Closet Clean-Out Tips

Being home the last few weeks has forced me to take a long, hard look at my closet, and to reorganize and optimize my wardrobe! I’ve been cleaning everything out, storing, and deciding what to sell, keep, or donate. Check out my tips, tricks, and process, and let me know if you have any favorite ways to do your Closet Clean-Out in the comments below!

Closet Clean-Out Process

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1. BE HONEST

While cleaning out your closet, try on everything, look at yourself in the mirror, and be honest with yourself about how you really feel wearing it. If the result is less than great, that article of clothing doesn’t deserve you! Additionally, if I’ve held on to something because I’m absolutely positive I’m going to wear it one day, I think that a two year maximum grace period on that is more than fair.

2. THINK ABOUT YOUR CLOSET AS A CURATED WARDROBE

I think it’s important to view your closet as a curated wardrobe for your lifestyle, and not as individual pieces you might like.

I recommend going through your jeans and looking at it like a collection: 1 perfect pair of boyfriend jeans, 1 perfect pair of distressed denim, 1 perfect pair of dark denim skinnies, 1 perfect pair of wide-leg denim, 1 perfect pair of mid-wash highrise button fly, 1 perfect pair of trousers, etc.

At this point, I also like to start paying attention to what you don’t have in your closet. Are you missing the perfect pair of black pants, or a pretty silk bow blouse, or a classic trench? Start making a list (I use the notes section of my phone for this) of classic pieces that you can invest in little by little.

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3. MAKE PILES

I split up my “Out” clothing into three categories with three separate piles: Store, Sell, and Donate.

STORE PILE:

The clothes that aren’t right for my closet any longer, but also items that I don’t want to fully get rid of go into the Store pile! For example, any important dresses that I have pictures in or maybe just incredible designer pieces that I want to keep, these all go in the Store pile. Then I put the finished pile in space saver bags and clothing bins with mothballs or cedar planks so that when they’re placed in storage, that they won’t get damaged or eaten by moths!

SELL PILE:

Then I take the leftover clothes that are like-new, but that I am not interested in anymore- and add them to the Sell pile.

These clothes are great to take to consignment stores, sell on Facebook, Poshmark, etc. Then, after selling your items, you can put the money you earned towards the pieces you determined you were missing in the closet curation in Step 2!

DONATE PILE:

More worn-in clothing tends to best to donate. My policy is to throw away anything with a rip or stain on it – but if there are great pieces that probably won’t sell by consignment, I put bags together to drive them to a donation place. I like knowing that these clothes that are no longer right for my closet will find themselves a much needed new home.

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4. STORE OUT-OF-SEASON ITEMS

Make sure you use space-saver bags, packing cubes, or bins to store clothing and shoes that are out-of-season. It’s nice to see exactly what you’re working with for the weather you’ve got – instead of sifting through sweaters and flannels in July!

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5. GET ORGANIZED

Now that you’ve cleaned out your closet, it’s time to make sure that everything remaining is well-organized. I like to organize my closet by item type, style, and finally color.

First, I put all the clothing items together by item type: dresses with dresses, pants with pants, skirts with skirts, and so on. Then, I go into each item type and organize them by style. The styles that you choose to organize your closet by will vary depending on the item type.

For example, with dresses, I first organize them by length (short vs. long), and then I organize each length by dress code (casual vs. cocktail). Then I go back in one final time and organize each dress code in each dress length by color.

Then I repeat this same process across all the item categories in my closet! I find that once my clothing is organized in this way, it makes surveying the closet as I’m getting dressed SO easy, and I always know where to find everything! It also makes me take note once again of any holes in my wardrobe as a whole. I can tell in a glance if I’m missing a great, simple camisole top, or a blazer.

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6. FILL IN THE GAPS

Now that you gone through the full closet clean-out, it is time to fill in the gaps! Take inventory and look to see where you can add in some good basics. Check out some of my warmer weather staples here as well as my winter staples!