8 Steps to Declutter your closet

Listen up. I am about to issue some TOUGH love so buckle down and wrap your hands around that warm mug of coffee for comfort… YOUR CLOSET is causing you stress and you are just taking it. It’s time to reclaim your morning routine and de-clutter and de-stress your closet (and dressers) TODAY! I recently made another pass and dug even deeper to declutter my closet and I have 8 steps to share with you to help you get it done too. 

It’s so much more than clothes

Each morning you have a job to do – we don’t always like it, but let’s face it, we’ve gotta do it. What job do you ask? We have to sort through our packed closets to find the one outfit that makes us feel our best.  When you get ready in the morning, it’s way more than just tossing something on. Getting dressed is often the first thing we do each day. How we feel about ourselves in that moment can set the tone for the entire day.

Let’s break it down

Here’s an example. Let’s say you walk into your closet and your clothing choices are minimal but, each item is something you enjoy wearing and you feel your best in.  Chances are you don’t even THINK about this step of your day. BUT… what if this is not the case?

Now, let’s imagine you walk into your closet and it’s so full you have to shove things aside to find what your looking for. You sort through about 98 tops before you settle on a choice. You put it on, don’t care for it, and take it off. Now you do the whole process over and over until you find what you finally feel somewhat comfortable in. What about when you KNOW what you want, but you can’t find it? How confident do you feel when you change your shirt or pants 4 times because they don’t fit well and suddenly you’re regretting every cookie or latte you ever consumed!!!! (or is that just me??)

Here’s the thing – I know how this feels because it’s how most of my life has been. There were too many days (more than I can count) that I found myself berating my body or in tears having to choose my clothing. My day started with sadness and disappointment and me telling myself that I wasn’t good enough!!!! (True story friends)

Ok, that was dramatic

That feels really dramatic, but, it’s truth and I know that it’s truth for countless other women out there. But here’s the deal ladies – we don’t have to live through this every. single. day.

Nope. We can make a simple change. We can choose to clear the clutter. We can declutter the closet and keep only what we love and makes us feel good. I’ve done it and you can too. 

No Stressing Dressing

When I finally had enough of ALLLLLLLLLL the stuff in my closet I took charge and cleared it out. I used a simple trick to figure out what I truly loved and what I just thought I loved. Then, I started on the path to toss, donate or keep. This 8 step process can help you decide what needs to stay and what needs to go. 

Check out the Facebook Live video that I shared outlining EXACTLY  what I have done to solve this problem. You can see it HERE. psst… don’t forget to like the page while you are there)

Your Checklist

Let’s get started.  Check out these tips to make this process as simple as possible: 

• Do all your laundry – it’s best to sort through all your stuff after everything is cleaned and hung up
• Pay attention – the items that were dirty are a good place to start with a pile of “keep”. If they were dirty, it’s because you wear them.
• Try it on – if you are unsure it fits because you haven’t worn it in a while try it on. DO NOT keep things that you will ‘fit into later’
• Sort it out – if you know you love it and wear it at least 4 times a month (weekly), put it into the keep pile. If you aren’t sure you love it but know you are not ready to part with it, place it in the maybe pile to re-visit, and if it’s worn, ill-fitting or you just don’t enjoy it it’s time to donate or trash it. 
• Put back only your “KEEP” items first. Then revisit your ‘maybe’ pile. If your initial reaction is not “YES, I want this and wear it” (hint it probably won’t be since it’s in the maybe pile) then pack these items away (or use the trick from the video). If you go looking for them, you can move them back into your rotation. 
• Time to say goodbye – those items you packed away can be given away if you haven’t looked for them in an allotted amount of time. For the super reluctant types, that may be 6 months but ideally you probably only need about 30-45 days to decide. 
• Don’t neglect your drawers – pull out everything in your dressers and do this same process.
• Girl, get some new undies! This is an area I neglected forever! Then I realized I kept grabbing the same pairs so I sorted through and tossed all the well worn, too tight, un-comfy undies. Because your tush matters. You’re welcome. 

Just Start. 

You won’t know how much this matters until it’s done. The moment you walk into your space with its clean floors, shelves, and selection of loved clothing your soul with a sigh and say ‘thank you’. Your days will start off better, your mood won’t be controlled by your personal fight with your closet and hey, there will be less laundry to fold! So just do it. Stop procrastinating and worrying. It doesn’t have to be perfect.  You just need to start. Maybe you’ll need to do this again in 6 months or a year or after you reclaim your health or your finances.. but for now. Just Start.

I’d love to hear what’s holding you back, what help do you need or if you HAVE done this, how did it make you feel? Leave me a comment below and share your experiences and find out more about how I ended up on MY journey by checkin out this post. 

I love new friends!