A few weeks back over the holidays, I spent nearly an entire day cleaning out and organizing my home office closet. Ask anyone who had seen it prior – it was a disaster. And I truly mean a disaster. You couldn’t even walk into the closet because there was crap everywhere!!! Insane, I tell you. Finally, I set aside time to tackle that beast of a closet and now it’s pretty darn amazing, if I do say so myself. I pulled out every single solitary thing that was in the closet, threw away lots, and then put everything back in the closet in a nice, orderly fashion. Of course, this all happened while jamming out to music, watching either ‘When Harry Met Sally’ or ‘Sleepless in Seattle’ (those are my 2 movies on rotation right now), and more than likely, a couple glasses of wine…because, well, why not. ANYWAY, the closet is clean and organized and you can walk in it. YES.
I gathered some great inspiration photos on the lovely Pinterest for ways to organize any home office closet. And I also pulled together my top 3 tips for those of you who are planning on sprucing up your office closet anytime soon.
- LABELS. I know you may think labels can be a bit over the top and unnecessary, but trust me, they are life changing. They are especially helpful if you have lots of various craft or gift wrapping items in your closet. Label everything! It makes things SO much easier when you are trying to find something, and it avoids a mess because rather than throwing things around when looking for a particular item, just look for the label!
- EVERYTHING NEEDS A HOME. Every single thing in your office closet needs a home. And I mean everything. It makes things so much more organized (and so much prettier) if everything has a spot of its own. For example, those little tiny gift baggies used to just sit on a shelf and get lost in the shuffle. Now, they are all in a little glass vase of mine that I wasn’t using, and I can easily find them when needed.
- FILE FOLDERS ARE YOUR BESTIES. Even if you only have one or two pieces of paper to put in a certain folder, do it! Having all your papers organized and separated (and not in a jumbled mess) makes everything so much easier when you’re looking for that invoice from last year or that missing receipt you need.
BONUS TIP: Have fun with this process! I know cleaning and organizing a home office closet (or really any office closet or any closet for that matter) is a daunting task, but it’s fun, too. Make the closet look how you want it to look. Organize it in a way that inspires you. Add color to it (who said you had to use boring old manila folders…go buy some colorful, printed ones!), and make it a place that you don’t dread walking into. And then send me pictures of what you do because I’d love to see!
