Thank you so much for this, Angie! How timely.

The one item I hadn’t considered previously was your comment about swapping out seasons not being ideal.

I have always boxed up one season and pulled out the next when the time came. But I am intrigued by your comment, now that I have done a big sweep and have lots of room in my closet. Should I pull out my spring/summer wardrobe and hang it up too? What is your strategy behind this idea?

My closets are driving me crazy. I have things in too many spots. I am going to try to consolidate!!

Thanks for the post, Angie! I’m planning on doing a closet sweep later today. I’m pretty much in the “one in, one out” stage. I’m still figuring it out–so far I’ve gotten nearly an identical item to one I already own and just replace it. What do you do if you buy something totally different than what you already have? How do you decide what to get rid of? Could you swap out a blouse for a jacket, for instance?

Laura, I’m also interested in Angie’s strategy for hanging all seasons together. I currently do that now, and it works for me. I put my sweaters and jackets on the bottom rack with skirts and spring/summer lighter weight tops on the top rack (because spring/summer is my dominant season here). My dresses are all on another rack. We did a closet thread a while ago, but I’ve reorganized mine since them, so maybe I’ll start another one today, for all the new ladies to get ideas. I loved seeing how others organized their wardrobe.

Thanks for this great reminder! I need to get my closet and dresser organized this week!

I agree with everything BUT there is no way could I keep all four seasons in my closet at one time – I simply do not have enough space! Sigh… *if only.*

My closet is only 56 inches wide; a good foot of that space is tucked away behind the wall, and hard to reach, so I use it to hang occasional wear dresses year-round. The closet is not very tall either – there’s barely enough room on the top shelf to stow much of anything (right now I have boot boxes, a hat box, and a small bin with my heaviest, bulkiest sweaters). I cannot have a second, lower pole because I use the bottom of the closet to stash sweaters and camis in two wire-mesh rolling carts.

This may work if you are in a climate that is more moderate, but I just don’t see any sense in cluttering up my closet with bulky winter sweaters or tweed jackets and wool lined slacks, in the middle of summer.

I also only have room for 20 pairs of shoes at one time (not counting tall boots, which during boot season, stand on the floor of my closet). (Okay… maybe 20 pairs IS a lot of shoes? LOL… I easily have more than 40 – not counting boots – and that is AFTER decluttering; I probably could get more ruthless with the shoe collection… hmmm).

But it is true that since finding YLF I do keep a lot more items in rotation year-round, such as camis and sleeveless or short-sleeve tops that can be layered, and dress pumps that can be worn any season.

At any rate, I like rotating my closet, and I find it is good discipline because it forces me to declutter on a regular basis – once when I pack things up for storage, and again when I take things out of storage and consider whether they should go back into rotation. It helps that I only have so much storage space too.

Also, keeping half of my wardrobe in storage boxes makes for a breathing room in my closet, which makes it much easier to see what I have and mix and match. I hate having a closet packed so tightly I can’t see what I have.

If I’m lucky enough to go on a beach holiday in the middle of the winter, it’s easy enough to quickly locate the right clothes, as I have those separated out in one easily accessible storage box.

On the plus side, since YLF, I have been much more ruthless with the decluttering; I now have enough room to hang my nicer seasonal outerwear in my closet; it used to live in the hall closet and was thus too prone to getting borrowed by my teens – and possibly disappearing!

Great tips, Angie!!! Just this AM I again tried to wear a pair of jeans that I hate. I keep trying them on out of guilt and have finally realized they have to go!!

Awesome! I can’t wait to take my time with the article and get started. I’m especially attracted to the first task “be ruthless”

I have to say that I love this post and am eager to go back and read your other closet organization posts. I have an extremely small closet so I have to be very picky about what I keep in there. However, I can’t really keep all seasons in my closet. It’s so small that there’s no way I could fit any coats in there.

Ugh…I really really have to do this. I have been putting it off though. I find it overwhelming. Not the actual process of getting rid of things that don’t look good on me–that part is easy for me. But the work of it–taking everything out and trying it on. I try to pull stuff when I notice it’s not looking good on me anymore. But I have added a lot of new pieces over the last year and I need to accomodate that.

As far as off season items–if it’s something I can wear as a layering piece, I keep it hanging up with my other items. But some things that are not wearable (like white jeans in winter, or wool sweaters in summer) go on a top shelf in my closet. It’s not “mainstreamed” with my current rotation, but it’s easy enough to grab if needed.

My husband’s side of the closet is much bigger than mine, because his clothes are much bigger. I also am using a dresser drawer to store bath towels. We are planning on remodeling the bath this spring/summer–so once that happens, I’ll regain a full drawer of storage!

What a timely post! I have just dropped of about 20 items this morning at a consignment store!

I too struggle with this. First, like Shiny, I simply do not have enough space to have everything hanging. Worse, I can’t even keep it all in one place, so some stuff are in my small closet, and some in the bedroom, but organized by groups of course. Later in the year I hope to remedy this when I move to NM, since there should be plenty of closet space!

