I have yet to see a walk-in closet on any remodeling or home improvement TV shows that I feel is adequately sized to house my wardrobe. My dream for the longest time was to have my own walk-in closet, and that dream came to fruition about four years ago when we moved into our current home. There is a small, extra bedroom that presents as the perfect space to act as a closet. Besides being a place to keep my clothing, shoes, handbags, and jewelry, I have the room to create outfits and to get dressed. It serves as the backdrop for many of my photos, too!
This is not your typical closet with built-in shelves, stuff from Ikea, or that Rubbermaid closet system. I had a vision before moving into the house, but not a lot of money. My space is composed of racks and storage systems that you can easily get from places like Walmart and Amazon, plus I am utilizing furniture that came with the home. In this blog post you will learn how to organize a walk-in closet on a budget with my tips, tricks, and hacks. You can easily transform these into your space, even if you have a regular closet. To accomplish this, we are going on a full, virtual tour.
One of my favorite things to do is give what I officially call “the tour” for guests. Both my uncle and my best friend had the same reaction when visiting my closet, but said in different words. One asked me where the cash register is located, while the other commented it looks like a store. Anyway, without further ado, let’s enter the room.
Fall/Winter Clothing
We are going to start how to organize a walk-in closet on a budget on the immediate left of the room. Here you will find all of my pants. They are organized from leggings/jeggings, dress pants, capris, blue denim jeans, solid colored jeans and pants, to printed pants. You will notice that the leggings/jeggings and dress pants are kept on multi-layered hangers, which saves space. I love these adjustable racks from Kmart for my pants, but shopping at Kmart pretty much does not exist anymore. They hold up well as long as you do not super over fill them. If you have graded ceilings like I do, look for racks with adjustable height. Adjustable length is also great to utilize extra space that you would not be able to do otherwise.
After the pants are my long sleeve shirts. They are organized from regular shirts, sweaters, sheer, lace, plaid/flannel, bodysuits, and faux fur vests. I keep them on a Commercial Garment Rack from Bed, Bath, and Beyond. It is very sturdy and takes abuse well.
This is a great time to talk about hangers, as you are seeing them now and will continue to as the post goes on. I used to keep my clothes on the plastic hangers that come with clothes from the store, but I therapeutically tossed them one-by-one off our back porch and into a dumpster before we moved out. From there, I bought legit plastic hangers. I have a ton of clothes, and cramming is key, so I ended up donating my store-bought plastic hangers to our local playhouse for use with their costumes, and then bought velvet hangers in bulk. The key is to compare prices to get the most quantity for the cheapest price. I ordered 400 hangers from eBay, and yes the boxes were as crazy as that sounds. The main benefit of velvet hangers is that they are thin, and thus space-saving. However, they also provide a uniform and clean look to your wardrobe because all of your items hang at the same height and the hangers look the same.
For pant hangers I buy some cheap metal clip hangers from Amazon, plus I use what we found at our old house.
Related Post: How to Wear a Flannel Shirt for Fall
For boots not categorized as booties, I have a total of four boot holders that hold three pairs of boots. I keep them under my fall/winter clothing racks to take advantage of that space. Mine are Mainstays from Walmart, but I found some similar ones at the end of this post.
For all other types of shoes, my family gifted me this eight shelf rack. I am not sure where it came from, but it is super sturdy. My tips for maximizing shoe storage space is to place one shoe facing forward and the other backward. For ballet flats, or any flat shoe, store them on top of each other. Booties work best on the top rack if they are a bit taller.
These vertical cube organizers came out of my childhood closet from our old house, but they make how to organize a walk-in closet on a budget a trendy dream that still works today. I have had these all my life and I am sure they are as old as me, but I repurposed them to store shoes by stacking them up. Again, you see here that I have one shoe facing forward and the other backward. Booties work best here, and I get the most out of the space by putting tall booties on the top.
This two-shelf organizer goes along with the vertical cubes above. I again rotate the shoes here and stack flats up, and I utilize all the space by even placing items below the second shelf. This fits great nestled under my shorts.
For the past four years I used the Mainstays Closet Organizer. The same week that I am writing this post, I retired it and replaced it with a new rack, as I also re-organized the entire room. I love this rack and I still recommend it for those who have a normal amount of stuff. If you are like me and completely abuse your clothing racks, it may not be the one for you. One of the plastic supports for the top bar snapped, and the side with the shoe holders started bending and leaning. I nearly repurchased it when the plastic snapped, but I went down the rabbit hole of suggested products, until I found something different.
I replaced it with the Amazon Basics Expandable Metal Hanging Storage Rack. This is better for me because it is all steel, while still giving me the same amount of shelving. I do have to give up the shoe holder with this one, which is a shame, but I will recover. I recommend buying some standard size storage cubes if you want to keep items stored away.
