Easy Closet Organization Ideas On A Budget To Transform Your Mess

Let’s talk about how to organize your closets even if money is tight. These closet organization ideas on a budget will have you loving the way your closets look and function!

Have you ever used the phrase ‘an organized mess’ to describe your bedroom closet… or the linen closet… or basically ANY of the closets in your home? What if instead of describing it as an organized mess, you just described it as organized?

‘That sounds great,’ you’re thinking, ‘but my closet IS a mess. And I don’t have a lot of money for closet organizing products.’

I totally get it, and that’s why I wrote this post! You don’t need to break the bank to get those closets back in order. With simple wardrobe management tips, careful planning, clever repurposing, some DIY closet organization ideas, and minimal purchases, you can transform a messy closet into an organized haven on a budget.

To turn closet clutter into a masterpiece of organization, consider these tips and storage ideas that don’t have to cost much money. We’ll mostly concentrate on bedroom clothes closets, but the ideas can really be used for any closet space!

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The Problem Of A Messy Closet

If you’re like many of us, your closet can be a bit of a mess. It’s easy to get overwhelmed looking at all the jumbled clothes and shoes. How many outfits do you own that you haven’t worn in years because you just can’t find them?

An organized closet can be a great asset when it comes to getting dressed in the morning. Closet organization doesn’t have to be expensive or time-consuming—it can be simple and budget-friendly!

With these tips, you can create an organized closet on a budget that will make life easier and take the stress out of getting ready for the day.

Remember, maintaining a closet that is crammed AND fully organized is too much of a battle. Keep that in mind throughout this post. 😉

Now it’s time to assess your closet space and see what organizing solutions are best for you! Ready to get started?

No time to read the entire post? Just want to start decluttering your closet? Click here to have the free printable Simple Closet Decluttering checklist sent right to your email.

‘Clean House’ Is A Great Way To Start

If you’ve ever read anything else on my site, you’ll know the first thing I’m going to say is that you absolutely MUST declutter first. If you’re not sure about that idea, you’ll want to read this post about why you fear decluttering clothes and my tips on how to declutter your wardrobe.

Plus, decluttering costs no money. In fact — although I nearly always recommend donating everything — if you’re *really* short on cash, you may be able to sell the good-quality pieces that no longer work for you. Then you’ll have some money for better organizing products.  

To make it easy, consider getting rid of pieces that you haven’t worn in at least a year — getting rid of those unworn or unwanted clothes gives you more space to work with.

Then, begin separating your wardrobe by types of clothing: pants, dresses, skirts, blouses, shirts, and sweaters. Experts and professional organizers will say that by organizing your closet like a store, you can more easily ‘shop’ for an outfit every time you get dressed. This works even if you have a small space.

Remove Items That Take A Lot Of Space — The Best Way Is To Think Seasonal

Once you have your space divided by type of clothing, narrow it down even further by season. There’s no reason to have your winter sweaters and sweatshirts taking up precious extra space in the summertime, particularly since you won’t be wearing them for several months.

By dividing your clothing by season, you can gain some much-needed shelf space or hanging space and also see what can be stored away, again giving you more room to work with.

During the warmer months, store your out-of-season clothes like sweaters and wool pants in rollaway bins or drawers that can fit under the bed or be tucked away when not used. When the seasons change, you can switch out the contents in the bins.

Although I prefer sheer, hard plastic bins because they offer better clothing protection, I recently tried these woven fabric underbed storage containers and I have to say they work quite well. They aren’t terribly expensive and they’re low-profile enough to slide under my low-clearance bed frame. 

Now that you’re down to the wardrobe items you actually use, let’s talk about how to organize them in a budget-friendly way… 

You Need A Plan

Creating an organized closet on a budget starts with having a plan. Before you buy or DIY any storage solutions, it’s important to take the time to measure your closet and make a plan to determine what type of storage will fit best.

Assess Your Closet Space

Assessing your closet space is a crucial first step in creating an organized closet on a budget. Consider what storage solutions you need and will fit best in the space.

• Can you demo and rearrange your space to add adjustable shelves or hanging rods?
• Would purchasing a closet system kit actually cost less money than an assortment of other products?
• What type of hangers will work for your clothing items?
• How much room do you have for storing folded clothes versus hanging them?

