Closet Chaos, Conquered: Karen Brothers Playbook for Your Most Organized Closet Yet
By Karen Brothers | Karen Brothers & Co. Organizing & Design
If your closet makes you a little anxious every morning — you're not alone, and you're not hopeless. You just haven't had the right system yet.
Recently I had the joy of hosting a live workshop at The Container Store here in San Diego, where I walked a group of real people through my full closet organization method from start to finish. We purged, we folded, we talked bins, shoes, accessories, zones — all of it.
The full workshop is right here if you want to watch it:
But if you're a reader, I've got you covered. Here's everything we covered, broken down into bite-sized pieces you can actually use this weekend.
First, a Question: Do You Respect Your Space?
My organizing motto is "respect your space." What that means is simple: consider how much physical space you actually have, and only keep what can live there comfortably.
You can cram a lot of stuff into a small closet. But cramming isn't organizing. When things are packed too tight, putting things away becomes a chore, pulling things out is frustrating, and your clothes? They're just not respected.
So before we talk about bins and folding techniques, ask yourself: does the amount of stuff I have match the space I have? If the answer is no, it's time to edit.
Step 1: Edit Your Closet (A.K.A. The Purge)
"Editing" is just a kinder word for purging — and it's the place every closet transformation has to start.
Here's a concept that completely changes how people think about letting go of clothes: we all have seasons in our lives.Not summer and fall, but life seasons — a working season, a working-out season, a going-out season. We buy clothes for whatever season we're in. Then that season ends, and those clothes just... stay.
Maybe you retired and still have a closet full of corporate clothes. Maybe your going-out phase wound down and you haven't touched those dresses in three years. It's okay to let them go. Someone else is in that season right now and would love them.
Two Easy Editing Tricks
The Backwards Hanger Trick Turn every hanger in your closet backwards today. When you wear something and put it back, hang it the normal way. After 6 months (or a year), anything still hanging backwards? You haven't worn it. Into the donation bag it goes — no guilt required.
The Donation Bag Method Keep a small box or bag right in your closet at all times. As you go about your daily life and notice something you're not going to wear again, drop it in. When the bag fills up, take it to donate. No big purge events, no overwhelming Saturday projects — just a little bit out the door on a rolling basis.
Bonus tip: Check out thredUP — it's a way to donate clothes and actually get paid for the ones they accept. Karen mentioned it as a great option for items that are still in good shape.
Step 2: Decide What to Fold and What to Hang
This is one of the most common closet questions, and the answer is pretty simple once you break it down.
Hang these:
Blouses and dress shirts
Dresses and skirts
Blazers and jackets
Anything that wrinkles easily
Fold these:
T-shirts
Jeans and casual pants
Athletic wear
Pajamas
Sweatshirts
Undergarments and socks
A note on sweaters: Heavy knits should almost never be hung on a regular hanger — they'll stretch out and lose their shape over time. If you want to hang a sweater, there's a clever technique where you fold it in half, tuck the hanger into the armpit of the sweater, and fold both sides over the bar. It keeps its shape and takes up way less vertical space.
Quick Hanger Tips While We're Here
When you take something off a hanger, move the empty hanger to the end of the rod. When laundry day comes, all your empties are together and easy to grab.
For sleeveless tops, use a hanger with a closed bottom bar rather than an open one — open hangers get snagged and tangled in everything around them.
Multi-item cascade hangers (the ones that hold 3–4 things) look like a space saver, but in practice they're frustrating. Things hang too low, it's hard to get individual items in and out, and they don't actually save that much space. Skip them.
Step 3: Master the File Fold
Have you heard of Marie Kondo? Even if you haven't fully committed to the KonMari method, her folding technique is genuinely game-changing for drawers and shelves.
The idea is called file folding — instead of stacking clothes in a pile where you only ever see the top one, you fold each item into a small rectangle and stand them on their edge, side by side, like files in a filing cabinet. You can see every single item at a glance and pull one out without disturbing the rest.
It takes a little practice to get the fold tight enough that pieces stand on their own, but once you have it, you'll never go back to stacking.
This works especially well for:
T-shirts
Jeans
Athletic wear
Pajamas
For shelves (versus drawers), pair file-folded stacks with shelf dividers to keep everything upright and separated. Without a divider, folded stacks have a tendency to slowly tip and collapse into each other.
Step 4: Choose the Right Bins
The Container Store has approximately one million bin options — which is amazing and overwhelming in equal measure. Here's how to think through it without getting decision fatigue:
Start with function, then add aesthetics. A beautiful basket that snags your cashmere sweater is not a good bin. Figure out what you need first, then find something that looks good doing it.
The Key Questions to Ask Before Buying Any Bin
What am I storing in it? Fabrics need a lined or soft interior. Shoes, accessories, and non-fabric items can go in anything.
