Closet Cleanout

It’s commonly referred to as a Spring Cleaning epidemic. You go through your closet, vowing to purge, and somehow end up just as full after as it was before your hours of sweat and chaos. But things are a bit more organized, so that’s a bonus. I would like to offer a little assistance. Follow the steps below to not only truly clean out your closet, but also reorganize it AND find news ways to wear what you already have! Efficiency and frugality. *thumbs up*

Make your bed. Put everything away. Clear off surfaces and commit a few hours to the process. Identify four separate places to create piles of clothing, shoes, purses and anything else in your closet. Now turn on some tunes. (Maybe one of our awesome Spotify lists? IJS) Let’s do this:

Take each item out of your closet one at a time and put into one of your four designated areas. Keep. Toss. Maybe. Fix. This is the quickest part of the process. Take no more than 30 seconds per item. Make a quick decision and stick to it.

Keep: Without question. Without hesitation. I will lose a part of my soul if this piece leaves my closet. I wear it more than I don’t. It isn’t going anywhere.

Toss: Bye, Felicia. I haven’t worn it in at least a year (sometimes more). It’s had tags for months on end. It doesn’t even fit right. There’s that huge coffee stain that has persistently refused to go away.

Fix: This is an extension of the Keep pile. I love this. I need it in my life, but it needs a new button, hem, zipper and then it’ll be back in heavy rotation.

Maybe: This may seem like a hard pile, but it’s not. If you love it, but feel like you should toss it. If you haven’t worn it in over a year, but now that you’ve laid eyes on it again you cannot wait to wear it next week for cocktails, but then again it should probably go … Maybe pile.

File your Keep pile back into your closet in an organized fashion. My personal version: Short sleeve, Long sleeve, Pants, Skirts, Short dresses and rompers, Long dresses and rompers, Cardigans and jackets. But organize how you desire. Take your Fix pile and place directly in the car so that you get it all taken care of so that you can add it back into your closet.

Here is the hard part. Look at your Maybe pile. Create a new space where your new Keep pile will be. Now split your Maybe pile in HALF. Yes. Half. You are the only person who will know if you’re cheating or not. But to truly clean out and move on, go piece by piece, taking as much time as you need per item, and place half of the items in your new Keep pile and place half of the items in your existing Toss pile.

Move your new Keep pile back into your closet. Now: Do. Not. Cheat. Take your toss pile and put it in bags. Fold it, throw it, pile it. Just move it into something that makes it easy to remove from the house. Take it somewhere to donate so that other people less fortunate can enjoy what you definitely don’t wear or need anymore.

Happy Frugal Friday. And happy new closet. It’s proven that when you love every single piece in your closet you will be happier getting dressed each day than with an accumulation of items that you only half love.

I’m also happy to help anyone that can’t do this on their own. Feel free to reach out to [email protected] and I am happy to assist any way I can.

Cheers,
Jana