How to: Maximize Drawer Space

Messiness makes me twitch.  I color code, I organize, I try to keep things clean and orderly.  This is not news to anyone.

One area where chaos really bugs me is in drawers and closets.   Figuring out what to wear can be hard enough on a good day.  Throw in a messy drawer or wrinkled shirts and you are setting yourself up for trouble.

My issue with shelves and drawers is stacking.  I used to keep my tank tops in a stack in my closet.  The problem with that is the maintenance.   If I wanted a tank top halfway down the stack, I made a mess trying to get to it.  And if I was not not careful, the entire stack fell down.  A similar issue arrises with shirts are stacked in a drawer.  You can't see what you have and start rummaging.  Your drawer turns into a disaster, you have to refold your shirts and put them back.   Consequently, when I was living with stacks, I kept wearing the same few shirts living on the top of each pile.  That's dumb.

Awhile ago I decided I need to re-think my top folding situation and came up with the following.   I did not invent this method; it simply works for me.  By folding the shirts into squares and lining them up like file folders, I can easily see what I have.   They are still organized, but are arranged in such a way that I can see a logo or pattern on the shirt easily.   (You eagle eyes will notice in the top photo that tank tops on the left side are organized by color, but t-shirts are not.  They are organized by neck shape and print vs. solid.   Just because that works for me and how I get dressed!)  Incidentally, I find I can fit more shirts in each drawer using this method!  Very efficient.

Here's how to do it!

Start with an unfolded shirt

 Fold the shirt in half vertically (sleeve to sleeve and shoulder to shoulder) and if there's a print on one side, keep that visible.  If the print is allover or centered this won't be an issue.

 

Tuck the arms in so you have a nice neat rectangle

Fold the shirt in half top to bottom

Fold in half again to form a nice neat smaller rectangle

Put the shirt away!

Note: When I stick a shirt in the drawer, I put it in with the collar side down and facing the back of the drawer.   This way, the print on the front of the shirt is visible.   Less important with this design, but helpful for traditional shirts with centered logos, as you can see from the row of shirts on the far right.   I can easily see what the patterns are on all of these shirts and they are not in a stack!   So easy

How do you keep your clothing organized?