Simple Steps For A Spring Closet Makeover

Simple yes, but definitely not my idea of a fun way to spend time on a Saturday! Especially after a week of being sick. 

When was the last time you went through your clothes and cleaned out what was in your closet?

For months I’ve been mentally preparing for my Spring Closet Makeover. The date was scheduled on my calendar for March 30^th and I was prepared to spend the entire day if that’s what it took to complete the project. 

I started my journey of eliminating all UN-needed items from our home in January. I’m on a mission to end this year with all UN-needed items cleared out of our home and garage!

One of my least favorite projects is packing away the end of season wardrobe and hauling tubs of the new season wardrobe up from the basement…unpacking, washing, sorting. Not fun, but it sure feels good when its done!

There are so many good articles on UN-cluttering and organizing the wardrobe/closet. I liked bits and pieces of several of them but opted for making my own rules! 

My Simple Steps For A Closet Makeover

1. Get a big glass of water and put on your favorite, feel good, happy music
2. Remove everything from the closet and dump it on the bed. No exceptions! Remove it all.
3. Create 4 clothing piles: •LOVE IT: a pile for the stuff you LOVE, it makes you feel good, look good and it fits good •MAYBE: if you aren’t sure, stick it in the maybe pile…we will come back to that pile later •DONATE: a pile for clothing that doesn’t fit and you’re finally ready to admit that it probably never will, isn’t comfortable or doesn’t look good on you and you haven’t worn in a long time. •TOSS: things that are worn and shouldn’t be taking up space anymore
4. Revisit the MAYBE pile and ask yourself if this item deserves a space in your private boutique/closet. If it does move it to the LOVE IT pile, if it doesn’t move it to the DONATE pile.
5. Take a break and do the happy dance, get a piece of chocolate or a snack
6. Move the items from the LOVE IT pile to storage containers organizing by type of garment, of course…sweaters, pants, skirts, etc. Take them to your storage area for off season clothing.
7. Pack up all of the DONATE items and move them to the car for easy drop off to the donation center and also to make sure that you don’t change your mind and put things back in the closet.
8. Bring out all of your Spring clothes and start the process all over again, starting with step #3
9. Move the LOVE IT clothes into the closet organizing them by type of clothing: dresses, pants, skirts, tops, jackets, etc, hung in order and by color.

This is the biggest wardrobe purge I have ever done. I’m pretty sure that there were more things in my DONATE /TOSS piles than were left in my LOVE IT pile. Honestly, it was hard to let go of some things, but I’m glad that I did.

If you are known to say things like: “I have nothing to wear.” When, truth be told, you have LOTS of things to wear, but you stand in front of your closet daily staring at the clothing choices and for some reason you just don’t want to wear any of them…then you know it’s time for a change.

New non slip hangers are a nice change 🙂 Costco.com has 100 for $25.99

More is not the answer. I know this for sure!

“The statistics are unbelievable when you look at them. According to UCLA, the average home has 300,000 things inside of it. The average American home has tripled in size in the last 50 years, and still 10% of Americans rent offsite storage. An even larger percentage can’t fit both cars in the garage. An even higher percentage of that complain that their house is too small for the life that they’re trying to live. Maybe our houses aren’t too small, maybe we just put too much stuff inside of them. We can see it in our homes, we can sit it in our garages, we can see it in our drawers, and in our closets. We can see it in our wardrobes. Statistically speaking, the average American woman today has over 30 outfits. 40 years ago, the average American woman owned only nine. What’s interesting is that one of the reasons this is the case is because it has become so ingrained in our culture, in our society, and in our thinking that more is better” Uncluttered Course – Joshua Becker

I’ve finally come to the realization that I DON’T need more stuff! What I do need is less stress and more time to enjoy life. Simplifying my life and the stuff I allow into it reduces stress and overwhelm.

My next project is creating a Capsule Wardrobe. Haha, I’m definitely not a minimalist when it comes to clothes and shoes so we will see how this goes.  So far I haven’t found creating a Capsule Wardrobe to be an easy process…I’m struggling with choices and trying to pare down to two weeks worth of outfits to start with.  Stay tuned for an update and photos.

Cheers to creating your neat, tidy and un-cluttered closet!

Wendy