Bedroom Closet

With a new season quickly approaching, I thought this would be a good week to go through bedroom closets. It is a good time to evaluate what you wear and what is just taking up prime real estate.

I don't really have a lot of clothes, so I am able to keep off season clothes in my closest which helps me feel more organized about my closet.  If you have to keep your clothes in two different places, maybe by the end of this exercise you will be able to condense into one closet, who knows?

Here are some hints for de-cluttering a closet without having to buy anything except hangers:

Go through every item of clothing you have and put them into one of the following three categories I discussed last week:

1. Keep pile - These are the clothes you wear regularly.  In other words, if you wore it last fall and still like it, you can keep it.
2. Give away pile - These are the clothes that are still in good shape but either don't fit anymore, are out of style or you haven't worn since the last season came around.   If an article of clothing is just taking up space and you haven't worn it for a year, believe me, you won't wear it again.  Now that summer is almost over  go through the summer stuff and if you didn't wear it once this summer, give it away.  Again, this is a great time to pay it forward.
3. Throw away - If you are hanging on to a favorite t-shirt or pair of sweats or a even a dress shirt that has frayed edges, holes or has become misshapen, throw it away...you can do it.  I know it's hard but it's time to let it go and you will love the space that getting rid of these clothes will give you.

• Now having said all of that I have kept one very nice classic tweed suit for 25 years.  My  mom bought it for me for me around the time I got married.  I can't remember if it was for the wedding day, or not but it really doesn't matter.  It was well made, made of natural fibers and a classic cut.  I actually pulled it out a couple of years ago when tweed became big again and squeezed into it without being able to zip up the skirt.  The jacket covered that up so it's all good :)  That is the ONLY thing I have kept.  If you do have some nice well made classic pieces that were expensive, sometimes you can have them altered to update them.  But mostly the trendy stuff should just be given away once it's out of style
• Hopefully by now you have created some extra space and can start to organize.  I like to organize my closet by color. For example, I have all my shirts together in one place with all the white shirts together and all the blue shirts together etc.   For me it doesn't matter if they're t-shirts or a dressy shirt.  I know if I need a white shirt, I can find them all in one place.  I do the same with pants, dresses, skirts and jackets.
• If you can't spend money right now on some nice wooden hangers, buy the plastic ones that are all the same color, they're really inexpensive at Wal-Mart.  The point is that they all need to be the same style and color and not the wire hangers. Having clothes all on the same kind of hangers help it look more organized.
• Last and final hint, or really rule:   If you buy something new, you have to get rid of another item of clothing you already have.  It works, I've tried it.  That way you always have room in you closet so the clothes can breathe freely and are not stuffed together and it's always organized.

Now that you have gone through the clothes, you can go through the same process with your shoes and accessories.  Then you can go through the kids closets! 

Have fun and enjoy your un-cluttered closet.