Closet Organizers Increase Closet Capacity

Do you need more closet space? If so, you are in good company. The most commonly heard complaint from homeowners relates to inadequate storage space. It is possible to solve this dilemma without creating a major construction project or without taking space away from adjacent rooms. How can I create more closet space? The answer lies in making more effective and efficient use of your existing closet space. Most people are unaware of the extent of their unused closet space. This unawareness prevents them from using the full capacity of their closets.  You need to think like a closet organizer.

It sounds strange that people are unaware of their potential closet capacity but it is true. Think for a minutes about your closets. What are closets? A closet is basically a large storage bin. The capacity of the bin is pre-defined by the height, width and depth of the closet and the capacity is static. Let's say a typical bedroom closet is 7 feet long, 8.5 feet high and 21 inches deep. That is an enormous 104 cubic feet. That is huge! If the average sized box at the grocery store is 18 inches by 18 inches and 12 inches high, that would mean that your typical closet could fit 45 boxes full of groceries. Your car couldn't even transport that much!

How is it that we can potentially fit more into our bedroom closets than we can in our car? That does not seem to make any sense. The answer lies in our constant and persistent under utilization of our full closet capacity. Often it does not even occur to the average homeowner that they are under-using closet space. Often homeowners are unaware of the true capacity of their closets. Without the implementation of closet organization techniques, people do not even begin to use the full extent and capacity of their closets.

How do you start to maximize your closet storage capacity? There are a lot of major and costlier methods and there are a number of cheap and simple methods. A simple but effective first step in maximizing the storage capacity of closets is to purchase some plastic storage bins. These bins allow like items to be stored together in bulk and kept organized within the closet. Let's use summer toys for children as an example. A family with 2 children would have an assortment of skipping ropes, balls, baseball gloves, knee pads, ankle bells, squirt guns, chalk, helmets, etc. Stored individually, these items could take up a large portion of your front hall closet. However, once combined into a storage bin, these would take up a maximum of a few feet on the top shelf of your closet. With this example you can see how the same items might take up 40% of your closet space if unorganized or 10% of your closet if organized.

Another effective method of maximizing the capacity of any closet is to invest in a closet organizer system. There are hundreds of different closet organizers available on the market today. A quick internet search will result in many different distributors. Closet organizers are essentially a combination of selected storage components that can be permanently installed inside the closet. Closet organizer systems may include a set of shelves or even a few sets of shelves, some drawers or bins, and/or some hanging rods. You might be able to find an organizer that fit your closet and suits your needs. However, if you cannot find the perfect organizer you can always pick and choose independent components and put together your own system. The pre-fabricated closet organizer models tend to be slightly less expensive. Closet organizers can be purchased at any home renovation store or department store. There are also many online distributors of closet organizer systems. A quick Google search will give you the names of distributors in your area.

You may think that you have inadequate closet space when you really have more than you need! Stop complaining and start thinking of ways to maximize the usefulness of the closet space that you already have. You may already possess all of the closet space you could ever want. Perhaps, you will never have ALL of the closet space you would ever want but you likely possess more closet than you realize. The key is to understand that you are under utilizing your current space and to capitalize on your current space. Using your current closet space to its maximum capacity creates more closet space! Before you call the contractor, think about investing in some plastic storage bins or a closet organizer system. Increasing your closet space is easier than it sounds.