Is the primary closet in your home a cluttered mess? If you said yes, we can help! Let us show you how to organize a master closet on a budget!
I am so fortunate to have a huge master closet in this house!
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I wish I was about to reveal my dream closet, you know, the one that has white built-in shelves with glass doors, row after row of shelves for shoes, velvet-lined shelves to store my jewelry, with a huge round tufted bench in the middle, for me to sit and put my shoes on!
The truth is I’m stuck with builder-grade, blah, white, wire shelves.
Right now, I don’t have the budget for a full-blown closet makeover.
So, I’ll be organizing the space with items I already have on hand.
I have some simple tricks to make it seem more like a luxury closet!
So here we go!
The closet Before organizing
Actually, I’m grateful for those skimpy wire shelves and thankful to have such a large closet! Here’s what it looked like when we first moved in! What a mess!!
This is the left side of the closet.
Here is the right side of the closet and it’s even worse!
Thank goodness I have a great strategy to use to organize our master closet and get this space looking good!
Use the 6/P Strategy to organize the Master closet
If you’re new to the blog, I have a fabulous 6-step strategy to help you organize any size closet!
I call it the 6/P Strategy and all you need to do is follow the six steps below! Each step starts with the letter “P” and they’re very simple! Let’s start organizing!
PREP
Locate the following items:
- Trash bag
- Cardboard box
- Two laundry hampers
PURGE
Remove all items from the closet. Place each item in one of the following categories:
- Trash-throw any worn-out or unwanted items in the trash bag.
- Donate-place any items that you no longer use, but are in great shape, in the cardboard box to be donated.
- Relocate-place any items that don’t belong in the closet in laundry hamper # 1.
- Replace-place any items that need to stay in this closet in laundry hamper #2. Use your bed to sort your clothes.
POLISH
Clean the closet from top to bottom.
PERSONALIZE
It’s time to decide how you will organize the closet based on your personal needs. I have provided a printable to help you figure this out.
- Determine what items will be stored in the closet and what items can be stored elsewhere. Example: dressers, chest of drawers, etc., and group the like items together.
Here are typical categories you might find in someone’s closet:
- shirts – long-sleeve and short-sleeve
- pants
- shorts
- skirts
- dresses
- underclothes
- pajamas/robes
- seasonal clothing: swimsuits, coats/jackets, hats/gloves
- shoes
- purses
- ties
- belts
- jewelry
- scarves
2. Decide how you will contain items inside your closet. Will you make or purchase containers?
PLACE
Now it’s time to put items back into your closet in an organized manner!
- Trash-discard in your garbage can.
- Donate- don’t procrastinate, take items to your local donation center right away!
- Relocate-take laundry hamper #1 and deliver items to the room they actually belong in.
- Replace-place every item into the closet in the new spot you found for it.
PUT BACK
You just took a lot of time to find a home for each item in your closet. Remember, if you don’t put each item back in its appropriate place after each use, you will end up with a cluttered mess again!! Train yourself to put things back!!
If you’d like to use our free printables to help you organize your master closet, click here and sign up for our email!
Tips to organize a master closet on a budget
Decide how to use the space
Divide the closet
We divided our closet in half. That may change in the future if one of us needs more room! I do have more clothes than Rich, so we’ll see how this works! See how kind and giving I am, lol!
I used my hat boxes to create a visual divider in the center of the closet. The pastel colors don’t match my decor, so I decided to cover the boxes with removable adhesive.
Don’t they look great! It was such an easy DIY and really updated the look!
Assign each side
Rich got the right side of the closet and I took the left side! I used large letters to designate my side of the closet from Rich’s side. The letters were hanging over our dresser in our bedroom in Kentucky. I think I bought them at Hobby Lobby many years ago! They are brown with a gold edge.
I decided to spray-paint them black. Then I added an empty frame around the “&” symbol.
Wow! It really updated the look of the letters. I love how it turned out! I think it adds a little interest to the closet!
Divide each side into sections
I love the way custom closets have a designated space for different types of clothes. I wanted to give that feel to our closet, so I added inexpensive drawers to divide the bottom section.
We originally bought these drawers to store clothes in our camper. When we moved, I realized these would work perfectly in our closet!
Hang clothes in different sections
Divide your clothes by type! Hang each type of clothes in a different section!
Shirts
I hung all of our shirts on the top row. Mine went on the left side and Rich’s on the right side!
Pants
We each have a smaller section for pants on the bottom row.
Shorts
And another small section for shorts on the bottom row.
Use matching hangers
When we moved I decided to donate all of our old mismatched hangers. When we got to Florida, I purchased new, slim, velvet-covered hangers. They take up less room, and I love how uniform they look! My hangers are gray and Rich’s are black. The hangers with clips are white because that was the only color I could find them in.
