The Purge: Closet Edition

I'm late on spring cleaning this year.  And of course, my closet is suffering for it.  It's packed to the brim, and my dresser isn't faring too well either.  With the long weekend coming up, I figured it was time to clean out my messy closet.

To start, I dumped everything out.  A few of my drawers had already been cleaned and sorted, so I left those alone.  But everything else from my closet and dresser made its way into a pile on my bed (or floor).  I know a lot of people like to work in sections, but I like to see my closet and dresser as blank slates.  I find it helps me to reorganize everything in a way that make sense and uses the space I have available.

Once my room looked like a disaster zone and I felt as though I was on the verge of a panic attack, I started to sort through my clothes.  I try to do this on a regular basis so that my closet isn’t full of things that I don’t wear/are in poor condition, but I still managed to get rid of quite a fair bit of clothing. 

When cleaning I asked myself the following questions:

1.     Have I worn it in the past year?  

a.     If yes, it can stay.  If no, why not?  If I haven’t worn it because the item is designed for a special occasion, or I have just bought it, then it can stay.  If I don’t have a good reason, it’s time to pass the item on.

2.     Does it fit? 

3.     Is it in good condition?

4.     Is it comfortable?

5.     Do I still like it?

6.     Do I think I’m going to wear it in the year to come? 

7.     Do I have anything similar?

8.     Do I need it?

9.     Do I want it?

The only exception is if a piece of clothing has sentimental value.  Then it remove it from my closet and put it with my other keepsakes.

After going through these questions, I had a nice pile of things that I’m going to find new homes for.  I’ll deal with this pile later.

Now to tackle the pile of clothes/shoes I will be keeping.

I sort my clothes in the following order:

1.     Light jackets (anything heavy stays downstairs in the coat closet)

2.     Blazers and long sweaters

3.     Work/school shirts that shouldn’t be folded (in colour order as best as possible)

4.     Skirts

5.     Church Blouses (I keep these separate from my other clothing, in colour order as best as possible)

6.     Dresses (in colour order as best as possible)

Dresser (from left to right, top to bottom)

1.     Face and body products that I’m currently using (anything unopened stays in my closet

2.     Socks and underclothing

3.     Colourful sweaters

4.     Neutral sweaters

5.     T-shirts and tank tops that don’t need to be hung

6.     Pants

 My shoes are stored on the top shelf of my closet in this organizer that I covered with a piece of cloth, since I don’t like looking at messy shoe boxes.  Shoes that don’t have boxes/couldn’t fit at the top are stored on top of the shelving unit at the bottom of my closet.

At the very top of my closet I have keepsakes, which I didn’t go through at this time.  At the very bottom, I store hair products I’m currently using as well as my purses, and products that are unopened.  I have already been through these and gotten rid of the ones that I won’t be keeping.

Now that all my clothes have been put away, I will deal with the stuff that I’m giving away.

I created a few piles:

• Stuff to donate
• Stuff to give to specific people
• Stuff to give as gifts (since they’re brand new and I won’t be using them)

Anything for the garbage makes it there ASAP, before I have a chance to reconsider.

I pack up my clothing as neatly as possible, and put in bags to give away.

And that's it!  Spring cleaning is over :) 

Hope you enjoyed this post!

Cheers to spring, which really means summer is around the corner!

xoxo, Jayy