I will admit that most of the human population is NOT as organized (okay, read "controlling") as I am when it comes to our closets.
That's why when I told my mom we were going to work on purging her closets (with the promise to style what was left) she agreed without any hesitation.
So, over I went to her home to begin the process.
Here's where we started:
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| Left side closet - the one she uses the most of the two. |
My mom lives on her own in a 55+ community so she has TWO walk-in closets in her master bedroom.
However, they were filled to the brim with too much stuff, some of it not even clothing related.
It was time to "start over" again, get the stuff out, purge, and make it a functioning space that inspires her to pick outfits that she loves.
Now, I'm going to say that many, many closets look similar to this.
I understand that when space is at a premium you have to use what you have.
However, in this blog post, I'm going to talk about ways you can purge without too much anxiety, find room for all the ESSENTIALS, and still feel productive when it's all over.
First things, first...
YOU MUST REMOVE MOST IF NOT ALL OF THE ITEMS FROM THE CLOSET.
Is your heart palpitating at a fast speed yet?
Let me explain the reasoning for this.
When you remove all of your stuff, say all of your shoes, at one time, you get a much better sense of what you have.
If you only remove or move around those same shoes, you cannot get a true picture of how many you have, what you may need, what needs to be passed on, or what is no longer useful.
Mom had all of her shoes somewhat loosely organized. Her sneakers were all together and her regular shoes were all together.
However, there were several pairs that she did not wear that were taking up valuable closet "real estate."
We looked over each pair of shoes and made a decision to Keep, Donate, or Trash.
Here was the start of the donate pile. These were still good shoes but she was no longer wearing them or would not wear them in the future because of style or another pair that she would more readily reach for.
We then considered all those that she wanted to keep and reorganized them on the bed based on color.
After we completed the closet (which included a thorough vacuuming of the floor and baseboards), they were put back based first on the style/type of shoe and then the color of the shoe.
Now, her selection of shoes is easy to access. It allows here to really wear what she kept and rotate options with outfits.
Next, we took out all the things that would be considered tops/blouses out of the left side closet and started to critically look at each and every piece.
This is when you want to ask yourself -
DO I WEAR THIS? NOT - Will I wear this?
Here's a startling statistic:
We wear about 10% of our clothing 90% of the time!
This means that approximately 80% (minus 10% for formal wear items) are left in our closets, unworn for some reason or another.
Typical reasons clothing goes unworn?
1 - They don't fit us... but someday they might (really?)
2 - An item was expensive when purchased and we feel like it would be wasteful to get rid of it.
3 - It reminds us of our first love, high school, special person, etc...
4 - It will eventually be back in style and I will wear it then.
5 - I totally forgot I had that in my closet...
Does any of this sound familiar? Are you keeping items because of these reasons, but NOT wearing them? It might be time to rethink what you have in your closet.
Once her tops were done, we moved to pants, jackets, sweaters, and other like items until we had processed through each and every item like we did with the shoes.
When returned clothing to the closet, we organized it by type and color as well.
Next, we tackled the items that were not clothing.
She had bedding and linens that were bulky and large stored on top shelves. When you walked into the closets you felt like they were going to fall on top of you. It was time to remove them from the shelves and house them elsewhere. We "shrunk" them in Spacesaver bags (it's so much fun to suck the air out and watch them shrink!) and stored them under her bed. They will stay protected and out of her way on the closet shelves.
We went through all her luggage and kept ONLY what she was using. I "gifted" her with a set of luggage that I had BUT was not using. This was a win-win for me because I was no longer using this wet, but they were quality and pretty and I wasn't ready to donate them yet. By gifting them, it allowed her to get rid of the mismatched items she had in favor of my gently used matching set.
The non-clothing items that could be pitched, were weeded through and sent to the shredder or trashcan. Items that were better suited for storage in other areas were relocated, and bins and boxes were used to neatly store non-clothing stuff that had to stay.
All in all, three days of productive work took this from...
BEFORE
to....
AFTER
Organized shelves with space left over!
Bins and boxes, labeled and organized within reach as needed.
Items neatly hung together, for easy access when making outfits.
Visual spaces allowing the eyes to "rest" and process what's in the closet.
Shoes orderly and ready to wear.
Want to see the before and after in the right side closet?
BEFORE
And now... AFTER!
Again, look at all the recovered shelving real estate!
And no...NOTHING needs to go there!
The floor is free of stuff that was not useful other than as clutter in this space.
These items are ready for the cooler temperatures of the season and my mom can coordinate cute outfits with lots of options.
We also tackled her dresser drawers which freed up space there as well.
As we were discarding items we made a list of things she might want to consider replacing in her wardrobe. She will take this list with her the next time she is shopping to see what items she can and wants to replace.
Overall, we were both very pleased with what we accomplished.
Breaking it up into three sessions allowed us to really dig deep and make tough decisions about items.
No rules were broken in the process, but we did establish a few.
Here they are:
1 - As mom wears items she will hang the hook "backward" on the bar. In a few months, she will assess what she has not worn and decide if she still will wear it (and do that) or will donate it.
2 - She has made a commitment to NOT put stuff on the empty shelves just because there is space. If she needs that space she will carefully evaluate if it's worth it.
3 - She will use the list we made to add items to her closet. If she finds a newer version of something that she already has but is looking worn (like a long black sweater she kept) she will trade it out for the newer one and donate the older one to charity.
We still need to tackle her accessories, but that's for another day...or two...or three!
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