Out with the old | Cleaning out your closet

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Last year, on Jan. 1, I turned all the hangers in my closet the wrong way. The idea is that after I wore something, I’d hang it back the correct way, and at the end of the year, I’ll know what I didn’t wear – and what I can get rid of. The idea was, admittedly, borrowed from a friend – and I thought it was brilliant. 

Simple trick to help you organize your closet!

You see, I have a really hard time getting rid of things. I always think there’s a chance I might reuse something or it might come back in style or maybe, someday, my daughters might want to wear it. (It was heartbreaking to me to outgrow my mom’s old bell bottom jeans before I hit high school.)

I figure, any extra motivation to help me get rid of a few things would be good. Now that it’s January, it was time to take stock. (It might be important to know that – while this seems like a lot of clothes – many of these items I’ve had for quite some time. We’re talking 20-plus years in some cases!)

This is the number of items I didn’t wear:

  • Shirts/sweatshirts: 38
  • Pants: 5
  • Skirts: 2
  • Shorts: 2

That’s a total of 47 items I didn’t wear all year! I couldn’t bring myself to part with all of them, though. I got rid of 17 shirts, three pairs of pants, both skirts and both pairs of shorts. I moved one shirt to the pajama drawer. So, more than half of the items were removed from my closet! 

The items I kept were items I genuinely thought I might wear again, or they had sentimental value: prom dresses, bridesmaid’s dresses, the dress I wore to my rehearsal dinner, and the one I wore when my husband and I renewed our vows. You get the idea. A dress that I wore for my college graduation, and later a bridal shower where I served as maid of honor, didn’t make the cut. Neither did the shirt I was wearing when my husband proposed. I have to remind myself, I have pictures and memories and they won’t disappear with the clothes. Hopefully someone else will make new memories with them now! 

When I finished up, I bagged up some for donation, and some to try to consign. Then, I turned around the hangers on all the clothes that remained to start over again. 

Next, maybe I’ll tackle that drawer of T-shirts that could tell my life story … 

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