Have You Thought About Cleaning Out Your Closet?

Each new year, many of us decide to identify something that’s bothering us and start with a clean slate. For me, it was my closet.

It dawned on me that I have been grabbing the same 5% of all the clothes in my closet over and over again. Why was I not looking at the rest? 

Today, I decided to figure out what’s going on with my wardrobe.

I decided to start with the top row of clothes, which for me contains all of my tops. I knew I didn’t want to tackle the whole closet myself in one go. I can do another section another time. 

I got up on a step stool so that I would not be straining my arms as I worked. I worked my way from left to right, looking at each top. I asked myself these questions:

Does it fit me?

Is it in good condition? 

Do I like the style—would I wear it?

If I said “no” to any question, I took it off the hanger and dropped it to the floor.

As I worked, I made categories: Nightgowns, Dresses, Work-shirts, T-shirts, Blouses, ¾-length sleeves, Long-sleeves, Cardigans/Jackets. These are not the categories for everyone, but they are what work for me.

Within each category, I sorted by color: white, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, grey, black. I put items with patterns in the color section that they looked best in.

When I was done, I had a pile of clothes that I could put into bags and donate. AND I could now move my clothes from side to side easily, which makes picking out clothes much easier. The adequate space and the organization by type and color make it so much less stressful to choose clothes now! 

A final benefit of this activity is that I’ve now refamiliarized myself with all of my tops. I’m excited to wear all of the clothes that I had forgotten about. 

PLUS I now have room to buy just a few new pieces! Happy day!