When Sarah* and I first met, I had just started at a new gym. Just before our 5am session began, the trainer asked me to introduce myself. When I mentioned I was an organizer, Sarah’s face lit up from across the room, and she yelled out, “Ooh, I need your information!” Her excitement caught me off guard, and I couldn’t help but giggle as I shared my contact details with her after class.
” three things immediately caught my eye: the lack of structure, the overflow of clothes compared to the available space, and the mismatched hangers. “
On our first call, I learned that Sarah wasn’t just a client; she’s a mom, a wife, and a total powerhouse trying to juggle it all. But despite her incredible multitasking skills, her closet had turned into more than just a cluttered mess. It was wreaking havoc on her productivity and dragging down her mental well-being. Sarah felt completely overwhelmed, not knowing where to begin, and too swamped to tackle the clutter alone. Still, she knew she needed a fresh start asap.
And that’s where we stepped in.
The Problem
When I opened the door to Sarah’s closet, three things immediately caught my eye: the lack of structure, the overflow of clothes compared to the available space, and the mismatched hangers. We all understand the importance of structure in our daily lives—it helps us tackle challenges, reach our goals, and maintain balance. The same principle applies to our closets. Structure serves as our game plan. Knowing what belongs in your closet and where it should be stored helps you navigate through the chaos and keep things organized even when they get messy. And it’s perfectly fine if things do get messy; with a plan in place, you can easily get back on track. The problem arises when there’s no plan, and the thought of figuring one out afterward feels overwhelming, leading to avoidance
Did you know that you’re more likely to return an item to its designated spot if you’re aware of where it belongs in your home? And if you still struggle to put things back in it’s place despite knowing its designated spot, perhaps that item needs a new home altogether. It’s current location might not be working well with the natural flow of your home life, making it challenging to maintain tidiness.
The Solution
To establish structure, we determined which items belonged in the closet based on their frequency of use and designated locations within the closet. Children’s clothing returned to the kids’ bedroom, linens found their place in the linen closet, office supplies were relocated to the office, and Traditional African clothing found a new home in an empty spare closet. Additionally, Sarah decided to donate a few items they no longer used, while we kept only the items that she regularly used and served a practical purpose.
We decided to go for matching black velvet hangers for most of the clothes in the closet and wooden wide shoulder hangers for her husband’s suits. We briefly touched on the idea of redesigning her closet to maximize space, but Sarah felt it wasn’t a priority at the moment, so we set it aside.
Results
When I opened Sarah’s closet, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. The whole family was there on the final day, and they were all blown away by the incredible transformation. While it might not be very clear in the photo, we also made sure to label the shelves by clothing category and carefully organized each section by type, color, and sleeve length. Sarah was really looking for a fresh start, and I’m glad we were able to give her just that.
Thank you for joining me on this journey of transformation. If you found this post helpful, drop a comment below, and I’ll make sure to share more content like this in the future. Also, don’t forget to join our email list below to stay updated on future blog posts and never miss out on valuable insights and tips!
*Name changed for privacy.