The Mainstays rack comes with three huge storage cubes, but they do not fit on the Amazon rack.
Both racks are fairly easy to assemble, especially if you have help. You can even use them for non-clothing items. My dad plans on buying the Amazon rack to use in the basement to organize our junk! I have only had the Amazon rack for one week at the time of this writing, so I cannot speak to it’s durability under abuse.
My trick to organize purses is to buy $.94 shower curtain hooks and hang them from the wire shelves! I can see all of my bags and access them easily by hanging them from loops or simply tucking the straps inside. If there is extra space below the hanging bags, I can slip flatter bags underneath onto the shelf itself. On the top two shelves I am storing handbags that can stand on their own, and I am stacking clutches.
I even have some handbags hanging on the outside of the rack with shower curtain hooks!
The two clothing poles are extendable, so the longer you make them, the farther apart the top two shelves will be. The shelves will touch if you do not extend the poles, and you can add extra support by connecting them with zip ties.
On the top pole I store my spring and summer shirts. They are sorted by 3/4 sleeves, short sleeves, bodysuits, tank tops, and sleeveless shirts. After those you will find my romper collection, and some shirts with longer hems.
On the bottom pole I store my shorts. For the most part, they are organized by length, going from blue denim, to colored, printed, and then “soft shorts.” Soft shorts are fabric shorts that often feature an elastic waistband. After the shorts I have a two-piece set outfits.
Next in how to organize a walk-in closet on a budget are all of my dress clothes. I keep them on a rack that you can find at Walmart that is highly similar to the Bed, Bath, and Beyond rack I talked about earlier in this post, just taller, but still sturdy and takes abuse. It is organized by long hem tunic shirts, cardigans, jumpsuits, skirt/shirt combos, long sleeve fall/winter dresses, long sleeve fall/winter blouses, short sleeve dresses, sleeveless dresses, blouses, and skirts. I keep my hamper under this rack because I do not have a better place for it.
We already know the velvet hangers save space, but I like to make my own combos and hang them together. For example, if I have a shirt and skirt that I always wear together, I fold the skirt over the bottom part of the hanger, and then put the shirt on the hanger with the skirt inside. Just make sure the inner garment is neat and flat.
I have a farmstyle a-frame rack that I purchased to add extra storage space. I am so mad that I cannot find it on Walmart’s website anymore, but, Urban Outfitters sells a similar version. This rack comes in handy when I am shooting outfit blog posts as a place to stage my outfits. For now, I am using it to hang my wigs and faux hair, as they are rather bulky. This rack also holds my multi-hangers for storing camis, tank tops, and strapless shirts. These items hang long and are rather heavy, so I would rather put them on this rack and keep them out of my way.
The bottom shelf is somewhat of a catch all right now. I am using one of the spare storage cubes from my old Mainstays rack and put the shoes from it’s shoe storage cubbies inside. I really do not have the space to add in a proper shoe rack right now. Otherwise, the shelf holds a very tall pair of boots and a few handbags.
This wardrobe came with the house, but I convinced my dad to paint it white. Little did I know that my cat would take her claws to it. Oh well! I am maximizing the space between the wall and the wardrobe by keeping my scarves hanging. I put two Command hooks on the wardrobe, and I have my scarves on hangers. I do not own that many, nor do I wear them very often, to need them out in the open. They are bulky anyway.
Inside of the wardrobe itself is where I store my undergarments and pajamas, which are items that I would rather not show the world.
On the wardrobe doors I have two different styles of hooks, one of which that I use to store small clutch handbags, and the other is a great place to stage an outfit for the next day.
I have had this multi-hook over-the-door rack for many, many years now. On it I hang handbags that are either bulky or have long straps, making them not fit to go on shower curtain hooks on my big rack. No matter how I organize the bags, they always look messy. I am always open to suggestions on how to organize a walk-in closet on a budget from you! But, if I moved them, I am not sure where they would go, or what I would put on this rack.
Fun fact about me, I have wanted a mannequin for several years. Finally, I took to the internet and found one at an agreeable price! I love to dress it up in my own clothes or use it for blog posts.
If you are looking for an over the door mirror, Walmart comes out with cheap ones during back to school time! This is great for selfies or simply viewing your outfit. I added the hook on top.
Related Post: Best Women’s Hats for Fall | Staples
I keep my hats on a toy chain! Mine is from Amazon and it comes with clips with hooks. I then have the hats hanging in a layered way so that I can see each one. I can easily access all of them, plus the blouses on the end of the clothing rack. Pick up an extra toy chain to organize the kid’s toys!
For extra decoration, I have this gold detail bench. It came with the house, and I recall my mom arguing with me that she wanted it for herself, but clearly I won out. This is a great place to sit and put your shoes on, or shoot makeup selfies like I do. I embellish it with a fun pillow and a faux fur rug. All of my guests are familiar with this notorious rug and my “do not walk on it” rule.
