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This is the season when our thoughts turn quite naturally to spring cleaning - we're getting more and more ready to put away the heavier clothes and boots and get into our lighter, brighter clothes. In my case, I was forced to confront this process immediately when we recently were faced with a move. It wasn't a 'big' move in terms of distance (only 7 miles) but it made no difference when it came to preparing for it. I quite literally needed to touch every single item we owned and make a decision about whether or not it was going to make the cut for the move.
I started with the garage (the ground zero of 'stuff') and found I quickly fell into a mindset of 'Do I want to pay to move this and if not, do I want to physically schlepp it myself to the new place?' This morphed into "When it comes down to it, do I really want or need __________?"
Piles soon began to form of items to be donated, tossed, or given away, and I found I was actually thanking each piece for its service to me and letting it go to its new life, a la Marie Kondo. (I wrote a blog post about it here. Read it just for the George Carlin segment on 'stuff' if for nothing else - it's a classic!)
When it came time to face the clothes closets (which I did last, by the way), I was already in full purge-mode, which leads to my first Purge Thought:
Purge Thought #1:
If you're having trouble getting started with that closet purge,
start somewhere else in the house that's less emotional.
Once you get in the swing of tossing out other stuff, for example old make-up samples, hotel shampoos and shower caps (yep - had a few of those), and duplicate decks of cards that you've collected through the years (you might need 3 decks for some huge card game that you'll have in the future, but you probably won't need 7 - again, guilty!) it'll get easier and easier to let go. By the time you get to your clothes closet, you'll be on a roll.
There's another advantage to beginning elsewhere in the house, and that is you'll begin to see the piles grow. As the donation and trash piles get larger, you'll really see that you're making progress and that's inspiring. You'll probably be surprised at how much you've had that you're letting go of, and just how much lighter you are starting to feel. You may be tempted to rush those bags or boxes out the door, but I advise waiting:
Purge Thought #2:
Keep the donation/trash piles going until you're done.
The larger they get, the greater your sense of accomplishment.
Here's the final shipment of items I sent to my sisters - 80 pounds of clothing ready for a new life. (don't judge!) This doesn't count the ~20 pounds I gave to my friend/colleague, Elena of Styling Fabulous Consignment Boutique, for sale in her on-line boutique (including two Carmen Marc Valvo dresses that were each worn exactly once, still fit very well, but were just not in a style that I was going to wear any longer), nor the bags and bags of items that were sent off to Goodwill.
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| | Bye-bye and thanks for your service |
When all of the piles are sent off to their final destinations, you will feel really great.
As you begin moving through the clothes in your closets (plural, because I know very few women who have all their clothes stashed in just one location in their house), you'll probably start noticing a few bad habits that have gradually crept into your life, for example:
* empty hangers that have inexplicably been left in the closet with nothing on them - taking up space.
* clothes still hanging in a dry cleaner bag (from how long ago?)
* clothes with the tags on them
* items with dust on the shoulders, or on pants where they're folded across the hanger?
Purge Thought #3:
Pay attention to the bad habits that have
crept into your wardrobe life, and vow to
not let them hang around going forward.
Dispose of or store empty hangers. Please don't leave clothes in dry cleaner bags - it's not good for them, plus you can't see exactly what you've got in your closet. If an item has tags on it, immediately try it on and make three outfits with it. If it can't be done, either figure out what's needed and purchase the missing pieces or let the item go to consignment. Any item that needs to be dusted off to wear is probably an item you can live without because you haven't worn it in how long? (I will admit I had some black pants in this state and they are no longer with me.)
Maybe these particular foibles don't apply to you, but pay attention as you go through your closets for any other bad habits that may have crept in over time so you can do a course-correction.
When we moved to our new place, we had to deal with less closet space than before, so it was a real test of our purging abilities when we went to assemble the closet (yes, my husband did his clothes too - he tackled his closet first-thing and was also surprised at how much he was able to dispose of, especially because he's a regular purger.Good man!)
Organizing the closet with the same tools that I had in the old closet didn't work as well as I had hoped. Being in this business, I had an idea of the kinds of things that could possibly work for us, but before I just ran out and stocked up, I scouted out a lots of possible solutions on-line first. The big need was for shoe storage. (Sound familiar?)
I eventually ended up at The Container Store to pick up the few things we needed to finish out our transition.
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| | Like crack for professional organizers - be very, very careful! |
My two shoe solutions worked like a charm. They aren't my ideal, because I'd love to have them actually inside the closet itself, but as an adaptation to the situation they work beautifully.
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| | Over the door shoe storage |
Purge Thought #4:
Accept your space constraints and be wiling to
adapt. Continue to purge as you add new items
to your wardrobe.
This final purge thought is to help keep you (and me) out of trouble going forward. The old 'one in, one out' rule is always a good one to follow, but whatever method you use to keep a handle on your 'stuff', stick with it. You'll be able to enjoy your wardrobe a lot more when it's only got things in it that you love and wear!
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