If you are like me, you have things lurking in your closet that have had a shelf life of over a decade. Yes, that is a confession. However, this Spring I am turning over a new, less hoarder like, leaf.
I have already started by taking loads to Goodwill! This is something that didn’t take long and has really changed the way I look at my closet and its contents. Though it may be hard to let go, if you follow these steps, you may actually feel like you have more to wear!
Where to Start
- Start by clearing a place in your room to make piles for “might donate” and “MUST donate”, I found my bed to be a perfect place for this.
- Without putting too much thought into it, start taking out the things you know for a fact you do not intend to wear again. Like those jeans that will only fit again in your skinny dreams. I am not talking about clothes you are keeping for motivation, I have nothing against goals, but there are certainly articles of clothing, that even if you could fit them, may not even be age appropriate or in fashion so let them go now. Those go in the “MUST donate” pile.
- Once the clothes are in that pile, they do not come out under any circumstance… not even for crafting… that was for you folks out there like me, who can come up with a million ways to reuse instead of reduce.
- Now peruse the closet for items that you feel you will wear or could wear. If you haven’t worn it in over six months for reasons that do not have to do with weather, it might be time to say good-bye. This is the shirt that looks alright when you put it on, but it seems to be made of fabric that grows throughout the day, making you look like a sack of potatoes by dinner time. Take these items and put them in the “Maybe donate” pile.
- Do not forget to consider your shoe collection when making these decisions. Yes, those old school Converse are still cool, but they are near sole-less and it is time to let go.
- Grab a couple trash bags , the “MUST” pile goes directly into the bag, no second thoughts. Go through the “maybe” pile one more time and be real. Ask yourself honestly, “Will I wear this again?” This is your chance to say goodbye to your potato sack shirt once and for all! I promise you will feel better once you add it to the donation bag.
- If you have cluttered messy shelves, like I did, take everything off of them and refold, putting like items together. One stack for shirts, one stack for sweaters and so on like that until all of your shelf items are in neat stacks. Now choose where you want them to go back into the closet. Looks good, right??
- Lastly, rearrange your clothes so that everything is sorted by article type; for example, all long sleeved shirts together, all jeans in one area and so on like that until the entire closet is sorted. You can do the same thing with your shoes (heels, sneakers, etc).
Now sit back and admire your handy work, YOU DID IT! Not only will your closet look better, you actually know what you have hanging and folded. No need to run out to buy more leggings, you just discovered your stockpile you didn’t even know you had.
You will surely notice the difference when you get dressed.
Nothing is hiding anymore, you know where your favorite things are and you can easy move hangers because clothes are no longer jammed in there like sardines.
Good job, now repeat in every room until your closets are free of their decade-old skeletons!
By Tara, Free Stuff Finder Contributor
