With the change from winter to summer upon us, I have many clients ready to finally
tackle their closets, so I decided to share my methods for tackling this project as well as
some tips and tricks to help you get started on your own clothing pile.
In order to create a sustainable clothing system, you must collect ALL of your clothes.
This means that even if you plan on only focusing on a single closet, you really need to
empty all your clothes from everywhere in your house into a pile to sort. For some
people the sheer quantity of clothing makes this less feasible, but I would at least try to
get as much of a category (think dresses, t-shirts, or workout clothes) if you have to
break it down into separate projects. When all of it is in one pile, most people are
shocked at how much they have, and that alone makes it easier to get rid of things.
I always tell people that I will not MAKE anyone get rid of anything, but when faced with
a pile of 20 near identical black t-shirts, it becomes clear that even if you did laundry
once every two weeks, you would never need that many and donating them to someone
that can actually wear it really does make more sense.
If you are working on the entire collection of clothing at once, the first step is to sort by
category. Categories vary by lifestyle, but an example could be undergarments,
pajamas, tops (dress, t-shirt, athletic, sweaters), bottoms (shorts, athletic, casual pants,
dress pants, skirts), dresses (formal, casual), seasonal, outerwear, swimsuits, shoes,
bags, accessories. As you sort, if there is anything you obviously don’t want, feel free to
discard and not give it a second thought.
Now is the time to start sorting, one thing a lot of people run into is consideration of
different sizes whether from pregnancy or otherwise. In this phase of sorting, I
discourage people from trying anything on, as it slows down the process, and instead to
think about how you felt about the item the last time you wore it. Here are the questions
to ask yourself instead of trying on an item: If you ever were to wear that size again,
would you have an occasion to wear it? Would it still be in style? Would you choose it
over the other items you regularly wear? If the answer to all those questions is “yes”,
then most definitely keep it! However, if you have clothes that are so far out of your
current size (up or down) that you likely will never fit in them again, there is no reason to
hold onto them. Holding onto a whole wardrobe of aspirational clothing is not only a
waste of space, but it’s not too great for your mental health to feel guilty seeing them
every time you open your drawer or closet.
With all your clothing sorted by type, and the obvious items already removed, go
through each item in the different categories. Keep in mind the number of each type of
item you have (for example jeans or swimsuit cover ups) and assess whether you
REALLY need and will wear them all. It is difficult to get rid of perfectly good clothes, but by donating them to a good cause, you will be allowing them to be worn, leave your
closet with only items you actually “like”/are not just “fine”, and give yourself more space
in the process!
Once the sorting is finished, the hard part is behind you. Hopefully you have paired
down your considerable pile to something more manageable, and you can now decide
where to store your items. Depending on your dresser/closet space, you may decide
more or less should be hung, but by keeping the like items together, you can more
easily see what you have, and this will make it easier to see in the future how many
items you have chosen not to wear after this process. If you do not have the space to
keep the items together, I would seriously consider whether you have too many,
because you will likely only wear the more accessible items and forget about those you
pack away.
At this point you will likely have a stack of hangers, and possibly empty storage bins or
dividers, and based on your current piles you can pick and choose what you will need to
use going forward, but there is likely no reason to hold onto 50 extra hangers, if you
have everything already hung.
When keeping items in drawers, file folding can make seeing what you have much
easier, so you won’t need to dig through piles to find what you are looking for, but the
key to how you fold is that it must be in a way that you will be able to maintain. You
know yourself better than anyone else, and if you know that when your laundry is
finished, it will never get from basket to drawer, you may need to devise a system that
will allow you to more easily get those baskets empty, and if that means bins of
unmatched socks or pajamas in a basket, go for it! If you would like a tutorial on how to
file fold, Marie Kondo’s book “Spark Joy” is an excellent resource.
Now that you have everything assigned to a home, be mindful of the space you have
left, and be intentional about any additional items you bring in. If through this process
you got rid of every pair of jeans you own, then go pick out a pair you love right now, but
if you are browsing the sale rack at Target after buying the latest birthday party gift, think
about whether you really need another t-shirt. Completely sorting through your
wardrobe may seem like a lot of work, but it will be worth it when you can close your
eyes, reach into your closet, and pull out something you truly love each and every time.
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