How To: Organize Your Wardrobe

How was your weekend? We had a Bank Holiday on Monday, so John and I took the opportunity to purge our house of all the stuff we didn't need and ... it was hard. Hard to part with some things I'd been hanging on to for a while (but I was ruthless); hard to find the motivation to get to the bottom of that box, if you know what I mean.

I'm not going to lie: I'm the messiest person ever. I have a bad habit of leaving piles around the house (piles of paper, piles of jewelry) and I never, ever hang up my clothes. But walking into our messy room at the end of the day (because of my clothes piles, oops!) was making me angry and anxious - and I was the only person who could do anything about it.

So, I went to H&M Home and bought these felt boxes for £14.99. They're perfect for storing my small handbags, scarves, and other winter accessories. To avoid piling up clothes in that area of my wardrobe, I made a pact with myself to always either fold what I wasn't wearing in my chest of drawers (like t-shirts or sweaters) and to hang things like coats, jackets, dresses, and blouses. It felt so satisfying to open my wardrobe doors and to see order, rather than chaos!

Then there was the issue of my accessories ... during the summer, my sunglasses are strewn everywhere (mostly at the bottom of my handbags, which is why I never buy expensive sunglasses) and I forget that I own half the costume jewelry that I do because it's hidden in boxes and drawers.

So, I bought two jewelry display cases from eBay (they were something like £7 each) and put all my sunglasses and costume jewelry in them. At the end of the day, I realized that it was about having a "home" for everything - it's much harder to misplace things when you return it back to its place (easier said than done, I know!).

Finally, I decided to tackle my fragrance collection. I love wearing perfume, but it cluttered up my small vanity table, so I tended to keep the bottles out of sight ... and promptly forgot they existed. On that same trip to H&M Home, I bought this gold tray (£6.99), which comes in three different sizes (John bought some as well for his cuff links and collar stays). It's just the right size for my small perfume collection, and it's pretty to boot.

Do you have any great storage suggestions? I'd love to hear them. I miss places like Bed, Bath & Beyond and The Container Store in the States, which are so handy for storage solutions like these. I find that buying things like storage and other home organization tools in the UK involve a lot of trial and error, which can be frustrating (especially when you're carting them home from work on the tube or having to stay in for a delivery to your door!).