Laws of Order

# in # out

Here's another easy way to make room in your closet and only keep the clothes you love:

Every time a new article of clothing comes in, make sure you also get rid of X number of clothes you already have. If your closet is stuffed to the gills, you might want to start out with getting rid of 2 or 3, or even more if you can stomach it. Then, once your wardrobe is down to a manageable size, you can stick to "1 in, 1 out" rule.

This rule not only helps you manage the size of your wardrobe, but it also helps you save money. The next time you are out shopping for clothes, you may think twice before buying something new if you know you will have to get rid of something at home.

Feeling the need to weed

Everyone needs to weed out their closet from time to time. If you don't do it, you'll end up with a closet overflowing with ridiculously out of date outfits, and the clothes you do wear will be all wrinkled (if you can even find them at all). Since it is starting to get hot now, it's a good time to do a seasonal "use it or lose it" campaign on your clothes:

Step 1:
Go into your closet and turn around all the hangers so the open part of the hook is in the front instead of the back. If you have things folded, turn them around or turn them inside out.

Step 2:
Whenever you wear something, put it back in the closet the way you normally would.

Step 3:
At the end of the season go back and look in your closet to see which hangers are still facing the wrong way. Think of how sad these clothes must feel to be unused for so long, and let them go to a new home where they can get more use (i.e. donate). You may not always use those special occasion clothes like long dresses or black suits, so you can hang onto those as long as you think you would still wear them.

This is a good way to weed out your closet and make more room for the clothes you love and wear a lot. In my last weeding session I even came across a sweater I thought I had lost, so it was like getting a prize for getting organized.

Tidying up the closet without even getting rid of anything

Have you ever how ridiculous the closets are in magazines and organizing catalogs? They have about 10 articles of clothing that are off-white or some subtle pastel shade, and there are about 2 inches between each of the hangers. Who lives like that? The closets look nice, but if anyone really lived like that they would have to be the worst dressed people you ever met. Now, I am assuming you are a normal person, and you have clothes in more than two colors. And, if you are like a lot of people, your clothes are just stuffed into the closet willy-nilly so that you can't really see what you have. Here are some things you can do to get your closet in order without having to invest huge amounts of time.

Step 1: Get hangers that are all the same. It makes your closet look organized with minimal effort and without the agony of having to get rid of stuff. It doesn't really matter what kind you get, but since you are going to the trouble to get new hangers you might as well get some durable ones that won't damage your clothes. The Container Store has lots online, and I am seriously considering getting some "Huggable Hangers." (Has anyone tried those?) Whatever you do, just don't use wire hangers. They are evil.

Step 2: Organize your clothes by type (pants, skirts, long-sleeved shirts, short-sleeved shirts, etc.). I know, you are going to tell me that I am completely anal for this, but there is a method to my madness. If you put all your pants together in the closet, you may suddenly realize that you have 12 pairs of black pants and it would be easy to get rid of a few (i.e. 10). It also keeps you from buying another pair of black pants the next time you're at the mall. And, the next time you are looking for something you will know right where it is.

Step 3: if you're really inspired you can organize those subcategories by color. I'll admit, even I thought this was pretty extreme when I first heard about it, but trust me, it really does make your closet look like a boutique clothing store. Plus, you can find what you are looking for in seconds rather than rifling through your whole closet.

Voilà! From disaster to order in 3 easy steps, and you didn't even have to get rid of anything (which you should, but that's for another post).