Last Updated on September 1, 2022 by Ellen Christian
This past weekend, organizing clothing drawers was not high on my list of things to do. When I couldn’t fit all my clean clothes in the drawer, I knew it needed to be done. Check out my tips.
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Organizing Clothing Drawers
I admit that I love shopping. When I worked outside of the home in an office, I tended to have too many professional outfits. Now that I work at home, I seem to be collecting too many t-shirts.
I went through and did a quick count of all my t-shirts, and it was 62. I’m not sure exactly what the right amount of t-shirts is, but I’m pretty sure 62 isn’t it.
The problem with t-shirts is that there are so many different types. There are standard graphic t-shirts with sayings or pictures on the front. This is what I tend to wear most days.
Then there are the dressier t-shirts I wear to events, church, etc. Of course, there are also tank tops and camisole shirts that I wear underneath other shirts. I even have a few breathable t-shirts that I wear exclusively for exercising.
Organizing clothes in drawers
The hardest part about organizing drawers is figuring out what you need. This is the process that I tried to use.
- Start with one drawer at a time. Removing everything from every drawer would be too much for me.
- Get rid of anything that does not fit or is stained or torn.
- Remove anything that you cannot see yourself wearing. Be ruthless. If you have not worn it in a year, chances are you will not wear it.
- Separate remaining t-shirts into styles – graphic, tank top, dressy, etc. Use whatever works for you. Some people choose to separate by color.
- Think about how often you do laundry and how often you wear the type of t-shirts you have. If you do laundry 3x a week and wear a graphic t-shirt every day, do you need more than 5 or 10 graphic t-shirts? Even if you went on vacation for a week and wanted one to wear every single day, you probably would not need more than 10.
Storage Tips
Once you have gotten your t-shirt collection down to a reasonable size, decide how you want to store them. For my drawer, I can fit three piles of t-shirts across if I lay them flat.
The problem with this way of organizing drawers is that you really only see the t-shirt on top. I found myself wearing the same three or four t-shirts all the time. I
f you fold them smaller or roll them, you can line them up and see every shirt you own when you open the drawer. This is by far the easiest way for me to store my shirts.
Add a lavender sachet to keep your clothes smelling fresh are you are done organizing drawers for today.
I mentioned that I started with 62 t-shirts. I tossed 8 of them as stained/torn/too small. That brought the number down to 54. I gave 4 of them to my daughter because I didn’t see myself wearing them again.
That brought me down to 50. While I realize that 50 is probably still too many t-shirts, I honestly didn’t want to get rid of anymore.
The way they are stored now, they fit easily into my drawer. If I do purchase one in the future, I will make sure that I get rid of one.
Ellen is a busy mom of a 24-year-old son and 29-year-old daughter. She owns six blogs and is addicted to social media. She believes that it doesn’t have to be difficult to lead a healthy life. She shares simple healthy living tips to show busy women how to lead fulfilling lives. If you’d like to work together, email info@confessionsofanover-workedmom.com to chat.
You have some really good hints for getting, and staying, organized! Thanks!
You’re welcome!
My dresser is prime real estate and I’m afraid the tee shirts are relegated to stacks here and there. I’m looking to move them to nice boxes or maybe under the bed. Tiny apartments are challenging. Recently when my internet was out for two weeks, I took the opportunity to clear out many clothes. I still have a trunk load waiting to be donated, but at least they are out of my house! No, no chance they will make it back in too! I’m constantly working on organizing so it is always a timely topic for me.
Organizing is never ending, Deb!
I do not own a dresser. I have a little 3 drawer plastic thingy in my closet. What I did do just last week was clean off the shelf above my hanging clothes. Then I stood on a step stool & add an extension rod up above that about 2 inches from the ceiling. I then hung all my pants & sports bras on hangers, folding them so that they fit just right up on that rod. I even had enough space left on the shelf to place my flat shoes. The other wall of my closet was bare because the rod broke long ago. So, last year I attached milk crates (1 row of1 of 5 ,1 of 4 & 1 on the upper right). Beneathe the row of 4 & the 1 sits my little three drawer chest. From the 1 single I hang umbrella’s.
Wow some great ideas. Thanks!
Thank you so much for the organizational tips. My son has so many T-shirts from different races he has entered plus many others. I was wondering how I could organize them so he could see what they were and would not need to destroy the drawer looking for the one he wanted to wear.
My son does the same thing! He just re-did his drawer like this yesterday 🙂
I have a one in one out rule…nowhere NEAR that many so they just get hung up in my closet!
I need to work on doing that too 🙁
My family just did this on the weekend. We all had clothes that either didn’t fit us any more or had some stains that wouldn’t come out.
Great job! I need to work on my husband’s too at some point.
read this with great interest. Our drawers are awful. Going to try what you are doing!
Let me know how it works, Richard!
Sometimes it’s hard with t-shirts; they often have memories attached to them.
I find that’s true as well!
I love your organization tips! They are always so practical and doable! I roll my massive pajama collection and it does make it easier to store. I didn’t think of doing it with other clothes though. Thanks for the tips!
Thanks so much, Nikki! I’m glad you’re enjoying my articles. It works well with shirts & jeans too!