Taking the time to understand exactly what storage solutions you’ll need before you start shopping can help ensure that you get the most bang for your buck when it comes to organizing on a budget.

Create A Layout Plan

Creating a layout plan for your closet organization is a great idea for making sure you’re able to use the space effectively. Start by measuring the width, length, and height of the closet. Then, determine which items need to hang, which items need shelves, and whether or not any items need drawers. Next, consider where you want each item to go in the closet.

With this plan in mind, you can start looking for budget-friendly storage solutions that fit your needs. Don’t forget to leave some room for growth as well! You’ll also want to be a little flexible about using storage solutions that you may not have considered before.

Repurpose And Reuse

Aside from decluttering most of your clothing, repurposing and reusing the storage and organization items you already have is THE best way to organize your closet on a budget.

Think outside of the box when it comes to getting creative with storage solutions…

Upcycle Furniture Pieces

For example, you can use an old small dresser or nightstand inside your closet in several different ways…

• Store underwear, socks, jewelry.
• Remove the drawers and hang them on your wall to create funky shelves to hold purses, etc.
• Add boards inside the dresser to create a shelving unit… great for shoes or visibly storing folded clothing.

An old bookcase can be used to store folded clothes, bags, or shoes.

Repurposing and reusing items is also great for the environment, so it’s a win-win! You can often score these pieces for free, but it can also be fun to scour garage sales or thrift stores for old furniture pieces.

Use Household Items You Already Have

There are plenty of ways to get creative with what’s already in your home.

For example, you can use baskets and extra plastic bins to store clothing, small accessories, or shoes. Hang necklaces and bracelets from a jewelry tree or wall hooks. Use command hooks to hang purses or scarves in an orderly fashion. 

If you don’t have any of these items around the house, ask family and friends if they have any spare containers or organizers they no longer need—you may be surprised at what you receive without spending a dime.

Some of the ideas from my post about cheap ways to organize your home would work perfectly here! Hop over and check it out — you’ll find lots of great and budget-friendly options for DIY-ing your own products.

Simple Solution: Create Closet Organization with Double Closet Rods and Shelves

If you’re handy, you can achieve a customized organization for very little money. Simply install an extra closet rod to divide your closet into two rows. Install a shelf over each closet rod support for additional storage space.

While this is inexpensive, you do need to be smart about measuring and planning to make sure you have the proper height available for your hanging clothes.

Fancy Closet Organization with Multiple Closet Rods and Shelves

Taking that a step further, if you want to organize your closet with the look of a custom closet, all you have to do is work with multiple closet rods and shelves. In this case, don’t extend two closet rods from side wall to side wall, but use closet rod shelf support brackets to attach them to the back wall so that your bottom rod is shorter.

This way you can create different lengths and heights of closet rods and shelves that come together to form a closet organizer that looks like a custom closet.

Purchase A Few Space-Organizing Products

Once you’ve exhausted your ‘completely no-cost’ organizing options, consider investing in a few space-saving closet organizers. Sometimes the perfect solution saves so much space and frustration that it’s worth a little bit of money!

Let’s explore some of these products and how to use them to get the most out of your closet storage!

Open Shelves with Dividers

Shelves with dividers can go the extra distance in making your closet even more organized. Something like acrylic shelf dividers are a good idea if your upper shelf is very high and you don’t have room above it for something like a stackable shelving unit or wide wood divided shelves.

Divided shelving areas can make sure the neat piles you’ve organized stay neat and separate. When storing items like cardigans and sweaters, you can even organize your clothes by colors if that’s your personal preference.

No matter how you choose to stack your clothing, keeping those items visible will make everything much easier to see and locate when you’re in a hurry.

Over-The-Door Organizers

You can make your closet look neat and organized without spending too much money by using over-the-door organizers. These are perfect for maximizing storage space in small closets because they don’t take up any floor space or hanging rod space.

You can find over-the-door organizers with pockets, shelves, and even hooks. With one of these clever items, you can keep all of your accessories and jewelry neatly tucked away while freeing up valuable closet space.

Best of all, they’re generally very affordable so you won’t have to worry about going broke when getting your closet organized!

Use Vertical Space For Shelving

When it comes to closet organization ideas on a budget, making use of vertical space is key! 

