There are several laws or “rules” that can be used to organize a closet. Most of us are familiar with the law that if you haven’t used or worn a piece of clothing in the past year, to get rid of it. This can be a good law to have in mind, but I haven’t found it to be a good first law to use when weeding out a closet.
“Once you have the yardstick, you can’t help using it.” –Joan Kron
Sometimes I would have a client who was not very clear on what kind of creator she was. When this happened, the first place we organized was the bedroom closet…
1. Choose your most favorite article of clothing. It doesn’t matter if you have worn it in a year or not. It doesn’t even matter if it still fits.
2. Try to figure out why why it is your favorite.
- Is it the color?
- Is it the style?
- Is it the memories that are attached to it?
- Is it because it makes you feel a certain way about your self?
- What is it saying to you about you?
3. This article of clothing now becomes the law, yardstick, or standard by which you measure every other piece of clothing you have in your closet.
- Make two groupings of clothes. One for the clothes that match your “yardstick” and one for the clothes that don’t. Notice what the two groups of clothing tell you about yourself, and the choices you are unconsciously making .
- With this new awareness, choose which articles of clothing you are going to keep and which one you will get rid of.
4. Make the closet as functional and pleasant looking as possible.
- Clean.
- Paint, if needed
- If possible, redo the design to make it more efficient.
5. Remembering that the function of the closet is a place for your clothes, put the remaining items back in the closet. Keep the best. Focus on quality, not necessarily on quantity.
6. Beautify. Arrange everything to be “aesthetically pleasing and energetically beneficial.”
7. Stand back and admire what you did. It’s important to take a moment and enjoy the way your closet makes you feel.
8. Use what you learned about your preferred style to make better purchases in the future.
Image courtesy of khongkitwiriyachan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
