Editing, organizing, and decluttering clothing is one of the responsibilities that comes with the blessing of abundance. I doubt my great-grandmothers had to give much time to this chore, but I have found the dressing and laundry parts of my days go much more smoothly if I spend about an hour every few months going through my clothes and removing what doesn’t work for me and sprucing up what I still love and use. It is one of those jobs I don’t have time not to do.
When my “donations box” starts overflowing, I know it is time to bag it up and move it out. It lives on the floor of my side of the master closet, and all of our family members add to it anything they no longer want or use.
The over-full donations box coincided nicely with chillier weather, which prompted me to pull out the “other season” box that lives under the donations box and retrieve some of my heavier clothing.
So, it is time to do some work in my side of the closet. I don’t have one of those too-awful-to-be-seen “before” shots — I go through my closet at least twice a year at the start of the warm and cool seasons and occasionally another time if I get new clothes, so it stays in pretty good shape, which is just what I want.
In My Kitchen, In My Life‘s best tip for keeping things under control: Know what you really wear! To find out, at the beginning of each new weather season turn all of your hangers “backward” on the closet rod. Each time you wear an item and hang it back up, you get to turn the rod back to the normal position. At the end of the season, notice the hangers that never got turned back. If you never wore it, why are you keeping it?
Done! More valuable to me than dramatic “before and after” contrast photos is that doing this little bit every few months allows me to enjoy my closet every day. It is a pleasure to choose what to wear when everything is accessible and manageable.
Here is what I edited — 2 skirts I didn’t wear all summer because they don’t fit right anymore, a couple of tops that are nearly worn out, and a couple of perfectly good tops in colors that are the same as some tops I just got that I like much better. The new ones have elbow-length sleeves, which are nicer for my middle-aged upper arms. I got them for an excellent price, so it was worth it to me to replace the ones you see here even though they are nearly new. The only bad thing would be if I kept both versions of each color, when I know I will reach for the longer sleeves every time. Instead, it is much better to let somebody else get the use of them, somebody with better-toned upper arms.
What seasonal jobs do you like to do at this time of year?
4 Comments
I use to do this regularly, the turning around the hangers, but haven’t done it in a while. I have just been thinking I need to go through my closet and donate some things. Since we have just been through our colder season I decided to have my sister come over next week to help my go through my stuff (for my it’s always good to have another persons opinion on things), so if she hasn’t seen me wear it this last year,or if she thinks it’s not flattering out it goes. Desperately need to weed out, declutter that area. Thanks for the reminder
I agree — having a friend (better a sister!) to give frank opinions is a huge help. I like best the fresh ideas for how to put outfits together that come from another eye. Sometimes I get tunnel vision with my own stuff.
Lori recently posted..My Clothing: Editing, Organizing, Decluttering
Mom! You’ll be so proud of me!
Today I was RUTHLESS in decluttering my closet — decluttering my clothes is probably one of my hardest areas. So many clothes I look at them and think “well, maybe I’ll fit in it later” or “What if I come up with a really cool outfit that I will NEED this for?!” However, today I was determined. I did your hanger strategy (now I just have to make sure I don’t wear something just so I can turn the hanger), and I got rid of a lot of things that I KNOW I never wear (which, btw, I hope you haven’t taken your load to donate yet — I have a laundry basket full. Also, I dejunked all of the skirt hangers that are so lose, that they’re annoying. I’m guessing you don’t want them. Alsoooo, I dejunked some Eddie Baugher socks that I know you like — want them?)
Love you!
Sometimes a closet tweak is all that’s needed, but sometimes “ruthless” is the way to go. Good for you!