5 easy steps to decide what stays in your closet
Every year around this time of the year, it’s the same story. It’s holiday season and yet, when you look at your wardrobe, there’s nothing suitable for your trip. Whether it’s a beach holiday or trip back to see your family, your closet stares with all its clothes at you but there’s nothing to wear is in sight. Sounds familiar?
A recent client was amazed what she discovered when we organised her closet. She called it “Shopping in my own closet”. She found pieces she didn’t even remember buying in the first place and re-discovered long lost ones. You can’t imagine how happy she was after our session, being able to see in just one glance what she actually had and knowing what to coordinate with what.
Organising your closet doesn’t have to be this time-consuming project that people make it to be! In fact, you can probably get a great transformation within just a few hours already.
In this mini-series, let’s start organising your closet by deciding which clothes will stay and which ones will go. First, remove all clothes from your wardrobe. You may want to break this down by type of clothing (e.g. all tops, all skirts, all dresses), depending on the size of your wardrobe and ask yourself the following questions for each item:
- When was the last time you wore it? If it’s more than 6 months ago and it’s not a seasonal item like your ski pants, do you still need to keep it?
- Does it make you feel good? Can’t say something nice about it? Can’t stand the fabric on your skin? Kick it out of your closet.
- Does it still fit? If it doesn’t, what are the chances of losing those 5 kilos to get back in it? How often we have kept clothes pretending we’ll fit into them… one day! This one day doesn’t come for most people. Give the piece to someone who appreciates it.
- Does the piece need mending (e.g. sew on a button or tighten it for a better fit)? If so, put it in your car and bring it to your tailor the next day (notice, next day and not next week or someday).
- Does the piece have any stains? Wash it. If the stains can’t be removed, sorry, it’s time for it to go.
These 5 questions will have helped you decide which clothes to keep. For those items that you no longer want, you now have different options:
- Donate. There are plenty of institutions which welcome your unwanted clothes, think of shelters and charities. You may even know some individuals who could use them. Please note that this option only applies to clothes which are clean and in a good condition. You wouldn’t want to wear any torn clothes either, would you?
- Sell. Different locations hold flea markets where you can sell these clothes directly or you can give them to a consignment shop which will sell them for you. Again, please only offer clothes which are clean and in a good condition.
- Throw out. If the clothes have irremovable stains or holes or have been torn or are personal items like underwear, put them in the bin.
In the next article, I’ll guide you on how to organise the clothes you’ve decided to keep. For now, your mission is to review what’s all in your closet. Are you ready to accept it?
Until next time,
Agni