I also struggle when deciding what to get rid of. Right now it is sweaters that give me headache. I have a lot of them, but I just simply don’t care about , say 70% of them. There’s nothing wrong with them: they are in good condition ( no pills etc), flattering color, fit well, but I find them just so boring. I should probably get rid of half of them, but find it difficult to justify considering what I wrote above and considering the current economy.

I’ll try to do some closet cleaning this weekend, but doubt I will be able to to much. I’ll do it again in a couple of months when spring comes and hopefully by then my sweater ( and other) situation should be more clear.

Does anyone have any recommendations for hat storage? I have purchased a number of nice hats this year and not sure how to store them properly at the end of the winter. Any recommendations are greatly appreciated.

This is timely and something I need to do soon! I have a small closet behind doors like Shiny. Not having a walk-in closet was almost a deal breaker when buying our house. I really want to follow Angie’s advice of all seasons in the closet because I tend to duplicate at off-season sales.
Does anyone else have the problem of needing more than one size in their closet? It didn’t used to be such a problem when I weighed more, but now 2 pounds can make a big difference in fit. So I have a grouping of my bigger size and then grouping of my smaller size, plus pants in each group hemmed for flats and another section hemmed for heels. *Sigh* Maybe now that the holiday eating is over I can pull the larger size.
Anyway, I intend to be ruthless and follow Angie’s guidelines because I can see how helpful it will be. I just need the discipline which means staying away from shopping unless looking for something specifically.

I am overdue for a closet sweep myself – thanks for the reminder!

JB–How big are the hats? Of course, there are hat boxes which you can sometimes find at specialty places like the container store. Another option is to get one of those rolling carts that have the see through drawers, leave the wheels off and put one hat in each drawer, or get the individual drawers with the see through covers and use those:

http://www.target.com/29-qt-Cl.....amp;page=1

http://www.target.com/Sterilit.....amp;page=1

First, I want to say hi again to everyone – I had a long hiatus from posting and I’ve really missed the site!

I recently did a major overhaul on my closet. I have a hard time getting rid of stuff, particularly shoes and purses, which were taking over my life. I invited my mom for the weekend and having her there really helped me whittle down. While there were some items we disagreed on because of different styles, having an honest opinion was so important. I thought I had already gotten rid of a lot before, but I ended up with 10 huge bags of clothes, shoes and purses! I have a very small closet and no real extra storage, and I can now walk into my little closet and see everything.

I was scared at first because I thought I’d feel like I had nothing to wear. Instead, as Angie mentions, I actually discovered great pieces that were hidden and am dressing better than before. When you only have what works in front of you, a lot of the headache disappears!

Now on to my socks, underwear and sleep garments…do these really need to take up a whole 3-drawer dresser??

Thanks Angie!

I have done a couple of closet cleanouts the past couple of weeks while I was on vacation. My closet is not very big so I use a lot of boxes for storage. I hang up pants and jackets and pretty much everything else is folded.

I find it easiest to group similar clothes together. All winter sweaters are in one box, knits are in one dresser drawer, and another box contains all summer shirts and skirts. Also, I have one big box for jeans and loungewear.

Since I have a general idea of where everything is in my closet, it makes it easy to just go to one box/drawer for an item of clothing.

For the first time, I cleaned out my sock and lingerie drawer. I got drawer dividers and that really helped with the organization process.

My holding area has become the trunk of my car because I always forgot to stop by Goodwill when I’m out running errands!

Brilliant reminder, Angie. I must admit that I am a little hesitant to do another closet sweep, since the last one took me about 6 months to complete. However, I was a busy student then, and now I’m finished with school. I also know that doing sweeps regularly is the only way to keep my wardrobe at its best, not to mention keep it from becoming such a major project again.

Last year my closet was cluttered with old clothes and poor choices, some of which I hadn’t worn since junior high (8-9 years ago), and most of which did not fit properly. Since then I’ve worked on building up my wardrobe with essentials that mix and match easily, and I’ve become much picker about the fit of the new things I bring in. If I don’t love it, I don’t buy it. The tiny closet that my husband and I share in our new apartment forces me to keep my wardrobe small. I love the idea of taking pictures of some sentimental clothes and then passing them on. Great tip.

Right now I’m stuck with swapping out seasons (because of afore mentioned tiny closet), but as soon as I have my own closet again (hopefully that will happen the next time we move) my goal is to keep everything in one place and visible. Having all of my seasons together would really make sense with our spastic Missouri weather. The one good thing about swapping season is that I am surprised with a whole new wardrobe when I switch. Believe it or not, I’d forgotten about some of my winter clothes and was thrilled to see them when I brought them out.

I have been doing small closet cleanouts ever since signing up for Flylady a few years ago. It was really hard at first to get rid of things that I had paid good money for, but it is freeing in a way too. It has made me a bit more hesitant to purchase something that will just hang there. I try not to buy anything that I can’t wear at least 3 ways. That being said I still have way too many orphan tops!

