The professional organizer's mantra is that an organized closet can save you time, aggravation and money. A sense of order in your closet can also give you peace of mind. Here are some tried-and-true suggestions to get you in the frame of mind to create your sense of order in the closet:

1. Make sure that you can see what's in your closet. That way you know what you have and won't buy a duplicate when shopping.

2. After sorting your clothes and determining what to keep, group by length. There are four basic types of storage in closets: long hang, short hang, shelves and baskets. They can be further grouped by color and print.

3. Clothes can also be separated another way by type: casual, dress and seasonal (or out-of-season). Out-of-season items can be placed on hard-to-reach top shelves in clear bins or garment bags. To keep moths out, put some cedar sticks in with your clothes. More frequently used items should be kept on easy-to-access lower shelves.

4. A word about clothes hangers: Specialty wood hangers are the premium hangers for keeping your clothes at their best. However, many prefer inexpensive tubular plastic hangers because they can also be used to drip dry wet clothes or dry damp clothes from the dryer. In any case, the recommendation is to get rid of the wire hangers! They bend, get tangled up, don't support your clothes and leave wire lines as well. Many dry cleaners will be happy to take your wire hangers and recycle them.

5. Love your shoes? A shoe rack (or two or more) can be your best friend. Hanging shoe racks that you can hang from the back of your door are perfect for a small closet. Or you can find pouch-type organizers that hang specifically from a closet pole or wire shelf. They're not only good for shoes but for accessories like scarves and belts.

   Some diehards still prefer to keep the original shoe boxes to store their shoes and stack them on shelves. With scanners and digital camera, it's easy now to take a picture of one shoe and attach to the box.
   You can also stack shoes on the floor, but they'll get dusty. If you insist on using the floor, point each pair of shoes in a different direction. It will give you more room.

6. Speaking of scarves and belts, there are accessories you can add to keep them organized. Tie and belt racks. Need we say more?

7. A valet rod (or two) enables you to stage clothing the night before and saves valuable time in the morning. One valet rod goes a long way.