Two years after Mark and Ursula Carter and their three children moved into a pretty Colonial in Flossmoor, Illinois, the signs of a family still in the leisurely process of turning a house into a home were everywhere. When it came to their closets, however, they were clearly on the fast track: A peek into any of them revealed the kind of supreme chaos most households take decades to achieve. (Wedding china with winter parkas? That was just the beginning.)

The Carters urgently needed an intervention; Real Simple provided one, with problem-solving products, space-saving ideas, and no shortage of tough-love editing for every closet (pantry, hall, linen, bedroom) in their house. The easy-to-install, easy-on-the-wallet solutions shown on the following pages paid off big in improved accessibility, clutter control, and sanity ("No more kicking stuff out of the way!" Mark crows). With the proper application, they could well put your closets on the road to recovery, too.