With the weather already getting warmer and spring just around the corner, you may be starting to fish through your closet to find those perfect spring clothes, only to find that there’s too much other stuff in your way. Where did all of those clothes come from, anyway?! And the shoes and bags and junk thrown all over the closet floor are just taking up much-needed space. If this sounds familiar, like it could easily be describing your closet, it might be time to take a look through everything and start purging some clothes.
I know, I know, the horror! But let’s face it, if we want to make room for some cute, new spring clothes in our closets, or perhaps even be able to find the old ones, it’s time to make a change. Fear not – here are 7 easy ways to purge some precious closet dwellers.
Sort Your Stuff
The first, and probably best, way to tackle the pile is to dive in head first and start sorting everything. Go through piles and racks and shelves one item at a time, sorting each piece into one of three piles: keep, throw away or undecided.
Once you have 3 distinct piles, it’s time to go through the “undecided” mound. Make a definite decision one way or the other, based on what you wear or don’t wear, like or don’t like, what’s in fashion or not in fashion, or any other way to make your decision. You need a definite yes or no before the end of the sorting process, so you end up with only 2 piles.
Getting rid of things is going to be the hardest part. Donate unwanted clothing and accessories to the local Goodwill or Salvation Army, or just throw it away. Don’t save anything thinking you’ll sell it, because chances are, you’ll never get around to it and it will end up creating a whole new pile in your closet.
This is the basic process of cleaning out the closet – sorting, deciding and dumping. It’s not always that easy, though, and depending on the size of the project for you, it could take days to complete. Don’t worry, read on.
Build Anticipation
Just like every time you start a new diet or exercise routine, you’ll want to set an official “start” date for the purging of your closet. Make it a week or two out from when you decide to take on the task, that way you’ll give yourself enough time to build up some anticipation and get yourself mentally prepared to tackle your evil closet.
Tell your friends, too. Tell your family, share it on your Facebook, do whatever it takes to let people know your plans. The more people you tell, the more likely you’ll be to actually stick to your plan.
Mark your date on your calendar and don’t let yourself put it off any longer!
Use a Long Weekend
By long weekend, I don’t necessarily mean a 3-day weekend, although that would be nice to have that additional time. But anticipate devoting an entire weekend to the task – that means 2 full 8-hour blocks of cleaning time.
Different people use different strategies for breaking up the cleaning time – some work for 10 minutes, then rest for 2, work for 10, rest for 2, and so on and so forth. Others will work for an hour and a half, then break for 10 minutes. During breaks, do something fun, like getting something to eat, listening to your favorite song or calling a friend and having a quick chat. The point is to reward yourself during the short break for the hard work that you’ve completed.
If you can’t finish cleaning in one weekend, don’t stress, just break up the time for the entire following week. Maybe work on it for a half an hour each night when you get home from work until it’s done. But blocking out that initial large chunk of time to devote strictly to purging your closet will help you get the best jump-start possible.
Make It A Party
Since you’ve already told your friends your intentions of cleaning your closet, you might as well invite all of them! Make it a party – have some cocktails, put on fashion shows with all of the ugliest things you’ve found in your closet or even have a dance party. The more fun you have while you’re doing the work, the less you’ll start to view it as “work.” Think Sex and the City, the movie version, when Carrie Bradshaw goes through her closet with the girls. That could be you!
Since your friends are there anyway, enlist their help. If nothing else, they can at least help you decide what to keep and what to throw away. Trust your friends’ fashion advice, too – if they tell you to ditch something hideous, seriously, ditch it. No one will miss it.
Multitask
While many people consider cleaning out and organizing their closet the same task, it’s actually not. Cleaning out your closet is the part where you’re getting rid of things you don’t want or need anymore. Organizing is the next step.
Once you decide on what to keep (and I’ll go ahead and guess that there’s a LOT more free space in your closet after you decide!), you need to make a plan for how to organize what’s left. Some people organize by color or type of clothes (pants in one place, jackets next, tops on the end, etc.) and others opt to organize by sleeve length or any number of things. Whatever you can come up with that you’ll remember – it’s your closet, you will be the only one having to navigate it.
Try to get both the cleaning out and the organizing done at the same time. If it doesn’t happen, though, again, get as much done at once as you can, and finish the rest in small chunks.
Reward Yourself!
It’s the most important thing you’ll do during the entire process of cleaning out your closet – reward yourself! Treat yourself to dinner out with the buds who helped you out (it also wouldn’t be a bad idea to offer up dinner on you if they helped a lot) or watch your favorite movie when all of the work is done.
At this point, with all the room you’ve freed up in your closet, you can even treat yourself to a (small) shopping spree! Refresh your wardrobe with some great new spring pieces – you know you certainly have the room for it now!
Jackie Ryan is a freelance writer for various health and wellness publications. She loves tackling home improvement and home organization projects and her best advice for anyone cleaning out their closet is to have lots of Rubbermaid trash cans handy and plenty of bags to throw old clothes in to bring to the Goodwill!
