Every spring, I do something my friends have affectionately named “The Annual Purge.” I pick a weekend, usually in late March or early April, and I go through every single item I own and throw out or donate what I don’t need or haven’t used in a while. It takes a full two days and my apartment looks like a war zone until it’s finished, but it’s my favorite way to start the new season. As soon as it’s done, I feel less stressed and make a promise (that I never keep) to not allow myself to acquire so much useless junk ever again.
This year, my annual purge has a specific focus on closets. Back in August, I moved into an apartment with a whopping five closets. By October, I had filled every inch of all five closets with something — camping gear, photography equipment, telescopes, extra clothes, bedspreads and comforters, painting supplies — all that extra space and storage is gone. I am going to go through every closet, toss out stuff I am not using and organize them in a way that’s more functional.
Getting ready for my closet purge got me thinking about how other people organize their closets. So I asked my fellow editors to snap a pic of their closets and share how they organize their storage space.
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Image Credit: Hannah Hickok "It's no exaggeration to say that my teeny Brooklyn apartment literally has no closets. To get around that, I hang the majority of my clothes — except sweaters, jeans and T-shirts — on an Ikea rack. I use ultra-thin no-slip hangers to squeeze in as many items as possible and tuck hats, bags and scarves into wicker boxes to help a crowded space look a little more streamlined." — Hannah Hickok, deputy editor
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Image Credit: Kenzie Mastroe "I live in Upstate NY, and I feel like my fellow editors who live in NYC may want to kill me for what I am about to say, but I have five (yes, five!) closets in my apartment. I rotate my bedroom closet twice a year — once in the spring and once in the fall. I hang up all the clothes I will be wearing for that season and store the other clothes in the guest room. Because I have so many closets, I don't use any dressers. I keep all my small stuff in plastic drawers in the bottom of my closet along with my laundry basket and a big suitcase. I use the top shelf to store stuff like my gym bag, an overnight bag, a carry-on suitcase and some random stuff like extra towels and board games." — Kenzie Mastroe, lifestyle editor
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Image Credit: Elizabeth Yuko "I genuinely do try and keep my small New York City studio apartment as tidy as possible, but that’s easier said than done — especially because I’m not a naturally organized person. As a result, frequently “cleaning” my apartment means moving all the articles of clothing from my floordrobe into the closet — both with and without using hangers. This is by no means an organizing tip, but just a reminder that if your closet looks like mine, I wouldn’t stress too much about it. Life’s too short to spend time making your closet look nice." — Elizabeth Yuko, health editor
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Image Credit: Lauren Joskowitz "How do I organize my closet? Here's the short answer: I don't. The long answer: I do, of course, organize my closet, but no one else would ever be able to tell. I know where everything is. That's all that matters, right? I keep swimsuits and, ahem, lingerie in containers on top of the built-in drawers in my closet. As you can see, that's also where I keep miscellaneous items like snow gloves, marathon medals, the random cover-up and jewelry. Necessities, really. My drawers are arranged from top to bottom as follows: socks, underwear and bras, tanks and crop tops, long-sleeve shirts, sweaters. The two bottom drawers contain my pants and skirts (left) and workout clothes (right — I own an obscene number of workout clothes because I live in yoga pants and sports bras basically every day. My fiancé loves it.). Then I hang my jackets and dresses up — when they're not strewn across my bedroom floor, that is." — Lauren Joskowitz, entertainment editor
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Image Credit: Amelia Edelman "My house was built in the 1940s and doesn't really have closets. I hang some of my clothes up on this wooden rack and keep the rest in a dresser. Luckily, I'm a minimalist, so it all works out." — Amelia Edelman, senior parenting editor
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