Hey guys!
I recently cleaned out my closet again, and I thought that maybe some of you would like to learn some quick tips on how to thoroughly clean out your closet. I hope this helps!
1. Get in the right mood
Now I know that sounds really weird, but if you're not in the right mood and state of mind, you're not going to get anything done. You're going to be sentimental and emotional about everything and you're not going to want to throw anything out. These moods come to me a couple times a month or simply when I'm sick of not being able to find anything in my closet and dressers. I suggest that once you're in the mood, keep going until you're tired or until you feel the mood start to wear off.
2. Tackle everything on the floor first & make your bed
Having a clean work area is super important because it keeps you motivated to keep going, and it makes it easy to get around. I like making my bed when I'm about to have a closet detox because it gives me a nice flat area to lay everything out on. I suggest you start with your bed first, that way you can toss all the clothes that need to be hung up on your bed. Also divide all the stuff from the floor into piles. I usually just do a "needs to be hang up," and a "dirty laundry," pile. I immedietly put away all shoes, to save myself the task of having to go through another big pile and I take all my dirty clothes to our laundry room, to get rid of one pile.
3. Closet
I like to start off by going through the closet in my room, and taking out all the hangers that are empty. I put all of those aside in another pile on my bed, for when I'm ready to use them again. I go through each item one by one, and I put aside all the clothes that I haven't worn in the last 6 months. Everything else that I know I wear on a regular basis stays where it is, but if I'm transitioning my fall wardrobe into the closet in my room, I make sure to also put aside all the tank tops and summer items that most likely won't be used often, and put them in a pile to later organize and hang in the closet or racks outside my room. Once your closet has a lot more room, you're going to be able to work a lot better. A closet looks much nicer and more organized if the clothes are color coordinated. Since your closet is a little more empty after taking out all those clothes, this gives you more space to move around in. You want to start from white going all the way to black. This will help you in finding your clothes with more ease in the morning, because if you're looking for a pink shirt, you can easily go into the pink section, and pick it out. Now you want to take all your clothes that need to be hung up from your bed, and since your closet is now color coded, you can just put each one into the right color coded section. If you don't like to color code your closet, you can simply put your clothes from tanks with no sleeves, going to shirts with longer sleeves, so one side of your closet should start with no sleeves, and at the end of the rod, you should have the clothes with the longest sleeves. If you have any hangers left over, you can hang them up on either side of your closet to make it easier on yourself when you need to hang something else up.
4. Dresser
After you go through the stuff hanging in your closet, start with your drawers. I like to start from top to bottom. Go through each drawer and once again decide which clothes you haven't worn in the past 6 months, and put them in the same pile as the clothes from your closet that you also haven't worn in 6 months. Once, you have all of those clothes out of your drawers, I suggest going through and designating a drawer to your different clothes. You can do one for camis, one for PJs, and another for all your t-shirts. Once everything is in the correct drawer, you can start folding them. I usually triple fold my graphic tee shirts in order to see the design on them. To do that, you simply fold the shirt like you usually do, and then fold in half once more. I put all my graphic tees in one stack, and all of my other plain tees into another stack. It simply helps you find things more easily when getting dressed in the morning. For your PJ drawer, I suggest you roll up your pants, and stack them, so more fit in the drawer, and you can simply fold the shorts in half to make more fit. For the shirts going in the PJ drawer, I would just fold them like you normally do, or also do the 3 fold trick and that way more fit. It all depends on how much space you have.
5. Shoes
I like to go through all my shoes and also do the same thing as with my clothes. I take out the ones that I haven't worn in a while or I just don't really like anymore, and I put them into another pile on the floor. I ask my mom and sisters if they want any of the shoes I'm throwing out, and the ones that they don't want simply go into a pile that will go to charity, or have my mom give them to someone that needs them. You can also sell them on apps like Vinted or set up your own store on storenvy.com. To organize my heels I have shelves set up, that I had my dad drill to my wall in order to make them stay up straight no matter the weight. You can usually fit about 6-8 pairs of shoes on each shelf depending on how you organize them. For flats, slip ons, and loafers, I have them organized on the cloth shoe organizers that usually go on the back of your door. Those usually fit 10-20 pairs of shoes depending on big the one you buy is.
6. Jewlery
Jewlery is such a pain to organize because there is so much of it. I reccomend that to organize all your earrings and studs, you go to your local Dollar Tree and pick up a couple sheets of soft foam. You can then cut them into squares or long rectangles depending on how you want to display your earrings. They make them look nice and they keep them all nicely organized. You can put all of your earring backs into a little tray of your choosing. I personally just use an old glass ashtray that I found laying aroud the house. For all of bigger necklaces, I suggest you buy an accordian jewelry organizer. You can usually find them at Goodwill or on Ebay for super cheap. If you don't like the colors of it, you can buy a can of spray paint in the color of your choosing at any craft store for only a few dollars. I know some people drill theirs into the wall, but I simply use clear tacks to keep it in place, to save myself the hassle of having to drill and undrill it everytime I redo my room. For your more danity jewelry, you can design a little pattern on a plain wall with tacks, and hang them on there, or you can buy a printed paper of your choice, and put the tacks on there, and it'll make it look like a little frame, that in actuallity only cost you a few dollars. For bracelts and watches, you can buy the organizers shown below at Ross for $3-$15, and they hold about 15-60 bracelets and watches depending on how what size the organizer is and the size of you bracelets and watches.
7. 6 Months Pile
After everything else is put away and organized, I start going through the pile of clothes that I haven't worn in 6 months or more. I don't suggest you do this when you're feeling tired or emotional, or else you're going to want to keep everything in that pile. I usually look through the pile, and ask myself if I'm ever really going to wear it, if the answer is "no," then I put it in a pile to give away. If I tell myself that I'm going to wear it, I hang it back up, but instead of the tip of the hanger facing towards my wall, I'm going to have it face me. That way when I do wear it, I can just put it back in my closet facing like the rest of my hangers. If after a few months it's still facing towards me, I obviously haven't worn it, and it's time to toss it. The same as my shoes, I always ask my mom and sisters if they want any of the items, and the remaining items, I give to my mom so she can give them to someone who really needs them.
8. Other Tips
Some other tips I want to share with you guys is to get a $10 rolling closet from Target. I have one of those outside of my room, and they're so awesome to put my most worn outerwear on there. Jackets, blazers, and cardigans that I know I'm going to wear quite a lot, that way when I'm leaving in the mornings, I can just grab one on my way out. My next tip is to try to clean out your closet every 2-3 months that way you're not too overwhelmed by the amount of things you have to do if you wait 6 months. My last tip is to try to keep a list of items that you want with you. I recently started doing this, and whenever I'm out shopping or online shopping, I look for the items on my list, so I get what I actually want and need, instead of filling my closet up again with things that I don't really need more of. This way your closet can stay clutter free for as long as possible.
I hope these tips were usful to all of you!
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