opener to the cookie cutters I use when I get the urge to make my own each year. gummy bears. The benefit of using containers to store everything is that everything looks pristine on the outside. The downside is that what goes on inside them is sometimes far from polished. Anything you keep but don’t use often, like tools or special charging cables, is at risk of being forgotten. When you need it, even occasionally, it’s not easy to remember which small container it comes in. Taking inventory takes some time, but saves hassle later.