Closets are a funny
entity in our houses. Even if the entire
house is perfectly clean there is probably a closet that is stuffed to the
gills in there somewhere. The closet
door allows us to shove things in and forget about them. Clothes closets seem to be especially
difficult because there are things from different seasons and different events. We become attached tour clothes because they
remind us of a particular time in our life or size. They become a part of our identity and almost
identify who we are. But when the closet
is overflowing it becomes a source of anxiety and dread. Nothing else can go it, you can’t find
anything. All of the clothes that you
haven’t worn or can’t wear taunt you each time you open the door. So what are you to do?
Take stock of your closet! Ask yourself, “What really belongs here?” Is it a clothes closet, pantry, cleaning
closet or something altogether different?
Often when I work with a client on their closet the first thing that I
notice is that there are many things that don’t belong in a particular
closet. At some point they did not want
to make a decision about something so they just tossed the item in to get it
out of the way. Determine what purpose
the closet has much the same way you would for any space.
How much Real Estate do you want your clothes to take up? Or any item
that is in the closet. Many years ago, I
moved in with my grandmother who was in her 80s. I took over the basement as an apartment and
as you can imagine there were no closets.
I purchased a couple of free standing clothes racks to use. As I headed out to buy them my grandmother
asked me why I would needed 2 of them. I
laughed to myself and thought, “wow this is from the woman who has every closet
in the house filled to the gills with clothes?”
I couldn’t have used any of them if I wanted to. Clothes have a way of multiplying. We like to buy them every season but rarely
discard as much. After over 40 years in
the house my grandmother had amassed a ton of clothes. When she passed away, my best friend and I
took 18 bags of clothing and handbags to Goodwill and several bags of shoes to
Soles for Souls, not to mention the untold bags of clothes I got rid of while
she was still alive. So how much do you
want to use for clothes?
De-Clutter anything that is the wrong size, style, worn out or torn. Begin clearing out the closet by getting rid
of the obvious. If you are never going
to wear it again for any reason, get it out of there and donate or trash
them. If you are having a difficult time
letting go, ask yourself why. Did it
belong to someone else or remind you of a time or place? Is there a better way to remember person or
event besides an item that clogs your closet?
If you still want to keep the item, consider placing it somewhere else
like a memory box and make sure that it won’t get ruined over time.
Organize by the way you think about getting ready. As you put everything back prioritize the
space according to how you will use your clothing and how you get ready in the
morning. For example, I am a jeans
girl. You will rarely see me in anything
else. I like to put jeans in a lower
drawer because there is no decision making for me there. I just grab and go. I put shirts higher because I like to look
through them a bit to decide what I want to wear. The more that you use something the easier it
should be to reach.
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