Add storage items to delineate spaces
Add hanging shelves
Hanging shelves are great for lighter-weight items like shorts and sweatpants. Most of Rich’s workout clothes are stored here.
Use hanging shoe storage
I used hanging shoe organizers to divide the space on my side of the closet and on Rich’s side too.
HOW TO USE VERTICAL SPACE
shoe rack on the back of the door
Use every available space you have in your closet. Hanging a shoe rack on the back of the door is a great use of space!
buy special hangers for belts and ties
I like to hang our belts vertically to save space. Mine hangs down the side of my shoe organizer.
Rich’s belts and ties are hanging against the wall.
Hang a full-length mirror in the closet
If you have empty wall space in your closet, hang a full-length mirror! This was Griffin’s mirror from his dorm room, now it’s mine!
Store underclothes in the closet
This closet is so big, it’s like a huge dressing room! Don’t laugh, but I didn’t want to walk to the bedroom to retrieve underclothes from my dresser, and then go all the way back to the closet to change. Lazy huh?? That’s the main reason I wanted to have drawers inside the closet!
In two of the drawers, I store bras, undershirts, underwear, and socks. The remaining two drawers store our pajamas, swimsuits, and baseball caps.
Make inexpensive dividers for your clothes
Can’t afford drawer organizers…I have a budget-friendly solution! I took a piece of brown cardstock and folded it in half. Then I used black duct tape to stick it to the front and back of the drawer! Works like a charm!
Use high shelves for storage
Fabric cubes
I love to use fabric storage cubes on top of shelves. Our wire shelves are very thin, so I had to turn the black cubes to the side. They look better facing forward but are too long for these shelves. I store small out-of-season clothing in the bins.
Baskets
I am using the baskets to store purses, wallets, Mickey ears, and misc items.
Where to store out-of-season clothing
Large closet
If you have a large closet, hang out-of-season clothes in a separate section.
Here are Rich’s long-sleeved shirts and sweatshirts. We did keep a few lightweight winter coats and I stored them in the gray plastic tubs.
Small closet
If you have a small closet, I suggest you switch out clothes for the seasons. Out-of-season clothes can be stored in plastic tubs, as we used in the picture above. Here are a couple of other posts on the subject of switching out clothes for the seasons. These posts will also help you figure out how to scale down the clothes in your closet!
incorporate a hamper
It’s very important to have a hamper in your closet, so dirty clothes have a specific place to land. I really love this hamper because it has divided slots. It’s so convenient because it has wheels and can be rolled into the laundry room!!
make a sitting area
Ok, it’s not my huge, beautiful, white, velvet, tufted, circular, ottoman, but I did add some seating. These are my son’s storage cubbies from his college dorm room. They’re not much to look at, but they provide a perfect place to sit when taking shoes on and off! The style definitely doesn’t match French country, but it’s functional, and it was free, so it will have to do for now!!
extra storage
Right now we are using the back corner of our closet for storage. Since we moved, I had lots of Home Depot moving boxes left over. Moving boxes are great for storage because they fit perfectly on top of each other!
The finished project
It is such a relief to have this closet organized and personalized for our specific needs! I am so happy with the results! It’s not my dream closet, but that’s OK! I do believe dreams come true and you just wait, I will have my dream closet someday!!
Donna’s side before and after
Rich’s side before and after
Well, friends, that’s how I organized my master closet on a budget! I did splurge and purchased new hangers but everything else I already had! Sure hope you enjoyed it and you’ll use my strategy and tips to organize your master closet!!
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Blessings, Donna and Rich
more inspiration to organize
If you need more inspiration to organize other types of closets check out the posts below:
For ideas on how to organize other spaces in your home check out these posts:
- How to organize your kitchen using zones
- Simple tips to organize and clean your car
- How to beautifully organize pet supplies
- Garage organization made simple with six steps
- How to organize your home office
Also, join An Organized Season on Facebook and Instagram!
**Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. We appreciate your support. (disclosure policy)
Super. Boy! I sure could use those tips for organizing my closet.
Since Bud passed , I’ve just taken over the entire closet. Too much stuff.
Your closet looks fantastic. Appreciate your tips.
How is Rich feeling?
This is so relatable and looks very nice. It also looks to be very functional.
Thank you! We live on a budget and can’t afford to put in an elegant closet system, at this time. So, I just use what I have! I’m glad you liked the post and found it helpful!! Donna
Would be interested in how large your closet is….figuring out if I have enough room to do what you have done. Thanks
Hello! Our closet is approximately 12′ X 10′. Hope that helps! Have fun organizing your closet!!