Organizing Your Closet

Hi Everyone:

Are you able to walk into your closet to retrieve clothing, or is it too cluttered to get into? Or, can you reach into your wall closet and get what you need without struggling to push other clothes aside? Do you jam shoes, purses and other miscellaneous items on the floor, beneath your hanging clothes? Are the shelves above your clothing filled with items of clothing that you've flung up there in your haste because it didn't fit, or it was the wrong color, or it had a stain? And do you shove things on that shelf that you can't figure out where else they go?

Take heart! You can handle all of this. My recommendation, however, is to do this slowly. Whatever you do, DO NOT take everything out of the closet and dump it on the bed! It won't take long before you tire of this and then you will have to shove the clothes on the floor to get to bed. Do this about 2 hours at a time. DO NOT do it all at once because you will absolutely hate doing it and never try it again, totally defeating your purpose.

Unfortunately, the very first thing you need to do is to remove everything from the floor of the closet, and the shelves whether it's a walk-in or a wall closet. Put these items into bins, boxes or bags and put them out of your way. The next step is to go through your clothing and remove everything that is either too small to wear right now, or too big and needs to be given away. (Keeping too-big clothing invites weight gain.) Put these clothes into bins, boxes or bags.

Now you should just be seeing your actual closet. Starting with black, find all your clothing that is black and put them all together. Then go on to gray and do the same. Continue on with all the colors you have. If you have mixed colors in one item, find all of those and group them together. If you have double rods in the closet it might be easier to place all shirts (or blouses), on top and all slacks beneath, keeping the colors together. When you are through with this exercise you should be able to see all of your clothing and what color is predominate.

You may find that you have many items that are black, but only a few pieces of brown, or white, or red. Go back through the items that you have a majority of and see if you really wear everything that you have. If you're not sure, hang all of the items backwards on the rod. When you wear one and wash/dryclean it, place it correctly forward on the rod. You will soon see what clothes you wear and which ones you don't. Maybe it's time to let some items go to donation so that others can enjoy them.

Hopefully by now your closet should be near perfection! You can go in, find something easily, and take it out without struggling to push other items aside. Now, it is time to tackle the items that you removed from the floor. Follow the same logic - group shoes and purses color. Are you using all of them? Don't remember? Put all of your purses upside down on the shelf above your clothing. When you use one of them and return it, put it on the shelf right side up. Put your shoes on the floor underneath your clothing and also group by color. You can put them all in the way you really don't like them - toes pointing out toward you, maybe - and then place them in with the heels pointing toward you after you've worn them. You can also place your shoes on the shelf the same way, or on a shoe rack. If you keep your shoes in their boxes, put some type of mark on the end of the box. When you wear a pair and return it, turn the box around so that you no longer see the mark.

This exercise can take you several days to accomplish. As long as you are determined to do it, you will succeed. Having something to drink close by also helps (your choice!). If you absolutely cannot tolerate dealing with any of this, you can always call me.



'Til next time . . . Coach Sheila of clutter STOP