The First Step When Cleaning Out Your Closet:
Before you can decide what stays and goes, your closet has to be organized so you can take a valid inventory.
Make sure all hangers are the same; I like the slim velvet hangers. Having the same hangers will give a sleek and polished look to your closet-like as if you were browsing through a store! Clothes will line up nicely and evenly and with velvet hangers, they won’t slip!
Organize your clothing by:
• Tops
• Pants • Dresses and skirts Place them from sleeveless, to short sleeve and long sleeve, light to dark (this lets you NOW see if you have 20 white shirts but only wear 2 of them!) The key to a clean and organized closet: being able to see everything!
When Cleaning Out Your Closet, What Are The Essential Questions To Ask Yourself When Deciding What Items Go?
You have to be your own police and you have to be honest. There are 3 essential questions you must ask yourself:
- Have I worn this in the last 6 months?
- If this were full price in the store right now, would I run and buy it?
- Am I holding onto this for any reason other than I wear it consistently?
If the answers is “no” to the first 2 questions, you absolutely must get rid of the item. These are the items that create clutter in your home.
What Do You Do Once You’ve Decided On The Items You’ll No Longer Keep?
Every single thing in your closet that isn’t part of your everyday essential wardrobe or special occasion garb has to go into 3 categories: Donate, Toss or Alter.
You’ll need 3 garbage bags and labels with the following categories:
Donate: Items that you don’t see yourself wearing anymore but can benefit someone else.
Toss: these are the items that you should not even donate aka anything with a hole, stain, rip or tear. If you don’t want to toss you can recycle them by cutting into scraps for rags.
Alter: There are items that are worth taking to your dry cleaner to get altered. For instance, if you have a cardigan you’re sick of…perhaps consider switching out the buttons to make dressier and update the whole look.
Get more great tips from Anya Sarre at anyasarre.com & @stylistanya.