Installing tall shelves or cubbies can be incredibly helpful in keeping items off the floor. Years ago when organizing my tiny closet on a budget, I stacked heavy-duty 3-tier narrow shelving units for floor-to-ceiling storage that holds a LOT.

These days, an option like these wire and plastic cube shelves would be more economical, but they do lose some stability if you stack them tall.

Making Efficient Use of Hanging Space

Hanging Shelf for Sweaters: Many sweaters should not be hung, especially lightweight sweaters that stretch easily or very heavy sweaters. To solve this problem, pick up a hanging sweater shelf. It hangs on your clothing rod and has multiple spaces that hang vertically, allowing you to fold and store your sweaters but still keep them at a convenient reaching distance.

Cascading Hanger Holders: These hangers are great because they have hooks in the center that allow you to hang several pieces together. These are great for hanging multiple items in a very narrow space.

Adjustable Hanging Rod: If you’re not handy enough to add an extra hanging rod the old-fashioned way, a hanging adjustable rod is a fairly inexpensive solution to add another row of hanging space.

Shoe Storage 

Your shoes give you the freedom and comfort to move from place to place; you truly should treat them better than just scattering them all over the floor of your closet. You need to figure out the shoe storage solution that works best for you.

For example, some people prefer an over-the-door shoe rack. This keeps their shoes off the floor and clearly displays pairs of shoes on the back of the closet door. Other people prefer clear plastic shoe boxes that they can stack and rearrange.

Some like a simple, traditional shoe rack with wheels that they can easily push forward and back into various spots of the closet for easy access. Another option is a relatively inexpensive hanging shoe organizer that attaches to your closet rod.

Making a shoe organizer also a great way to re-use an old bookshelf!

Whichever option your choose, look for multiple levels of storage and enough height to hold your tall shoes.

Don’t Forget About Organizing Your Accessories

Accessories like belts, scarves, hats, and purses can seem like clutter in and of themselves. If you have extra shelf space, bins or baskets that you can label should do the trick.

Short on space? The over-the-door shoe hanger is great for scarves and belts, too; just roll them up and stick them in the clear pockets. For purses and hats, affixing some hooks to the wall or ceiling and hanging them does the trick.

Another inexpensive option is shower curtain rings! Simply clip them onto the bottom of a regular hanger, then use them to hold scarves, belts, or even tank tops. I like these curtain rings because they don’t have a ‘snap’ closure and they’re plastic so they won’t rust.

Maintain Your Closet Organization

One of the best ways to make sure your budget organizing efforts don’t go to waste is to maintain the organization over time — and it won’t cost you a penny.

Keeping up with daily tidying habits is essential. Start by taking just a few minutes each day to put away items that are out of place. This will help keep your closet looking neat and make it easier to find items when you need them.

Also, regularly purge items you no longer need or use and rearrange items based on their usage frequency. Every few months, take a look at the items in your closet and ask yourself if they’re still necessary or if there’s a better way to organize them.

You may find that you have items that no longer fit or are seldom used, which can be donated or sold for extra cash. Reevaluating your closet organization regularly can help keep everything tidy and provide an opportunity for updating your wardrobe.

Actually, one of the best things you can do to maintain an organized closet is to simplify your wardrobe. Instead of having an overflowing closet full of clothes that you never wear, make it a priority to cut down on the amount of clothing items that you need.

You might even consider creating a capsule wardrobe in order to streamline your closet. Having fewer items can also help keep the clutter at bay and make getting dressed in the morning easier. So, take some time to reevaluate what’s truly essential for your wardrobe.

These steps can make a big difference in the appearance of your closet and help keep it organized. 

Final Thoughts And Tips…

The task of organizing your closets on a budget is what you make of it. If it feels overwhelming, start small by tackling it one step at a time. (Declutter!!!) After you do finish one task, the results will encourage you to continue your foray into the organization of your most-used items.

Having a well-organized closet and storage space can make a tremendous difference during your day. An organized closet can ensure that you make it to work or school on time, find everything you need effortlessly, and feel like you have a good handle on what you actually own.

These are just a few of the many, many options and storage solutions available for closet organization. But when you’re working on a closet makeover within a budget, remember that buying cheaper items from separate places may mean that you spend more altogether or need to replace lower-quality products more frequently.

Always start with your free options first!

Check out my entire post of declutter tips for help around your entire home…

You’ve got this!

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