Closet Organizing - Page 2

Step 3: Do not skip this step because you are in "the flow". This is important. Right now! Take away Baskets No. 2 and 3. At the very least put them in the trunk of your car to drive away later. Remove them from your house.

Step 4: Time to go shopping! In your own closet! You should now have 1 full (probably overflowing) basket and 2 empty ones. Dump Basket No. 1 onto your bed. It is time to re-sort.

Basket 1: for putting away
Basket 2: dry cleaning, repairs and alterations
Basket 3: you guessed it…stuff to get rid of.

Grab your printed copy of our  Essential Wardrobe Basics list. As you re-sort your clothes into the baskets be very, very critical of them. Do I love this piece of clothing? Is it an item from the basics list? If it is, check it off the list. Does it fulfil the criteria of your color profile? Have you worn this in the past 12 months? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, put the piece in Basket No. 1, or in Basket No. 2 if it needs to be altered, repaired or dry cleaned. Be honest with yourself. If it fulfils none of these criteria, put it in Basket No. 3.

Keep going until you have everything sorted.

Get rid of Basket No. 3 (add it to the other stuff in your trunk!) and put Basket No. 2 in a different room.

Step 5: Start hanging up what's left. Organize types of clothing together (pants to pants, shirts to shirts) and within the types of clothing organize according to color (white shirts together, black shirts together, the different colors in between). Hang all hangers and all articles of clothing one way -- the "wrong" way, i.e. if you normally hang your shirts facing left, hang them facing right. After you have worn this article hang it facing the proper direction. If any items are facing the "wrong" way after a year, you can safely get rid of them. Chances are very high that you will never wear these things again.

Leave as much space as you can between the items of clothing. If you are cramming stuff in you a) will have a wrinkled mess, b) miss things in your closet because you can't see them properly and c) spend more money on buying stuff you already own because you forgot it was in there (can't see it).

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