It’s easy to shut the door to your closet and ignore the cluttered stacks of clothes, shoes, and accessories you probably haven’t worn in ten years. But having a functional, organized closet will not only make your morning routine more pleasant, it’ll also help you feel less stressed the rest of the day as well. After all, who wants to begin their day with clutter?
PURGE – Grab several trash bags in which you can place items you want to donate, sell, or discard. Go through each item individually, asking yourself if you’ll ever really wear it again. Try to be as honest as possible, and get rid of anything you think you won’t wear. If it’s too big, let it go. You don’t want to give yourself the option to regain weight. If it’s too small, you’ll only feel guilty for your weight gain each time you see it. If you do lose weight, you’ll mostly
- likely treat yourself to some new clothes anyway, not the old clothes you wore ten years ago (or more). If you find clothes you haven’t worn yet, pass them along to someone else. This will not only free space in your closet, but also relieve you of the guilt associated with purchasing something you never wore. Do the same for shoes, purses, belts and anything else you find.
ORGANIZE – Now that you’ve pared everything down, arrange your clothing by style and color for easy access. Next, try to get as much as you can off the floor, as it will help maximize your space and minimize the time you spend digging for things. You may want to get new hangers and discard the miscellaneous ones that tend to get tangled together. Consider buying a hanging shoe rack as well, so you can clearly see your collection. Lastly, put purses on shelves and hang belts.
MAINTAIN – To keep your closet manageable, use the one-in-one-out rule – If you buy something new, something old must go. Keep only a certain number of hangers. This will keep your closet from becoming overstuffed again.