Do I want to see what's inside? Clear bins are great for visibility. Opaque bins need labels — no exceptions.
Does it need to stack? If vertical space is limited, stackable bins are your friend. Lidded bins stack; open-top baskets usually don't.
What shape is the bottom? Avoid bins that narrow toward the bottom — you lose storage space and they can tip over easily.
A Few of Karen's Favorites
The Container Store's Everyday Organizers — clear, stackable, versatile. A "shoebox" size works for actual shoes but also for belts, small clutches, and accessories.
Lined fabric bins — great for fabrics and soft items. The lining prevents snagging.
Lidded bins — perfect for seasonal items you want to stack on a top shelf. Just label them.
Step 5: Tackle Shoes and Accessories
Shoes can make or break a closet. Here are the storage options worth knowing about:
Freestanding bamboo shoe racks are sturdy, stackable, and can expand as your collection grows. Look for ones with adjustable risers to maximize the space between pairs.
Hanging canvas shoe organizers work beautifully if you have a long hang section with some unused vertical space.
Clear stackable shoe boxes are great for heels or anything you don't wear daily — you can see what's inside, they stack cleanly, and they protect shoes from dust.
For accessories:
Belts roll up and fit perfectly in a small bin or the drawer of a closet system.
Purses do best stored upright on a shelf or in a bin where they can keep their shape — don't stack heavy bags on top of each other.
Hats can hang on hooks on the inside of a closet door, or sit on a high shelf if they're not worn often.
Step 6: Create Zones
This is the step that turns a "kind of organized" closet into one that actually stays organized. Zones just mean: everything has a home, and similar things live together.
Some zones to consider:
All tops together, all bottoms together, all dresses together
Within each category, organize by color — when you're looking for the blue shirt, you go straight to the blue section
Everyday items toward the front, less-used items toward the back
Seasonal items stored in lidded bins on the top shelf and swapped out when the season changes
The magic of good zones is that even when your closet gets a little messy, putting things back is fast and intuitive. Everything already has a place.
What If Your Closet System Is the Problem?
Sometimes the issue isn't your habits — it's your infrastructure. One shelf and one rod doesn't give you much to work with.
Options to consider:
A full closet redesign — Karen does closet design as part of her services, and a well-designed system practically organizes itself. (One of her clients said after installation: "the closet was so well designed, it organized itself.")
Freestanding drawer units that slide under hanging sections — the Elfa Alpha system from The Container Store is a great modular option
Stacking drawers for smaller items on shelves
Additional rods to add a second hang section in areas where you only need short-hang space
Bonus: Paper Organizing (Yes, Really)
The workshop wrapped with a quick overview of Karen's paper organizing system, which follows the same core logic as everything else: sort first, then purge, then contain.
The two categories for paper are action (things you still need to do something with) and reference (things you're keeping for records). Karen's recommended system for reference filing is called Freedom Filer — a San Diego-based product that uses a color-coded, self-purging filing system so you never have to figure out what to keep or shred again.
Ready to Stop Fighting Your Closet?
If all of this sounds wonderful but the idea of doing it yourself feels like a lot — that's exactly what Karen and her team are here for. Every organizing project is fully customized to your space, your lifestyle, and your budget.
Karen Brothers & Co. has been organizing San Diego homes and businesses since 2015.
📍 Serving San Diego and surrounding areas 🌐 www.karenbrothers.com
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I decide what clothes to get rid of? Start with the backwards hanger trick — turn all hangers backwards and see what you haven't touched in 6 months to a year. Also think about your current "life season." If you're no longer in the phase of life that required those clothes, it's okay to pass them on.
Should I fold or hang my jeans? Fold them. Jeans do fine folded in a drawer or on a shelf and hanging them takes up a lot of rod space.
What's the best way to organize shoes in a small closet? A stackable bamboo shoe rack or clear stackable shoe boxes are the two best options for small spaces. Both maximize vertical space and keep shoes visible and accessible.
How do I stop my closet from getting messy again? Create clear zones so everything has a designated home, keep a donation bag in your closet at all times, and aim for a "one in, one out" rule when you bring new clothes in.
What is file folding? File folding (popularized by Marie Kondo) means folding clothes into compact rectangles and storing them standing on their edge rather than stacked. You can see everything at a glance and grab one item without disturbing the rest.
Does Karen Brothers do closet design? Yes — in addition to hands-on organizing, Karen offers full closet design services. A well-designed closet system makes maintaining organization dramatically easier. Visit www.karenbrothers.com to learn more.
Karen Brothers is a professional organizer and The Container Store's organizing partner in San Diego. She has been organizing homes, businesses, and closets since 2015 and specializes in closet design, paper organizing, and whole-home organization.