It feels SOOOO good walking into my closet after cleaning it close to Angie’s suggestions just last weekend. I even put a small rug on the hardwoods, added a mirror, and a space heater so i can love the 3-4 minutes I am in there. My whites tops, camis and pants hang on the upper right side, my tops hang below separated by color. The left side is for longer things-dresses, jackets, light coats. Three drawers are built in for lingerie. Above that are 3 open shelves where I keep a picture of my best friend who died last year. Also a couple decorative things like birds to give me the illusion of space.
Shoes are on racks underneath. I keep a hanging sweater stacker for workout gear and odds and ends. There is space for truly off season items on the back left.
Getting plastic hangers at the Container store makes it look better, and I love the little stick-on foam strips to keep straps in place.
I also would like to hear how hats can be stored. Any known racks available? My husband wears fedoras and straw Panamas. His closet needs a clean out. Sometimes I ask him to give me 10 items at a time so it is not such a painful process.
My daughter helps me when I need to be ruthless.

IKEA find! I got a hanger that has 28 (4 across and 7 down)3″ holes in a stiff knit for accessories- mainly scarves. It’s $7.99.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/cata.....s/70108912

I loved this post – I’m so tired but now want to go work on my closet! It’s really inspiring!

Am I the only one who wants a list of must-haves for my closet? I have Kendra’s from “The Pocket Stylist” and have seen Tim Gunn’s. But aren’t those the bare bones lists of things you really must have? I struggle with how much is too much and lately the opposite really – how little is too little? I work outside the home and our dress code is business casual.

I’d love to see a post on this Angie! You’ve got me shopping again so that’s a start!

I too cleaned out my closet last weekend. I put together 3 bags of coats (mine and hubby’s) specifically for a homeless shelter and donated another 7 bags to another spot. I still feel I have TONS of clothing. I need to do another round. Specifically on my hanging tops. Angie, you are an inspiration. I am amazed at how efficient your wardrobe is.

My toes are tickled! I’m thrilled to hear that closet cleanups are in full swing. I’m energized at the sheer thought of SMALL, neatly stacked plies of clothes in your closet. Wooohooo!

Laura, absolutely. You need to see your wardrobe in its entirety at all times. That way you never miss a trick. By all means move non-seasonal items to more hard-to-reach closet places and pull forward the items that are in full seasonal use. You’ll be more creative with your outfits when you see everything at once and there’s no risk of doubling up on items you already have. (How many items have you duplicated at off season sales because you forgot you had them?) Popping a Summer blouse under a Winter dress can be fabulous. Can’t do that if your blouses are hibernating.

The swapping out of clothing seasons is not a concept I am familiar with. Trust me, European houses and houses elsewhere in the world tend to have TINY closets. It’s not an impossible task to keep all your seasons together! That being said, in some cases it’s just impossible and it sounds like Shiny has a legitimate closet space challenge.

RSRP, I hope you got rid of those jeans.

JB, Ana made great hat storage suggestions. It really depends on the style of the hat. You either have to place them on a shelf, or hang them on a hook. Collapsible hats fit into mesh drawers and that’s how we store our hats.

Good to have you back, Rosie. We have missed you too.

Sarah, I know you’ve been working hard at overhauling your closet and we have seen your great progress. Well done.

Carolyn, your closet actions are delightful . Good for you. The picture of your late friend is a beautiful touch. I keep an old vintage beaded handbag that belonged to my late Mother in my closet for a similar nostalgic purpose. I have also decorated our top shelves with Chanel boxes. My closet is a little shrine, even though I share it with hubby.

Good job editing Eva. It’s liberating to be set free of clutter.

Reply: “JB–How big are the hats? Of course, there are hat boxes which you can sometimes find at specialty places like the container store. Another option is to get one of those rolling carts that have the see through drawers, leave the wheels off and put one hat in each drawer, or get the individual drawers with the see through covers and use those:

http://www.target.com/29-qt-Cl…..amp;page=1

http://www.target.com/Sterilit…..amp;page=1”

Thanks Ana for the idea. I think that would work great. These are structures winter hats and I want the keep them from getting crushed during the warmer months. I think those draws would be perfect. Thanks for the suggestion! JB

So I did my first round of closet sweep and still feel like I have too much. My plan is to get this stack off to the alterationist and the rest off to charity or consignment. Once this first stack is dealt with I plan to do a second round. I need to be more ruthless.

I do have an interesting change in my closet organization that I want to share! I now have a new section just for knit tops. (knit tops meaning those tops that are not woven but certainly do not fit into the t-shirt catagory) I do have a section of t-shirts and a section for button-down shirts but I was never sure where to put my knit tops..now they have their own section and it makes so much more sense!

And I no longer have a section for capri pants. When I tried them on, I realized how un-fab they looked. My eye is changing apparently!

Well Marlene, there is no stopping your closet cleaning motivation. I’m impressed. I hope you feel de-cluttered and liberated. Creating a separate section for knit tops is a fab idea. Well done! But what tickles my toes most is that you said goodbye to your capris. Halleluiah. It’s walk shorts and clamdiggers for you from now on. A very Happy New Year!

Brrrr… “One in, one out” – very, very tough principle! But I think you’re right. And it’s certainly a good way to keep shopping mania under control, which is financially necessary for most of us.