I’ve been asked how I edit my closet a few times so I figured I’d lay out what works for me on the blog. I’ve seen a few flow charts / lists of tips and they all have a few similar things – I use some of those and then some of the tips that work for me are wildly different. Let’s run through how I edit my closet!
Instead of taking everything out to purge I purge as I go along. If I’m going through selecting clothes for the day and I realize that I keep passing on a top or pair of slacks I’ll decide to put it in my donate (or Docket Closet Sale) bin. I have three bins in my closet: dry cleaning, donate, and TDB closet sale. If I realize that I haven’t worn it in a while or keep passing on it but I’m not sure that I want to part with it, I’ll put it to one section in my closet. I try to use the clothes in that section but if, again, I keep passing then in the bins they go. If I see an item that needs mending I either decide it’s worth it to be mended or it gets tossed.
I organize by item, then color, and then by sleeve length (or type of skirt). For example, I separate tops, pants, dress, full suits, blazers, and skirts. In each of those sections I organize by color, then for tops it goes by sleeve length: sleeveless to long sleeve. For skirts I skip color (honestly I’m not sure why) and go with type of skirt: pleated, pencil, etc. Dresses are by color then sleeve length. I have full suits in it’s own section.
One of the best things about our home is that it has large closets, I mean in our primary bedroom there are two large closets. No joke, when I opened the second one I yelled and I have a lot of clothes. Like it’s obnoxious and I know I need to edit it down but I talk myself out of donating/selling things. So what I’ve been trying to do is tell myself to be ruthless. I’ve also been trying to stick to the one in means one out motto. One thing that also stuck with me recently was that when people reduce clutter in one area of their life they gain structure in other areas.
I spend the vast majority of my life in work clothes so the majority of my closet is work clothes. I don’t spend a lot of money on non work clothes so I try to keep them all in the mix. The only things that aren’t in my primary closet are coats, out of season items, and dressy dresses. Coats are in the coat closet and the dressy dresses and out of season items are in the closet in the office. My shoes are also in TM’s closet… I have a problem I know.
One suggestion that I’ve seen before and have personally implemented and loved is using the same hangers. I use the velvet ones and honestly I’ve bought them off amazon or I pick them up at homegoods. I try to stick with black but I have some grey ones that I like to hang my white and lighter clothes on. You can find them in a lot of places and they don’t need to be any special kind, but I do believe they help my closet look more organized, I think I can fit more, and they are so much better for my clothes than wire hangers. I return the wire hangers to the dry cleaners when I pick them up.
I have a small push pin board on the wall in my closet that I keep outfit ideas on and color combos I want to try on there. It would also be a perfect spot to keep my workwear capsule wardrobe calendars for workwear outfit ideas! PS you get those calendars if you sign up for the capsule emails!
This post might have turned into a full closet edit and organization post and I’m okay with that! What other tips do yall use that could help other colleagues? Leave them in the comments below!
