| House & Garden
10 Steps to a Happy Clothes
Closet
by Maria Gracia
The clothes
closet is one of the least respected areas in the house. It's often stuffed
from floor to ceiling with clothing, briefcases, purses and shoes. Valuable
clothing rod space has been taken over by vast armies of mis-matched hangers.
Books and magazines have managed to somehow sprout out of nowhere. Bed linens
are mixed in with towels, umbrellas and shoes. You can barely see the floor.
Before you know it, your closet has become clutter central!
Here's some friendly advice. Heed the old saying,
"Less is more." You'll save an enormous amount of time, money and stress
by thinning out your huge wardrobe and organizing your closet.
1. GET THE PROPER SUPPLIES.
Buy a starter set of 30 hangers, or 60 if the
closet is shared by two people. Get the sturdy, plastic ones. They're inexpensive
and can be obtained at a homegoods store. Buy all one color for uniformity
(or if you're sharing closet space with someone, get one color for yourself,
and another color for the person you're sharing space with.)
While you're at the store, pick up a few sturdy
skirt and pants hangers. Vertical skirt hangers with clips that hold 5 to
6 skirts on one hanger are a great choice. In addition, pick up an expandable
shoe rack and a tie rack if you wear ties.
2. START WITH A CLEAN SLATE.
Pull out everything (yes, everything) that's
currently in your closet.
Keep in mind, as you're doing so, that you probably
only wear 20% of your clothes on a regular basis, 10% of them are for special
occasions, and the other 70% of them are probably never used at all.
3. SEPARATE CLOTHES INTO 5
PILES.
A. Clothes that meet any of the following
criteria:
-- it is outdated
-- it is ripped
-- it is stained
-- it doesn't fit (if you're not sure whether
or not it fits, try it on now)
-- you think it may come back in fashion
someday
-- you wouldn't dream of ever wearing it
again
B. Wire Hanger Pile (they're weak, they stick
up in the air, and they damage your clothing)
C. Clothes that need minor repairs such as sewing
a hem or replacing a button. If it's too much of a hassle to repair it, then
don't put it in this pile.
D. Clothes you love and wear at least once a
month AND clothes you love and wear at least twice a year (special occasion
wardrobe). Your wardrobe should always make you feel good about yourself.
If you don't love it or wear it often, it doesn't belong in this pile.
E. Any other items that don't fit into Category
A, B, C or D.
4. CATEGORY A OR B: DUMP IT OR DONATE
IT.
Ok, now here's the fun part. Grab a large plastic
garbage bag and dump everything (yes, everything) from your A pile into it.
Bring it to your local charity organization first thing in the morning or
dump it now.
If you're still reading this in disbelief, take
a deep breath to get over the initial shock, then go ahead and toss it or
donate it. You'll feel better in the end.
While you're at it, take all those terrible,
awful, lousy wire hangers (Have you gotten the point that I really don't
like wire hangers?!) in your B pile and bring them to your Dry Cleaner for
recycling or dump them immediately.
C'mon now. Are you still considering keeping
something in your A or B piles?? Please, dump it. It's clutter. You'll feel
better about it later when your closet is organized, inviting and free of
chaos. |
