Spring Cleaning: Conquer Your Closet

Clothing, like most things in life, follow the 20:80 rule, meaning you wear 20% of your clothing 80% of the time. Part of the reason for this is that cluttered closets and out of control wardrobes prevent Cleaning out your closet and getting rid of the clothes you don't wear will give you a clean slate to build the wardrobe of your dreams!

Sort Through Your Stuff

Set aside some time to clear out your closet and figure out what's in it. Depending on how big your closet is and how much clutter you have in it, it may take an entire day just to get everything sorted through. The most important part of this process is that you tackle it all in one chunk—don't do ten minutes here and five minutes there. Set aside a day and get it done.

Start with a full length mirror (or an honest friend) and five boxes or bins and designate each as one of the following: KEEP, FIX, TRASH, DONATE, and MOVE. Once you have these boxes, it's time to get to work. Put on some comfortable clothes, play your favorite music, and get sorting. Anything that doesn't belong in the closet gets put in the MOVE bin (you can find homes for these items later). Then, carefully go through every item of clothing in your closet. Starting with your favorite items will make the process easier, so take the sweater that you wear every week and those jeans that make your butt look amazing and put them right into the KEEP bin.

After that, be brutal. If you haven't work it in more than a year, DONATE it; if it's not worth donating then TRASH it. Also get rid of near duplicates (for example, do you really need seven blazer jackets, or will two or three do?) and things that are way out of style (fishnet tops aren't coming back...it's time to move on). If you love it, but it's missing a button or needs to be taken in, then it should go in the FIX bin (you can take it to the dry cleaner's later to have it mended). If you haven't worn it in forever, try it on and look into your full length mirror. If you were in a store, would you buy it? Do you love it? If so, KEEP it. If not, get rid of it.

Ref: associatedcontent.com