If you’ve ever watched an HGTV bedroom reveal or a Youtuber showing off her refreshed closet, you have probably viewed a minimal, attractive closet. Wooden hangers hung with pretty colored clothing, spaced an inch apart. Shoes lined up just so. An airy, uncluttered, beautiful closet perfectly curated with all the right pieces.
If you’re anything like me, you immediately ponder how you can get your closet to look just a teensy bit like the one on the screen. And then you go and look in your closet and realize it’s just not possible. But I’m here to tell you we can all take a step in that direction. While it will take some work, all of our closets can look a bit better and, more importantly, function better. Today I’m sharing: A Closet Clean Out for All of Us.
Why A Closet Clean Out
Real quick before we get to the practical side of a Closet Clean Out, let’s get clear on why it will benefit us. First, all of us get dressed (almost) everyday. We open up our closet and make a decision on what to put on our bodies. The less clothes we have to sort through in the morning, the better. Why? When our closet is only filled with the things we wear and love, we don’t have to sort through the rest: the out of season clothes, the ill fitting clothes, the clothes we just don’t like. We simply can choose an outfit that we love day after day.
Another reason for a closet clean out is others can benefit from what we don’t wear. You’ve probably heard this statistic: We wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time. Let’s let the 80% go so others can wear what we aren’t.
The last reason for a closet clean out is to have that attractive, functional closet we see on HGTV and YouTube. It’s not going to be perfect, but it can be functional and bring us a little joy each day when it holds only the things we wear and love.
A Closet Clean Out for All of Us
Most of us have multiple closets in our home. Hall closets, bathroom closets, entry way closets, clothes closets, pantry closets. Today, let’s focus and get clarity on our clothes closet.
Before we begin, I want to acknowledge we all have varying degrees of time and energy. We also all have closets with different amounts of clutter and organization. Instead of sharing a one size fits all closet clean out, I’m going to share three phases each building upon one another. You can start with Phase One and call it a day or you can move through all three phases when you have the time and energy. Let’s head into the closet.
Phase One
Let’s start small, but still make progress. We are going to declutter the obvious things that need to go: stained, ripped, and unwearable clothing. Finally get those out of the closet. Let’s also remove anything we haven’t worn in over two years. We are going for the easy wins here. These are decisions we don’t have to think too much about.
After the first pass through, let’s box up all out of season clothing. When this post goes live, we are at the front end of spring. All fall and super wintery clothing can go in a tote or an Amazon box and get put out of sight. I suggest under the bed or in another room.
Phase Two
You’ve made it through Phase One and you want to take your closet a step further. Let’s dig a bit deeper and box up half of what’s left in the closet. Don’t stop reading, we aren’t getting rid of these, yet. Choose things you don’t reach for often. Don’t think too much about it, just take half of everything and put it in a box or another room. We are going to leave it there for two weeks and see what we miss and want to keep. This is a good exercise in how many of our clothes we actually wear. You might discover you wear a lot of your wardrobe or you may find you don’t miss as much as you thought. It’s a great, low risk experiment in dressing with less.
When the two weeks are up, donate or sell any clothing you didn’t miss or reach for during the last few weeks. If this makes you nervous, keep it for another two weeks and then make decisions.
Phase Three
If you’ve made it through the first two phases and want more, get ready. This is the deep work. Look at what’s left in your closet and do a gut check. Let’s be real with ourselves and ask some hard questions. Instead of asking: Have I worn this in the last 6 months? We are going to ask: Would I buy this again? If the answer is yes, we will dig deeper and ask: Can I live without it? I know these questions could seem extreme, but I have found the way to a beautiful, curated closet (and life) is being real with ourselves, cutting way down on what we own, and only keeping the things we truly wear and enjoy.
Once you’ve asked the hard questions on the items in your closet and let go of the ones you wouldn’t buy again, it’s time to organize. Friends, there is no right way to organize. The only right way is the way that works for you. You can organize by color, category, height of item. Decide what works best for you and organize accordingly.
If you’re still reading and completed all three phases…Congratulations!
Maintenance
If we want our closets to keep functioning well, maintenance will be required. One rule I like to use is the 1 in 1 out rule. If I purchase something new, another item has to leave my closet. This keeps me accountable and doesn’t let my closet get out of control.
Something else to consider when it comes to purchasing new items: only bring in items that go with things currently in our closets. If we want to buy a skirt, but have nothing to wear with it, chances are we won’t wear the skirt or we will purchase a few more things to make it work. If we are intentional with our purchases moving forward, our closets will continue to function well.
There also may be times we need to do another declutter. I shoot for a few times a year, usually when the seasons change. My preferences change and so does my body, so I try and let go of items that are no longer serving me.
A beautiful, functional closet is possible for all of us! Will you do a Closet Clean Out this spring?