Purging your closet is a great way to start off the new year. It can give you more space, help you organize, and allows you to have only the clothing you wear around. This is often a part of New Year’s resolutions to get your life more organized. However, the problem comes in when it comes time for you to face your closet. How do you know what to get rid of and what to keep? Asking this simple question may make that process a wee bit easier.
Ask Yourself This: If You Were At the Store, Would You Buy That Item Again?
By asking yourself that question, you can get a good idea how deeply you like an item. If your gut reaction when you see a piece of clothing is something along the lines of “what was I thinking?” then you know that the item is safe to donate to others or sell at a garage sale. On the other hand, if you see an item of clothing and you smile, then you know that it is one to place into the keep pile.
Go through your closet from one end to the other. Take out everything you wouldn’t buy again, and see how much space that buys you. For some, this will buy them a bunch of room, allowing them to know they can buy themselves a few new pieces to complement their wardrobe as time and money allow. However, for others, this may only buy them a few extra hangers worth of space in the closet. That means it is time to go a step further.
Now that you have a pile of clothes you know you would buy again, how do you make more space? You sort through the clothing again. The items that are too big or too small to where you only rarely wear them, you put into a separate pile. Once all the properly-fitting items are back into your closet, you should have enough space to be able to move around the closet more easily. Then, box up those clothes that you rarely wear and either chance storing them in your musty garage or basement, or protect them by putting them into a local storage unit that has climate controls. That way, when you do need one of those items of clothing, you are sure that the clothes will be smelling great and ready to go!