Confused as to whether you should start ruffling through the pile on the floor or fight the knotted up hangers, your mood suddenly shifts into disgust, rage and even a tad of depression. Your whole day miraculously takes on those evil moods, and you're so used to them, you think that it's just a part of your personality. If this sounds at all familiar -- you need a feng shui closet makeover!
 
Applying the principles of feng shui to spaces such as drawers, medicine cabinets and closets is so easy that it's scary. Yet I see so many people disrespecting their small spaces. They think: "As long as I have my rooms covered -- I have completely feng shui-ed my home." Wrong. I'd like to remind everyone that feng shui-ing your home is a process that never really is complete because you are an ever-changing person. And as you change, so will your home.

Let's take your closets where your clothes are as an example. New clothes are always coming in, and old clothes are always going out. But the more you keep everything in your closet organized and up to date, the more likely you will start your day off in a better mood.

 

The 50 Percent Rule

So, where do you start? The most likely answer is to go backwards. Removing any and all unnecessary, unused, broken or simply unloved items is a great way to reach what I call the "50 percent real-estate rule." The 50 percent real-estate rule is the rule that at least 50 percent of the total volume of space within a closet be nothing. Yes, you read right, nothing. Now, you have to think 3-D here, as in total volume. I'm not saying you should cut your hanging rod in half, but I am saying that there should be enough space between the hanging items so you can actually see what's there without a major workout. And if there's stuff on the floor below the hanging items (shoes for example), those items should not be touching the hanging items and robbing them of their space.

Another example: If you have drawers or a dresser in your closet, the upper half of the drawer space -- of each drawer-- must not be filled to the top. For some, this 3-D thinking is new, and it may take practice. But I'll guarantee that if you've never had this kind of space in your closets, and then you create it, you will immediately feel the difference.

If this clearing is beyond your current abilities, ask a good friend to help. This should be someone who respects your inability to clear clutter. Please know that weird, uneasy feelings can come up when you're clearing clutter. It is a part of the process and is not a sign that you should stop. Be strong, I know you can do it!

Now, assuming that you've got the place cleared out and the 50 percent rule applied, how can you best place the remaining items to suit your feng shui needs? My advice is to purchase identical hangers for the clothes and dump the bent up wire and mismatched ones. If clothes at the mall were hanging on all sorts of different hangers it would probably bug you, even if it were subconsciously. So, love yourself enough to get a matching set of hangers. I have wooden ones and I love them. It was the best hundred dollars I spent on myself. Yes, it seems frivolous at first, but now I can feel such a difference. My husband even requested I make over his closet after he saw mine!

 

Organizing Your Clothes to Achieve Optimal Feng Shui

  1. Separate your clothes by function: suits, casual tops, jackets, pants, etc. Then separate those categories by color. There are several ways you can line up the colors. One way is to use the creative cycle of the five elements as your basis and go from left to right (e.g. blacks, blues, greens, purples and reds and pinks, oranges and yellows, creams, whites and then grays).
  2. Use the bagua as guidance to separate your clothes, jewelry and shoes so that they have the strongest effect on your life. Not familiar with the bagua? A bagua is a feng shui road map. It divides your home into nine sections (called guas) that correspond to the nine main areas of your life.
Skills and Knowledge, Prosperity and Family
On the left side of your closet, place your jewelry, work clothes, or school clothes. This is where your skills and knowledge, prosperity and family guas are.)

Health, Fame and Reputation and Career
Then place your formal or casual evening or weekend wear including workout clothes in the middle of the closet where the health, fame and reputation and career guas lie.

Creativity, Relationships and Helpful People and Travel
Finally, place your most creative clothes, such as intimate wear and travel clothes (and possibly suitcases) on the right side of your closet to represent the creativity, relationship, and helpful people and travel guas.

Here are some other tips that can help:

  • Make sure that all your shoes are pointing in the same direction in your closet if you want to feel more together and don't want to feel like you are going in a thousand directions all the time.
  • Add deodorizers if shoes are mixed in with clothes -- a baking soda box can go a long way here.
  • Make sure the closet doors are easy to open -- happy tracks for sliders, and happy hinges for regular doors. (This goes for drawers as well. If they're stuck, then usually you are too.)
  • Make sure there is enough light to see everything without effort. Extra wattage can make the difference between a pleasant and a frustrating closet experience.

I hope I've helped you see the merits of creating happy and well-feng-shui-thought-out small spaces in your home.