We’ve all done it– standing in front of the closet in a trance wondering what to wear or wondering where that favorite fuchsia scarf could be hiding. It’s usually not so much a matter of nothing to wear but a matter of being able to easily find what you do have.
My answer to this was to purge out my closet. I did my “purge” in several phases over a 3-month period. And to this day I follow a strict rule of “one piece coming in means one piece has to go out”– I don’t want to go back to my jumbled junky closet. Here are my rules for Closet Success:
1. If you haven’t worn something in a year it goes regardless of condition, price or size. If you haven’t worn it in a year, you probably never will.
2. If you have a piece of clothing that every time you wear it you feel annoyed– dump it.
3. If it’s waiting to be mended–enough is enough. Are you really going to pull out the needle and thread yourself?
4. If you hate to iron–why do you still have an ironing pile? Get rid of everything in the “ironing pile.”
5. It’s okay to keep a few “skinny” clothes (we all do it) but you don’t need to keep all of them. Styles change, you change, your body shape changes so chances are that when you get back to the magical “skinny size” you’re going to want new stuff anyway.
6. Sentimental clothes you never wear should not reside in your closet. Either take a picture to preserve the memory or limit yourself to one bag of “clothes to show my kids”.
7. Don’t hang onto pieces that are “kind of okay” because you don’t have anything better as a replacement. Let them go.
8. You don’t have to do everything all at once. Purge in stages and be motivated by your success. One week you could do shirts, the next week jeans, etc.
9. Try everything on. This can not be stressed enough. A blouse that is too tight belongs in the purged pile. Even if the pattern is beautiful and you only wore it once 10 years ago when you were in college.
10. Don’t over-stuff your closet space. Cramming your clothes into the closet and battling every morning to find something to wear won’t make your closet grow bigger. It will only make you cranky…every single day.
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