Five Tips for Organizing Fitness Clothes

This week's Friday Five theme, hosted by Courtney at Eat Pray Run DC, Mar at Mar On The Run, and Cynthia at You Signed Up For What, is What's New. What's new with me is that I recently completed one of my summer goals to organize my fitness clothes, as I mentioned last week.

Here are my top five tips for organizing fitness clothes.

1. Have one space for fitness clothes. Whether you lay out your workout clothes the night before a run like I do or grab something right before a workout, having all your clothes in one place makes putting outfits together a snap. I bought a $99 four-drawer chest of drawers from Ikea to house all my fitness clothes.

The mornings have been blissfully cool this week, but I never know exactly how cool--long-sleeve cool? Or just short-sleeve cool? So I use the the top of the chest to lay out two different options. When I wake up, I check the weather and grab whatever outfit is the most appropriate.

My big debate was whether to also put my casual gear in the same chest--pieces that I'd wear to-and-fro workouts or for walking the dog or around the city. I decided that since I wear so much of my fitness clothes casually, it made sense for me to put everything together. So this chest also includes daily activewear pieces.

2. Fold instead of hang (if you're short on closet space). I live in a house built more than 120 years ago that didn't originally have closets, and the only closets are small ones other owners added over the years. I hang my work clothes to keep them wrinkle-free, so there's little closet space remaining for my workout clothes. I have only a few very bulky fitness items hanging up (jackets and long sweatshirts) because they would take up less room than if I folded them. Most of my stuff isn't bulky so I can fit way more clothes into drawers than I could hanging them up.

3. Stack vertically instead of horizontally. I got this tip from Insightful Athlete. Stacking vertically lets me see all my options at a glance so that outfits are easy to put together and I don't forget about what I have. I stack my tanks, short-sleeve tops, crops, and tights vertically. I stack my long-sleeve tops, skorts, jackets, and other bulkier items horizontally.
Front: Bra-less tanks organized by brand.
L-R Lululemon; Athleta; Lorna Jane; Oiselle
Back: Short-sleeve tees, casual tanks, and tanks with built-in bras
L-R: Race tees; Athleta casual tees; Athleta and Oiselle running tees;
Lululemon Scoop Neck, Push Ur Limits, and Power Y tanks
Left: Sports bras (most stacked vertically)
Right: Casual long-sleeve tees in front; running long-sleeve tees in back
Front: Running and yoga crops organized by brand then skorts stacked horizontally
Back: Running and yoga tights organized by brand; running rain jacket; more skorts stacked horizontally

4. Store headbands, hats, and socks in small bags or bins. I wear a headband or hat and, of course, socks every time I run, so these items need to be at my fingertips. I'm re-using my Lululemon shoppers to store them. I keep these right next to the chest of clothes. I will probably buy nicer looking small bins, but for now this is a free option that works for me.
Lululemon Bangbusters
Running hats

5. Don't put all off-season clothes away. I reserved one drawer for some of my winter clothes. You never know when the weather will change, and some mornings and evenings get pretty chilly in summer. I like to keep some of my clothes out so that I don't have to dig through my box of winter items if I need them.
Jackets with some rolled-up long summer tunics in between
Can't wait to read what's new with everyone else! Check them out too through the linkup!

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