Do you clean your closet as often as you do the rest of your house? If you haven’t cleaned your closet in a while, here’s my tutorial for how to do it as well as how often you should add it to your cleaning schedule.
You likely clean your bedroom at least once a week, right? Changing bed linens, sweeping or vacuuming the floors, dusting surfaces, picking up 1,234 pet toys a day…but when was the last time you cleaned your closet? If you think about it, you go into your closet multiple times a day. Every single day. So it’s getting the same amount of foot traffic and use as your bedroom. If you haven’t cleaned your closet in a while, here’s exactly what you need to do to get it nice and fresh, as well as how to maintain that clean space on a regular basis.
How To Clean Your Closet
Let’s jump into the basics. In order to keep your closet clean, you have to get it extra clean first. Here’s a step by step walkthrough of how to clean your closet:
1. Start from the top. Dust ceiling light fixtures and the very top shelf. If things are super dusty, you can use a handheld vacuum so all that gunk doesn’t end up on your clothes. If that isn’t possible, it’s a good idea to remove the clothes from the closet for now.
2. Clean hanging rods. Working one rod at a time, take the hanging clothes off and pile them on your bed or a temporary hanging rack like this one. Clean the rod with an all-purpose cleaner and a microfiber cloth. If your hangers squeak on the rod even after the cleaning, you can swipe a sheet of wax paper over it and that will instantly silence them.
3. Clean shelves. Working from the top to the bottom of the closet, remove all items from the shelves and wipe each shelf with a microfiber cloth and disinfectant cleaner. This is especially helpful for shoe shelves. As you put the items back after the shelves have dried, try to arrange them neatly like they would be in a retail store. This will help you keep your closet tidier because it’s more visually appealing and you’ll want to keep it that way.
4. Clean the door and baseboards. Doors in closets seem to get so dusty, and I honestly have no idea why. Those 6 panel doors are the worst about catching dust, but luckily they’re easy to clean. Just dampen a microfiber cloth with some water and wipe around the door panels and hinges. If the hinges squeak, you can apply some WD40. Also swipe that same cloth around the baseboards of the closet.
5. Clean floors and rugs. Last, you’ll clean the floors. The purpose of working from top to bottom is that dust, fabric strings, lint, and dirt from shoes will get wiped downward and end up in the floor. Saving the floors for last helps you avoid doing double the cleanup. Give your floors a good vacuuming, as well as the rug if you have one. You can also take this time to clean mirrors or artwork in your closet, too.
Don’t forget to purge! Every time you clean your closet, you should also keep an eye out for anything you no longer want or need. A jam-packed closet will never look tidy no matter how clean it is, so purging often is a key way to making your closet look organized. If you happen to notice something you haven’t worn in a while or a style of clothing you’ve evolved away from, go ahead and put it in your donation box.
How Often To Clean Your Closet
Now that your closet is nice and clean, let’s talk about how to keep it that way. You don’t have to do this full-on deep cleaning method every week. That would be really unnecessary. But you do need to do a few things on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis to keep it tidy and free of dust and germs.
Daily: Fold or hang clean clothes and put dirty clothes in the hamper. Don’t let clothes pile up in the floor. It only takes a few seconds to put your clothes away, so get in the habit of always putting clothes where they belong. If you wear the same pajamas a few nights in a row, add a basket to store them in so you don’t have to put them back in the drawer with clean clothes.
Weekly: Vacuum floors. By staying on top of vacuuming your closet floors weekly, you’ll never end up with big dust bunnies or pet fur tumbleweeds clinging to the bottom of your low-hanging dresses.
Monthly: Wipe shelves and quick-purge. Dusting shelves should happen at least once a month, but it won’t be as daunting as it was the first time. Now that your folded clothes are more neatly folded and your shoes are arranged in an organized way, you can just move the clothing stacks and shoe rows to dust the shelf, then slide them right back on.
Bi-monthly or Quarterly: Dust the door, clean the baseboards, dust lighting, and rearrange based on seasonal needs.
PS: You can tour my entire closet and find out more about the storage systems I use in this blog post.
Want More Closet Organization Inspo?
Follow me on Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest @lelaburris for easy tutorials and tips for creating a clean and organized closet that suits your lifestyle and daily routines. I share ideas and inspo for all types of closets and budgets, and I’m always testing out new methods, too. Be sure to send me a DM and say hi when you get there!
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