The Beauty of a Closet Clean-out

Hi, friends! I hope you're having a great summer! Summer is the time to relax, refresh, and revamp. I'd like to suggest adding a closet clean-out into your summer plans. I'm going to share a simple yet effective method with you. I put this method into practice when I cleaned out my closet a few weeks ago and the results have seriously changed my life!

For dramatic effect, here's what my closet looked like before the life-changing purge:

It's a small space, but can you see how jumbled and cluttered the clothes are? I would spend 10-15 minutes every morning deciding what to wear and I was getting more and more frustrated!

So, I cleaned it out! Trust me, though, you need to use a system because this project could take a lot of unnecessary time. Here's what I did and what I would recommend:

First, separate out any clothes that won't be worn that season. For example, I pulled out all the sweaters and winter clothes and put them in a plastic bin in another room. That really decreased the size of the pile that I needed to go through.

Second, pull all the clothes out and put them on your bed. Go through each item one by one and decide how much you love it. Make three piles--one for clothes that you absolutely love, one for clothes that you sort of love, and one for clothes that you haven't worn in a long time or definitely don't love.

Third, once you have gone through each clothing item and have your piles, put all the clothes that you absolutely love back into your closet. I recommend putting the "maybe" clothes into a bin and putting them in another room out of sight. Put the clothes that you don't love into a garbage bag and get rid of them!

As a side note, you can decide what to do with your "maybe" pile. I've heard people say they put the "maybe" clothes into a bin and put them in another room for a month. If they didn't miss those clothes during that month, they got rid of them. It's up to you what you do with them, but just remember that it doesn't help to keep anything you won't wear!

Here's what my closet looked like after I applied this process:

Oh. My. Heavens. Three garbage bags of stuff later, it was a breath of fresh air! And let me tell you the best thing about this--you can see what you really love and start buying more of those things rather than spending your clothing budget on things you don't love or probably won't wear!

Another thing I did (recommended by my friend Suzy on @simplysuzys) was to use wood hangers. There was something psychological about it. I only wanted to save the things I really loved because I knew each one was going onto an extra nice hanger!

The only thing I love more than cleaning out my own closet is helping others clean theirs out! Here's what a friend's closet looked like after we applied this magical process:

I wish I had a before picture to show you, but here's a picture of her "maybe" and "definitely get rid of" piles:

You might be thinking that you don't have time for this. Well, you actually do! I did my whole closet clean-out in about an hour and fifteen minutes. I spent an hour with my friend. This is doable, I promise!

I'd love to help with your clean-outs! My friend did most of the work during hers, but she said it was helpful to have me there for support and encouragement. Please let me know how I can help you! Happy simplifying!

XOXO,

Meredith