How to: Feel great about your closet

Entering our closets are one of the very first things we do each and every morning.  Does entering your closet feel great, or is it stressful?  Are your clothes neat and tidy, stored in a way that you can see what you’ve got, and reach everything you need?  Or is it jammed full, piles falling over, dust covering items you haven’t touched in years, overflowing with stuff yet you are always at a loss for what to wear?

I want you to feel great about your closet, and here’s how you’re going to do it:

• Categorize what you’ve got. Put all your pants in one place, all your t-shirts in another, and all your sweaters in another.  Put dresses/suites in another pile, jackets in another, and skirts in yet another.  Now you’ve got a clear picture on just how much STUFF you have.  This perspective makes it easier to see what you have an excess of, and where you can trim.  Do you have 23 sweaters, 17 t-shirts, 35 pairs of pants?  Any reasonable person can agree that this is likely an excess amount – yet it’s not uncommon for us to see clients with this many articles of clothing and more stuffed in their closet.  Pair down each category of clothing to that which still fits and you have worn in the last year.  Donate the rest to someone in our community who could put that clothing to good use.

• Re-organize that which you intend to keep. Hang like items together and separate out your winter/fall clothes from your spring/summer clothes.  Put off-season clothing in another closet or in some plastic storage bins for safe keeping.  The current season clothing should be hung or folded neatly in a way that makes it easy to find what you are looking for.  Some people like to categorize their clothing by color, others like to categorize their clothing by type (jackets in one area, blouses in another, pants in another), and still others hang their clothing by outfit.  Whatever works for you, be sure your clothing is stored in a way that is easy and functional for you.

• Anything that is dusty should GO, immediately. If something has been sitting in your closet so long that a layer of dust has started to form, then you most certainly don’t use it often and it shouldn’t be taking up precious storage space in your closet, into which you go every day.  Donate these items and free up some storage space!

• Make it a habit to sort through your closet at least once per year. Once each year, or maybe even twice per year (when you switch from warm to cool weather clothing), take a good hard look at every shelf and every nook and cranny of your closet and remove anything that doesn’t belong there.  Re-fold and re-hang anything that needs tidying up.  Once you get into the habit of going through these items one or two times/year, the task won’t seem so monumental and will only take you a few minutes.