Clutter 101: Organize Your Bedroom

May 24th 2007

bedroom clutter tidy home This is the first in a number of posts where I will take all the learnings from previous Clutter 101 posts regarding de-cluttering and organizing and apply them to specific rooms in your home. In this post I will focus on the bedroom. With so much clothing and personal belongings often stored here it can be a hotbed of clutter and disorganization so in particular I will give suggestions on how you can create more space and use existing storage more efficiently.

The bed
What better area to begin with in a bedroom than with the bed itself. The one piece of advice I suggest here is to purchase pull-over sheets rather than the big normal sheets that have to be tucked under the mattress. It saves a lot of time and hassle when you change the sheets around and they take up less space when stored as they are smaller.

The next area to look at is actually under the bed. Some beds come with built in drawers and storage areas which is useful (though a little restrictive). However if like me, the area under your bed is dead space, use it! You can fit a lot of stuff under a bed so buy a few storage boxes. If you have a double bed you can get at least eight boxes under it (four either side). My main suggestion here is that you buy boxes that have wheels so they can be easily pulled out. You don’t want to be messing about on your hands and knees trying to get to an awkward box that refuses to budge!

The wardrobe
Another significant area of the bedroom is the wardrobe. It’s time to organize your clothes! Clothes can essentially be broken down into three catagories:

Clothes you havn’t worn in a long term/ever
You ever buy clothes and never wear them? Perhaps, you have a pair of trousers you last wore six months ago or maybe a shirt that is seriously out of fashion. Our taste in clothes constantly evolves so what you wore all the time a year ago, you may not even look at twice anymore. Get rid of them. Give them to friends or a charity shop, just get it out of your wardrobe!

Clothes that might, just might, be useful
There is always a place in your wardrobe for a neat pair of trousers for instance (an interview or a fancy party for example). I have a big thick black jumper from years ago, that just might become useful if the weather ever takes a turn for the worst. You won’t have many clothes in this catagory and seeing as they are for specific occasions you don’t really need to keep them in your wardrobe. Fold them up and store them in a drawer or box out of the way.

Clothes we wear regularly
There is a statistic that is often quoted regarding your wardrobe: people wear 20% of their clothes 80% of the time. While it is a generalization, after you have cleared out the clothes that fit into the previous two catagories the bulk of the clothes in your wardrobe should be that 20%. With all that extra space you can now organize your clothes properly so I suggest you group your shirts, trousers, skirts etc together for easy access. In fact you can take it as far as you want; if you choose to organize your clothes by season or colour that is entirely your prerogative. You now have the space to do it :)

Have a laundry basket
If possible have a small laundry basket in your bedroom too. As this room is one of the big places you regularly change clothes it makes sense if you have a basket close to hand. You are more likely to drop clothes in it rather than on the floor that way.

Bottom of wardrobe
Another overlooked area of the bedroom, like under the bed, is the bottom of the wardrobe. It’s more dead space and you shoud take advantage of it. Again, buy boxes for it (wheels should not so necessary in this instance) and put the space to use. I personally have a canvas wardrobe and was able to buy a set of small canvas boxes to match with it.

If you do happen to have a few long clothes that reach down to near the bottom (dresses typically do this) consider how you hang them and whether they can be folded. If not, place them at the end of the wardrobe so they are not in the way.

And the rest
Whatever else you might keep in your bedroom should go through the de-cluttering process as described in previous posts in the Clutter 101 series. Remember, if you follow this article you should have created a lot of extra space and combined with all the de-cluttering you will do, there should be no excuse for stuff spilling out of your drawers and clothes piled up in corners.