The hardest part, in fact the only difficult part of organizing closets is getting started. We manage to talk ourselves out of it for so long that the task becomes nearly unmanageable. While we’ve been alternatively pretending not to notice the growing mass behind the closet door and promising ourselves we’d get to it "soon", a really incredible thing has happened.

This incredible "thing" has become a multimillion dollar industry for those ingenious enough to make closet organization fun. Fun? Heck yeah, it’s fun to organize your closets these days. The beauty of all this gadgetry is the wide variety of choices on the market today. There is no one "right" closet organizational system that works for every person or every closet. Your closet can be as unique as you are; the trick is to get this wonderful walk-in space to work for you.

Ok, so not everyone has a walk-in closet. That’s fine because by organizing the closet space you do have, you’re going to maximize the space that is available to you in such a way that by the time you’re finished, you’ll have doubled or tripled your available closet space no matter what size it is.

Ready? Let’s get started! First thing – and this is the only "must do" on the list, is to drag absolutely everything out of that closet. Even if you know it’s going to go right back in because it was your mother’s best friend’s cousin’s and you know you’ll never get rid of it. Everything goes. You want to start with a clean and fresh smelling closet and the only way to do that is to purge everything in its confines. Besides, regardless of the size of their closets, most people can’t remember or find everything they’ve stuffed in them so this may be the only chance you have to see what your closet really holds.

Once everything is out, swish the walls and corners for cobwebs, wipe down all the shelves and clothes’ rods and vacuum or mop. Voila! You may not be able to walk ten feet in front of you but you now have a sparkling clean closet. Now for the fun part! Obviously, your clothes and shoes need to go back in your closet but here’s where it gets emotional. Many of us just don’t want to get rid of that size six whatever because we’re absolutely sure we’re going to get there again.

Without going into all the emotional psychobabble about what to get rid of and analyzing the attachment you still have to your sixth grade teacher’s gloves that she lent you on the coldest day ever, just keep it simple. Get rid of as much junk and/or clothes that you’re not currently using/wearing and spare all of us the speech about someday wearing/using it again. Just do it!

Moving on to shoes. Shoes are fun to organize. You can purchase shoe bags, boxes, and shoe thingies that are so much fun to fix up, you’ll go out and buy more shoes just to organize them. A shoe bag on the inside of the closet door is a must. Whatever you do, don’t waste this space. If you only have one pair of shoes, buy a shoe bag and stick scarves, gloves and hats in it. Buy a shoe bag for every door that doesn’t open out into a public room. It’s amazing what you can keep in them!

From here, it’s easy – and fun! You know what to get rid of and what to keep. The fun lies in finding just the right space for all the things in your life you need, just not on your bedside table. There is no substitute for strong, sturdy shelves. Save the gadgets for turning small spaces into large ones but shelves can turn even the smallest closet space into a veritable lifesaver.