The best organizing tips for closets come from first looking at what organizing is NOT. Here are some examples.
Organizing is not Hiding
When discussing places for storage, clients will often suggest, “We can just hide that away.” If you are hiding things from yourself, you really need to ask why you are keeping it at all. It’s OK to store things remotely for just-in-case or seasonal access. However that’s quite different from hiding away. Wherever you store things, aim to make them as findable as possible.
Organizing is not (just) Containing
It seems many people’s greatest joy associated with organizing is running out to The Container Store, to buy containers. Why? They get to buy more stuff! Sometimes the best container is no container at all. Containers help you sort like-with-like and maximize space, but they can compromise accessibility. For items that you access regularly, consider a container without a lid or consider no container at all. Putting a lid on it does not make it more organized.
Organizing is not Fitting
Sometimes clients show me a closet and say, “look I just organized this closet!” What they should be saying is, “I figured out a way to make everything fit.” Fitting is quite different that organizing. In fact, good organizing should always allow a little breathing room and room for growth. When you pack the daylights out of a closet, you compromise visibility, find-ability, and accessibility.
Organizing is not Perfection
There is a false impression that professional organizers are perfectionists. We are not. Yes, we focus on making things more visible, findable, and accessible for you. That may require a certain amount of fastidiousness and the result may look nice. However, the appearance is not the point. The point of good organizing is removing the barriers to what is most important in your life. That may be confusing, because organizers do use beautiful and often staged images for marketing. We know that’s what people want to see, but perfectionism is a liability, not an asset. If you believe things have to be done perfectly or not at all, then things won’t get done. That is completely counter to good organizing.
Organizing is not Rigid
There is also a perception that organization is a fixed destination to arrive at. It’s a beautiful monument of same-sized bins neatly lined up and labeled. Organization is not a destination but the vehicle that takes you to your priorities. The systems in your organizing vehicle are constantly in motion and working fluidly with each other. Your closet may seem like fixed storage location, but in fact, it needs to be a fluid system. Items that you replenish, need to go in easily. Things you need to access, need to be found easily. Items you return, need an easily identified home. Things need to circulate in and out of your closet as fluidly as blood circulates in your body. Organize your closet for fluid circulation, not rigid constraints.
Maybe you’d like to make your closet contents more visible, findable, and accessible, but you don’t know how. That’s what we’re here for at Matt Baier Organizing. For the month of July, if you have storage challenges in your Attic, Basements, and Closets, we’re featuring a special. It’s called The ABC Special (Attics, Basements, and Closets.) You can finally address some of those nagging storage problems and save up to $160 off of our services.
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What some of our clients are saying
In the past several years, I had emptied 4 separate dwellings, my grandmother’s apartment, my mother's house, my mother-in-law’s house, and my mother’s next apartment.
Intrigued by the notion of death cleaning and the painful memory of the cleanouts, I too began to consider what I might choose to leave behind.
So, what began with a trial run, (a thorough clean out of my eldest son’s childhood bedroom) I was ready to accomplish something far greater.
When my kids learned of my intention to launch an attack on the mother of all clean-outs (the basement), they worried what this might entail both physically and emotionally, So, to my surprise, a plan was hatched for a consultation with organizer, Matt Baier!
Meeting with Matt, with the support of my husband, and in the presence of the madness (furniture from various owners, cardboard in every size and shape, school supplies from a lifetime of working in classrooms, and twenty-three plastic bins containing the details of my children’s lives)... felt like the perfect storm.
As we continued to mine through vessels of pottery, glass, random art supplies, remnants of carpeting, wood, and fabric, costumes, tubs, screens, windows, and a life-size stuffed man we called Ned, Matt was busy outlining a tactical plan of action. Meanwhile, as we stepped amid multiples of objects including, but not limited to, kitchen appliance, toys, exercise equipment, electronics, glassware, three TV’s, VHS tapes, cartons of emergency meals packed since 2001, and mountain of debris that hadn’t seen the light of day in years, Matt’s resolve only grew stronger.
Unequivocally, meeting Matt was the lifeline we needed to pull us up from the weight of what we no longer needed in order to pass it all on to those who could benefit from donations.
So with a plan in place, come that Wednesday, a team of three remarkable women arrived at 9:30 a.m. to bring order from the chaos, in two short days.
The process from day one would have been impossible to imagine. But these three incredible workers managed to remove everything from the basement in systematic stages, but not before passing each and every object, large and small, through my hands for my simple proclamation: keep, donate, trash or sell. Although daunting in scope, with each passing minute, the sorting really was simple, fast and surprisingly painless! Granted, I was a motivated purger, so nothing gave me more happiness than shouting: donate with as much gusto as I could muster!
These women were absolute angels. They were physically and mentally strong, determined to complete the work on time, and committed to organizing and reorganizing with thoughtful intention and microscopic precision to the work of sorting and discarding. In no time, as the basement grew unbelievably spacious, these three, then assembled new industrial shelving to accommodate clear, labeled bins (all provided by Matt) to create a visually consistent and clean appearance to this new system of organization
Through it all, Matt and his crew demonstrated common sense, sensitivity, practicality, wisdom, efficiency, an uncanny ability to problem solve and think on their feet, professionalism, most of all, kindness.
Included in the package was the capable Junkluggers crew. They arrived to haul it all away from my backyard: first to their charity center, then, to a consignment shop and finally to the dump to deposit my trash.
What a relief to watch them pull away with most of my basement firmly ensconced in the bed of their truck.
One week post clean out, I process the experience a little more each day. The sense of well being and gratitude I feel is immeasurable.
Thank you Matt!
We decided to use Matt Bowers organizers based on recommendations and meeting with Matt Bowers himself.
All of our expectations were met and more. His team of experts were great. They were true professionals in every aspect of the word. Always on time, very knowledgeable and experienced and very accommodating. All through the project they were very attentive to our needs and opinions. And not less important were always punctual and industrious.
Our house is so much more functional now and better organized while we managed to get rid and donate a huge amount of stuff that was just occupying space.
We highly recommend Matt Bowers Organization
Noni and Giora Davidai, New canaan CT
Matt and his team were very professional, responsive to my needs and were able to accommodate my aesthetic into their work. But most importantly they were fun to work with and I felt completely at ease discussing my challenges with them. They truly listened. I would recommend them for any project without reservation.
After several other moves, one of which we were only given a 24-hour notice to move all household items into storage, items were just boxed without labels. Since we had no idea where certain items were, duplicate items bought and used. Along came another move, and we continued to box and move those items again. Finally, we needed to combine similar items to reduce the clutter! The team worked so well, always exceeding my expectations by getting this massive project done! It is wonderful to be organized again and able to find items with ease.
The process with the Team is simple, and you work at your own pace. No one will pressure you to get rid of items. Also, there is a great option to donate items. We were fortunate to have boxes and boxes of kitchen items, household, and bathroom items neatly organized or donated to a charity. We can not thank the team members enough for all the work that they did.
We find so much more clarity with an organized home. The flow of our home is peaceful, and we no longer staring at clutter or rearranging boxes to get them out of view!
Matt's company came highly recommended by several local Realtors. At first, I was a bit concerned about the pricing seeming very expensive; I quickly realized that it was worth every penny and soon became a seasonal client.
The team arrives so prepared and professional; they know just what to do and I can be as involved as much as I choose; or not all. They just get the job done.
Just as an example, I had over 15 file boxes of papers and Matt's team organized and reduced it down to only 4 well organized drawers.
Our personal items were sorted, organized, donated or stored neatly throughout the house.
Matt's team was a life saver for my family. I would highly recommend their service; The results are well worth the investment.
Imagine An Organized Home