Declutter Your Closet & Clothing

Take a big deep breath. Now it’s time to clean out your bedroom closet. Seriously, be honest with yourself. How much of that stuff are you really using?

I just decluttered and organized my master bedroom closet, and I feel like a million bucks! My closet feels bigger, brighter and I can see everything much, much better. I can actually plan what I’m wearing so much faster because of how organized it is. I can’t stand clutter! It drives me crazy!

Because I’m a woman on the go all the time, I needed my closet to be functional, convenient and easy for me to quickly fold or toss things away, but still look like it’s neat and tighty. If it’s a pain-in-the-butt to put away, it will just sit out and pile up overtime. For me, it has to be easy and fast to put away. I don’t know about you, but I HATE folding bedsheets. I don’t have time to fold them perfectly, nor do I care to, but because I don’t have a linen closet, I personally hate looking at wadded up sheets too. So, I needed to think of a better way to approach this.

I love those fancy-pants high-end closets with all the beautiful builtins, but honestly, as much as I love a stunning California Closet, that’s not where I want to spend my money. I decided to make a budget first. How much was I willing to spend on having a functional closet? I was good with $150. I thought that was doable for my needs. So, I hit Target and spent a good 30 min in front of their shelving and storage options. I would have gone to Ikea, but it was snowing out and I didn’t feel like driving far, so Target was good enough for me, plus I found what I needed and stayed within my budget.

First. I went through my clothes and really examined what I wear. Get real ladies, if you haven’t put it on for over a year, it might be time to pass it on. The easiest way to start this process is to declutter your clothing by type. You can start with shoes, then boots, then dresses, then denim, etc.

For example, pull out all your jeans and look at them all together as a collection, then it’s way easier to decide what you’re willing to hold on to or toss. If there are items that may be outdated, but you want to hold on to for when the trend returns, pack them away in your basement and label it (tapered pants, or boot cut pants) so you’ll know where to find them down the road. The rest of it needs to be loaded up and ready for donations or consignments (either online or brick and mortar). Here are some online consignments Ebay, Thredup, Poshmark, Tradesy.

Or, have a trading party with your friends and have fun swapping outfits. This only works, though, if you are the same size as your friends and like the same styles.

Second. Make sure everything has a functional home to be stored, nothing temporary. Put away anything that was in the wrong spot and give it a home. This can be tough if you don’t have a lot of space. I had to build and assemble a couple things to create new shelves and space for my items. I also used cheap basic white plastic baskets to store and separate my items. I LOVE these plastic baskets. Why? They are easy to wipe down and keep clean, they won’t snag my clothing, I can quickly throw things in there without perfectly folding them, they totally hide the clutter and make it look so organized. I couldn’t be happier! 🙂

Third. Have a place to store your dirty laundry. I use to have one hamper in my closet. That totally didn’t work for me. I HATE sorting through dirty clothes. I don’t have time for that, plus, I don’t want my delicate clothing to accidentally go in with a dirty, heavy, dark load by accident. That’s happened on more than one occasion. Not cool! So I found a four laundry sorter storage cart, that has made laundry a no-brainer. When I’m changing my clothes I put my whites in the first bag, my darks in the second bag, towels in the third and my delicates in the forth bag. I never have to sort ever again, because I’m doing it right away. When I’m ready to do laundry, I lift up one of the bags, carry it to the laundry room and dump it in the washer. DONE!

Forth. If you have items that need to be tailored or repaired or dry cleaned, take care of it and put it away. Don’t leave them out.

I know my closet isn’t the best looking closet you’ve ever seen online, but for me I put together an affordable plan, made it very functional and most importantly it’s easy to put things away fast and still looks good. Here’s how I set it up.

Large Baskets/Med. Baskets/Laundry Bin/Shelves

FYI- I noticed on the Med. Basket link that the online Target price shows it at $25.00 (could be a set). I purchased them at the store for $5.99 each. I think that’s a typo on their end. So go to the store and pick that size up. 😉

Are you ready to tackle your closets? I promise you’ll feel amazing when you do!

XOXO

Melessa