If you live in a city, youve probably grappled with a popular urban dilemma: a serious lack of closet space. Of course, those in the suburbs also suffer from lack of closet space. In their case, its usually thanks to old houses. Back in the old days, people didnt have nearly as much stuff, and hence, they had a lot less clothing too. Old homes were built with smaller closets and a lot less storage space, as there was no need for it.

These days, however, people have a lot of stuff and a lot of clothes, in particular. Therefore, many of us find ourselves trying to shove a whole lot of things into teeny tiny closet spaces. You know the scene sweaters and piles of jeans spilling out from top shelves, shoes clustered on the ground, too many hangers jammed into a small space.

Weve all been there but most of us dont even think we can do anything about it. We assume that our tiny closets are something were stuck with, and we resort to sticking our clothes elsewhere, storing out of season items in the basement, and in the case of many city dwellers, shoving extra sweaters into our out of use oven. Youd be surprised to learn how easy it is to revamp your closet and make it work for you!

The first thing you should do is sort through your closet. It might be a long and arduous task, but getting rid of the things you dont wear is the easiest way to make more space for the things you do wear. Consider sorting your items into three piles: keep, throw out, and donate. Once youve thoroughly gone through your closet and gotten rid of the stuff you dont wear, institute a new rule: from now on, every time you buy something new, you have to give something away. This ensures that your closet never gets overloaded again. Now, on to organization.

Getting rid of your old, bulky wooden hangers in exchange for slim velvet hangers is the first step to closet domination. Slim hangers take up a lot less space, so you can fit a lot more into the closet. You should also consider investing in some metal shelf dividers, on which you can place sweaters, sweatshirts, jeans, even handbags and clutches. Shelf dividers seem like a simple solution, but they make a big difference. The ability to not have your piles of clothes falling onto one another means an organized closet in which you can actually find what you need when youre looking for it.

Once youve set up your shelf dividers, consider a series of cascading hangers. Many people forget that they dont only have to utilize the horizontal space in their closet, but that theyve also got vertical space to work with. Make use of the extra up and down space in your closet with cascading hangers, on which you can hang a series of shirts or jackets without taking up any extra width. Another option similar to this is that of slack hangers.

These slim hangers allow you to keep your slacks and pants well pressed and help you save space when it comes to the width of your closet. Instead of using up valuable shelf space, your slacks hang, folded in half, alongside your shirts and jackets. You can even consider accessory hangers, which are hangers with many holes in them so you can thread your belts and scarves through and again, save valuable shelf space. No more cluttering your belts at on the floor or shoving your scarves into a drawer, never to be seen again. Organize and youll finally be able to see what you own! You might be surprised at how much great stuff youve got in your closet.

Once youve taken care of organizing your clothes, its time to move on to shoes. Ah, shoes that large pile on your closet floor. Every morning, you frantically rifle through it, hoping to find the matching black pump or the matching brown wedge sandal. Sometimes, you come up empty-handed and every time, youre late to work.

Why waste valuable time in the morning when you can organize your shoes in a few simple steps? Its as easy as purchasing an over the door shoe rack, installing the shoe rack on the back of your closet door, and slotting your shoes into the compartments. Voila! Youve got an organized shoe collection imagine, being able to find what you need when you need it. Organization is a beautiful thing. For boots, consider plastic boxes. Theyll keep your beloved boots in good condition and theyll also help you see what it is youre looking for. Shoe boxes are great, but since theyre not see through, you have to rifle through them to find what you need. Plastic boxes, on the other hand, make it easy to find things.

Take these simple tips to heart and youll have a clean, organized closet with space to spare in no time.