Organizing the Closet

Our closet is located at the front end of our 5th wheel, which has a sloping wall. I looked at several different ways to organize this area. I bought the flat felt hangers that have tabs in the center so that you can stack them. I found them on clearance at Bed Bath & Beyond, so I bought more than enough. My plan was to hang three hangers per slot with them being stacked, but I decided that we don’t need that many clothes (it was a ton and weighed about that much, too), so I changed my mind and decided to only hang one hanger per slot and get rid of a LOT more clothes.

It was tough downsizing all of our clothes from our house’s walk-in closet to our RV closet. For my really nice, name brand or business clothing and shoes, I took them to a local upscale clothing consignment shop so that I’ll get some of my money back. I don’t like selling clothes in garage sales or online because you get pennies on the dollar for what you paid and it’s just too much hassle for too little cash. If the clothing items are collectible, such as sports jerseys, I sell them on eBay because the return is worth the investment. Other than that, everything else goes to a local charity thrift store. I will ask for a receipt and I track my donations online at Its Deductible by Turbo Tax. When tax time rolls around, Turbo Tax automatically pulls the data from Its Deductible and calculates it for me – simple as that.

Now, for organizing the closet. I wasn’t sure what to do with the top shelf since the wall behind it is sloped. At first, I thought about putting our shoes up there, which would have been a great fit. Problem was, even with all the hanging slots and a six-drawer dresser, we still had socks, tank tops, and hats that didn’t have a home. So, I moved the shoes to the floor because with only hanging one hanger per slot instead of stacking three, the clothes no longer drug the floor. That left me with the entire top shelf to figure out what to do with. I was about to donate a bunch of plastic baskets out of our house pantry when I realized that they may fit on that shelf. Sure enough, they fit perfectly. Problem solved. These baskets can be purchased at Wal-Mart.

Behind the hanging clothes, there are some built-in cubbies which cannot be seen and are difficult to access when clothes are hung, so I wanted to place rarely-worn clothes back there. Plastic drawers from Wal-Mart fit great in some spots and Dollar Store lidded bins fit nicely in smaller cubbies. This is where I store swimsuits, sports jerseys, dress shoes, and seasonal items.

We’re lucky enough to have a six-drawer dresser in our 5^th Wheel, which helps tremendously with unhangable clothes such as underwear, pajamas, and loungewear. In order to make the most of this drawer space, I found some pressure-coiled drawer dividers at Bed Bath & Beyond. FYI: These dividers are a bit expensive but can also be used in cabinets to separate and support canned goods or kitchen items.

One last tip: I have a ton of tank tops because I have lived in layering climates for so long and they go with everything – by themselves, under a sweatshirt, under a cardigan, to provide a little extra coverage under a revealing shirt, etc. So, even though I store some of my tank top collection in the plastic basket on the top shelf, I also wanted to have easy access to my most-worn ones. I found lots of ideas, such as using shower hooks on a hanger, which I felt would all slide to one side and as an OCD neat freak, that just wouldn’t do. Another item I was about to send to the thrift store was a hanging belt organizer that I’ve had for as long as I remember and have no idea where I got it (sorry). I actually dug it out of the donation bag and used it to hang my tank tops – perfect!

Which closet storage hack can you use?