Culling the Closet September 17, 2012

Your closet…you go into it every day and hope for the best!  You hope to pull something together that makes you feel good, fits well and makes a statement.  Honestly, why keep something that doesn’t make you feel good, doesn’t fit or is not really you?

So, as we enter Fall and the change in weather dictates a change in clothes, I thought it would be a great time to talk about your clothing in your closet (well you can tackle the dressers too).

In general:

• each item needs a decision – keep, toss, repair, sell or donate – use boxes for repair and sell, white bags for donate and black bags for toss – keep stays and goes back in!
• place like items together – in one section or in one bin so it is easy to locate items
• invest in sturdy plastic or wooden hangers – metal hangers can be damaging to your garments
• only have 5 or so extra hangers in your closet, store the rest in a bin or hang them in your laundry area
• if you have a lot of belts/ties/scarves/baseball hats – invest in a specific organizers made especially for that item to keep them together, to keep them in good condition and allow you to find what you are looking for when you want it
• if room allows, in every closet have a donate bag/bin for items that you find that can go out
•  have about 20% free space for some growth and ease in finding what you have

With those general rules, move onto the processing steps to get it done.

1. First, decide if you want your closet to hold both seasons of clothing or just the current season.  If you decide to only house the current season, make sure you use appropriate storage containers for the out of season clothing to prevent damage and label every box for easy retrieval.  Store all out of season clothing in one location for the entire family.
2. Get started by pulling out like items in batches – do all of your pants, then all of your shirts, then all of your sweaters and so on.  It is much easier to part with unworn, damaged, out of style or non-fitting items when you see all the same type in one pile.  I bet you didn’t realize you had 6 black sweaters!
3. Place like with like in a pile on your bed – go through each grouping and bag or box up the items going.  Allow some time for this project – try things on, enlist a trusted friend to tell you how things look.  Remember, dress for where you want to go in life and how you want to be perceived!  Replace the keep items at one end of the closet.
4. After going through every single item – shoes included, set up your closet.  I prefer light to dark in each grouping (pants, shirts, dresses).  You could also hang all work items together and then casual together or create outfits.
5. If redoing the closet is a project; going through everything first will allow you to really design the closet for the amount of hanging/folded/shoe space you actually need.  Some low cost solutions: if your drawers are overflowing, easy hanging closet organizers may be able to help with that.  And, a low hanging bar that hangs from the top rail could give you twice the short hanging space if that is an issue.
6. If you are going through your young child’s closet – consider visibility and accessibility – if they can’t see or reach it, they can’t find it or get it/re-hang it.
7. A quick comment on clothing you want to “get back into” – do not store those items in your closet with what you are wearing now.  Put them in a drawer or tote to have available if that achievement comes, but having them staring at you every day only screams at you that they don’t fit!  Embrace where you are and have your closet full of wearable clothing.
8. Lastly, as you acquire new items, follow the one in – one out rule.  That will keep your closet from getting over stuffed.

I hope this gives you some incentive to really tackle your closet.  Organized closets will create less stressful mornings and home exits!