If you’re trying to organize your closets on your own without the help of a professional organizer, there’s a good possibility you’re not being as efficient as you could be nor maximizing your storage potential.

As leaders in the custom closet industry, our team here at Modular Closets gets to see a lot of the common mistakes homeowners make when they’re trying to get organized. Luckily, with just a few tips in mind, it can be easy to get your home organized.

The key is to start with a vision and a plan.

Once you know the outcome you’re trying to achieve, you can put together a winning strategy so that your home will be organized in a way that matches your lifestyle.

And just to make sure you don’t get off on the wrong foot, here’s a list of 5 common closet organization mistakes you’ll want to be sure to avoid:

1. Mistake #1 – Rearranging Instead of Discarding & Sorting

While you can make a room tidier by rearranging your belongings into neat rows or piles, this is just a temporary fix that won’t solve your organization needs for the long-term.

In order to have a home organization plan that actually works, you need to begin by first going through your belongings, getting rid of extraneous items you don’t really use, need, or want, and then sorting the items you actually want to keep.

Pro tip: don’t just throw stuff away. There are many ways to sell valuable “gently used” items online, or consider donating to a local charity organization.

2. Mistake #2 – Storing Before Sorting

While drawers, shelves, baskets, and bins make it easy to store items out of sight, you will have a hard time finding what you want when you want it if you don’t sort your items first.

Rather than throwing a random collection of items into a storage container, take the time beforehand to organize your belongings into functional groups so you’ll easily know where each and every item belongs.

Pro tip: you may even want to label each container so it’s obvious to the whole family what goes where.

3. Mistake #3 – Forgetting Seasonal Differences

One of the benefits of an organized home is that it’s easy to find and have your everyday items close at hand. However, your “everyday” items might be different during different seasons of the year – some seasons, you may want easy access to a thick puffy coat while during others you’ll want to be able to quickly grab a bathing suit.

Pro tip: try storing your out-of-season items all together in a bin so that as the seasons change you can quickly and easily rotate what’s in easy reach and what’s stowed away.

4. Mistake #4 – Not Organizing on a Regular Basis

If you wait until Spring to do your cleaning every year, you’re just setting yourself up for a major project to tackle. And, you’re probably not reaping the full benefits of an organized home throughout the rest of the year.

Pro tip: consider organizing each season – this way you can deal with seasonal items and be prepared for the whole year.

5. Mistake #5 – Investing in a Closet System Before You’ve Done the Work of Sorting

A closet system of shelves, drawers, and hanging rods can be a great investment to maximize your closet space and put in place an organizational strategy. However, you won’t make the best use of your closet unless you do the work of sorting your belongings first so you know exactly which closet components make the most sense for you.

Pro tip: take the time to sort through and streamline your belongings. Once you know exactly what you want to use and keep, it will be easier to know which closet system components will work best for your lifestyle.

Have you successfully sorted through your belongings? Are you ready to invest in a closet system that will actually meet your needs? If so, Modular Closets is here and happy to help.

We’ll even offer you a FREE closet design!