An Organizing Tip to File Under “Make My Life Easier”

Have you ever wanted to get to that t-shirt that’s at the bottom of your drawer, and you have to dig down through several layers of other clothing to get to it? Or more frustrating: when your daughter (or son!) can’t seem to find THAT PERFECT TEE and empties the entire chest of drawers looking for it? Well, my friends, I’m about to give you a secret that will make your life – and getting dressed – so much easier.

If you are a follower of the latest organizing trends, you probably already know about filing your clothes. Professional organizers have been doing it for a while now, and I am always excited when I get to teach my clients about this easy trick, which makes such a difference in their lives. Marie Kondo recently made this practice popular with her KonMari Method where she advocates the same thing.

Folding your clothes is an art.

What you do next is the REAL masterpiece.

We call it filing your clothes, because, like a file drawer, you store your clothing vertically in the drawer like a file folder drawer. You are then able to see every piece of clothing and you can literally “page” through your drawer’s contents with your fingertips to select the t-shirt with the right color, logo, pocket or buttons that you want to wear that day.

Life changing for many – and time saving for those poor parents who end up having to put everything back in the drawer!

Here’s how you do it:

Fold

There are many ways to fold a t-shirt – whatever method you use, just be consistent.

Here’s my favorite way:

When folding vertically, fold the t-shirt to match the height of the drawer: in some cases, you might need to fold a t-shirt in half twice, or in thirds.

File

Place the t-shirt in the drawer and keep adding more behind it to create your file. Don’t worry about having it perfectly folded, either – the main objective is to be able to see your clothes. You might need to use drawer dividers (I love these) to keep your rows straight. I also like to file by the rainbow colors (ROYGBIV), but you may prefer to file by your children’s favorite princesses, superheroes or video game characters. Just dive in, give it a try and you’ll see how it works – and how WELL it works!

If you’re going to implement this system in your children’s drawers, be sure to teach them how they can easily pull one item out and put it back in. This simple step has helped make many happy clients – and even happier moms!