Time to talk about jewelry! I finally ditched my juvenile earring/necklace holders and found some awesome handmade ones on Etsy from Langdon Studio. I bought two of them to store over 200 earrings, plus you get seven pegs on each for necklaces. These racks enable me to better see what I have. I have doubled-up on the necklaces.
I also have these hanger-style racks from Dollar Tree, which hold earrings and necklaces. I like to keep multi-strand necklaces on these to eliminate tangles.
Here is a great way to utilize a dresser for how to organize a walk-in closet on a budget. I am using a dresser that came with the house and organizing jewelry on top of it. As you can see, I have a variety of trinket trays, ring holders, jewelry boxes, necklace trees, and bracelet tiers. I am a visual person, and I like to see what I have to pick from.
Everyone needs a few trinket trays in their life, not just for jewelry, but for the odds an ends. The necklace bust is actually from the jewelry case from Sears! I bought it when they went out of business. Other items are from Walmart, and really all over.
The wood on the back of the dresser is ugly, so i bought a standard, white fabric tablecloth from Walmart to cover the back up. The items on top of the dresser hold the tablecloth down.
The pink jewelry box belonged to my grandmother, and I keep her jewelry inside.
I have another hanger-style holder for necklaces and earrings from Dollar Tree.
One year for Christmas, my parents gifted me with this mirrored armoire. It can hold earrings, necklaces, and rings, plus it has shelves and an area that is great for bracelets.
This jewelry armoire was a gift from my grandparents several years ago. It has side doors that open up, and I keep my statement necklaces on the left, and regular necklaces on the right. The top lid opens up to reveal a ring holder, mirror, and open section for whatever you want. I keep random stuff in the drawers, from boxed jewelry, to sunglasses, and seasonal/holiday jewelry.
Inside of the dresser drawers is where I keep my sweatshirts, t-shirts, and tank tops, most of which are for wearing around the house. I have one drawer filled with professional clothes back when I thought I would land a fancy office job.
The top two drawers house my choker necklace collection.
I am topping off how to organize a walk-in closet on a budget with belts. The shoe rack has holes on either side, which is where I keep my belt collection and an umbrella that I only use for fashion. I can easily access my belts and see them all!
I like to keep my belts, face masks, wig bags, and more on these Mainstays Multipurpose Closet Hooks.
Shop the post
Clothing Racks:
Featured | Standard Rod Garment Rack + Commercial Rolling Clothing Rack + Expandable Metal Hanging Storage Rack + Jones Clothing Rack
Jewelry Organization:
Featured | Jewelry Organizer Rack + Wall Hanging Jewelry Organizer + Velvet 3 Tier Bracelet Holder + White Resin Ring Hand Form + Marble Ceramic Ring Dish + Ceramic Trinket Dish + Leaf Trinket Dish + Cat Ring Holder + Starfish Ring Dish + White Ceramic Ring Dish + Jewelry Bust Holder + Mannequin Necklace Display + Two-Layer Jewelry Box + Silver Crushed Diamond Box + Jewelry Box + 3 Tier Necklace Organizer + Mirror Jewelry Cabinet + Jewelry Armoire
Shoe Storage:
Featured | 3 Pair Boot Rack + Stackable Horizontal Organizer + 8 Tier Shoe Tower + 4 Cube Vertical Organizer
Hangers:
Featured | Cami Hanger + Pant Hangers + 50 Pack Velvet Hangers + 6 Tier Skirt Organizer + Multi-layer Pant Hanger + Metal Loop Scarf Hanger
Hooks & Extras:
Featured | Multipurpose Closet Hooks + Rectangular Tablecloth + White Shower Hooks + 6 Cube Storage Bins + Toy Chain + Faux Fur Bench + Over-the-door Mirror + Acrylic Facets Coat Hook + 9 Hook Rack + Over-the-door Hook + Female Mannequin + Faux Fur Area Rug
Conclusion
We are at the end of how to organize a walk-in closet on a budget. My route is a lot cheaper than trying to buy built-ins or closet systems. Of course, I did not buy everything all at one time. I recommend that you start with a vision, and then begin buying piece-by piece. Even if you do not have a walk-in closet or a room to serve as one, you can use these tips, tricks, and finds to organize a normal closet or even your bedroom. There is so much on the market to help you save space and money in a way that is elegant. I hope this post inspires you to do a spring cleaning and to customize your space. Until next time, continue to let your true beauty shine.
Are you a clothing hoarder or minimalist?
2 Responses
I love closet organisation!
Danielle xx
https://www.thereluctantblogger.co.uk/
Now I just have to take care of my junk closet. Send help!