After I moved to a new apartment, I used the opportunity to totally reorganize my somewhat nightmarish closet. Previously, I had organized my clothes by color and type. My clothes hung in rainbow order with t-shirts, long sleeve shirts, pants, sweaters, and skirts grouped together. Yet somehow, I was still struggling to pick out outfits in the morning, leafing through my beach dresses to get to my work appropriate sheaths.

When I rearranged my closet, I was struck by organizational inspiration. I moved all of my work-appropriate dresses to one end, and all of my beach dresses to another. Instead of grouping clothes by type, I moved tops I wear to work or on more casual days. Tees were moved to my dresser along with any casual pants. And it turns out my instinct was right. Self magazine reported in their September issue that organizational expert Jill Martin recommends grouping clothing items by theme ( work versus play, fancy vs casual) to achieve your dream closet.