If you’re anything like me, you’ve had days where you’ve stared at a full-to-bursting closet and complained you have nothing to wear. And THEN to take it a step further, you might have done laundry and thought to yourself “I have too many clothes!” YUP been there.
I wasn’t really looking to declutter my clothes, but I was on Pinterest and came across a recipe for egg drop soup. In the beginning of the post, the writer says she needs a quick and easy meal so she can get back to sorting through her clothes. She wrote briefly about a variation of the method I’ll explain below, and it planted a seed in my brain.
Then the other day I was digging through my dresser trying to find an outfit for yoga. I didn’t like having to dig and search for something that should be just accessible when I’m trying to zen down, so I decided to act on that idea planted in my head by the woman with the recipe for egg drop soup.
What I did I thought to be an effective and thorough way to clean out your closet and dressers, and I thought I would share. Feel free to adapt this method to a way that suits you.
First, I took all my clothes from every part of the house (coat closet, under the bed storage, etc) and piled them all on my bed. Every piece of clothing I owned in one big, massive mountain on my bed.
And then I dug. And I sorted. And I made decisions.
In order to earn a place back into my wardrobe, every item had to pass some qualifying questions. Have I worn this in the past year? Have I missed it? Will I miss it if it’s gone? Chances are, if the answer to the first question was no, the second two answers were also no, and into the donation pile it went. Warning: this method requires super honesty! You have to give up sentimental attachment to items you no longer wear.
Also if the clothes didn’t fit, had an unrepairable stain or tear, they weren’t welcome back. I also got rid of socks that didn’t have a friend.
I must say, it feels really good to look at my closet in the morning and see only clothes I actually wear, not the items I’ve held onto and are just taking up space. I mean, I found clothes I haven’t worn for three, four, five years… what did I need with those? Nothing. I also got rid of a bunch of free t-shirts, because as fun as they are to remember, who really needs a drawer full of t-shirts? Ain’t nobody got space for that.
As a note, putting the clothes on my bed was key to this completion of the task. About halfway through I felt allergies hitting me from when I had been outside earlier, and I wanted to lay down and take a nap. Couldn’t really accomplish that with a mountain of clothes on my bed, though, and it felt like an evil genius move I pulled on myself. I finished in an hour and a half, and then yeah, I fell asleep.
Do you have any methods for cleaning out your closet? How often do you do it? I’d love to know in the comments!
Stephanie Jean 