4 Tips to Declutter Your Closet

Need to declutter your closet? I know I do! My closet is packed to the brim with clothes, shoes, purses, you name it, and we are moving! I didn’t realize what a nightmare I was in for until I started packing my closet! I wish I would have down-sized my closet sooner.

I am a self proclaimed fashionista, while you might not draw this conclusion if you passed me on the street, my closet tells another story. I will admit, I was blessed with great family genes, and can therefore still fit into things from high school. However this poses a problem for my closet and now that we have decided to down-size that means my Barbie Dream Closet must also forgo a purge. There were 4 rules I made myself stick to when downsizing my closet:

4 Rules to Declutter Your Closet

1. If it hasn’t been worn in the last 6 months … It goes. When I say it goes you can donate it, sell it, or trash it. That is totally up to you. But if you haven’t pulled it out to be worn recently chances are it will stay there clogging up the hanger speedway. I am as guilty as anyone with the saying “but what if I need it to go under this?” …. Do yourself a favor and cut ties.

Rule 2: Limit accessories to 10% of your wardrobe. You don’t need a scarf to match every sweater or a purse to match every shoe. I know… this is hard, I am a purse junkie. I chose to keep the 1 of the staple colors and discard the rest. This has cleared up all the top shelving.

Rule 3: If dust has accumulated on the shoe, its time to purge! I love everything about shoes. I like running shoes, flats, high heels you name it, I love them, but when I walk in my closet and am tripping over them, something had to give. If the shoe had collected dust in my closet it got the boot {see what I did there?}.

Rule 4: No Storage Bins! If you can’t display it as is, hiding things in a box isn’t going to clear up space. It will just create a long term storage destination that you will begrudgingly move around 10 times and avoid going through. If you aren’t readily using it you don’t need it.

Bonus Tip for Keeping it Decluttered: In order to maintain all the hard work you just did, turn all the hangers backwards when you place clothes in your closet. Once you have worn something and you are hanging it back up place the hanger on the rack like normal. After 6 months if there are any hangers that are still rear facing, those clothes haven’t been worn and you can discard of them! A simple visual way to see if you are using everything in your closet!

I found a local consignment shop and sold some of my nice higher priced items. The rest that were in great shape I donated to local women’s shelter. It is such a relief to be able to walk into my closet and not feel like a bear will come out of hibernation. I have actually found it is easier for me to make choices in the morning. The less stuff the less stress, and LESS LAUNDRY! Who doesn’t love less laundry?

What are some tips you have for keeping your closet clutter free? What do you do with your clothes when you are done?

Love this post? Connect with us:

Subscribe to our emails.

Connect with us on Pinterest!

Follow us on Facebook!

Visit Alida | The Realistic Mama’s profile on Pinterest.

Share the love. PIN IT:

P.S. Are you looking for extra side income? I make full-time income blogging part-time—check out this easy step-by-step tutorial on how start a blog (no tech knowledge required).